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Mystery #2Tier 2physics, motion, gravity

Why do a ball you drop and a ball you throw sideways hit the floor at the same moment?

Hold two balls at the same height. Drop one straight down, and at the very same instant flick the other so it shoots sideways off the table. You might expect the flying one to stay up in the air longer, since it has so much further to travel. But listen closely and you hear one thud, not two. Why do they land together?

A stroboscopic photograph of a falling yellow ball, showing it in many positions down the frame with the gaps growing larger and larger, marked 0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 and so on.
Photo: MichaelMaggs · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Your guess

Why do you think the two balls reach the floor at the same time?

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