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apparent weightlessness demo



The other day, my students disputed my claim that a person thrown upward
is apparently weightless on the way up. I poked a hole in the side and
bottom of a plastic bottle, filled it with water, and threw it upward.
Eureka! The water did not leak on the way up, at the peak, and on the
way down.

This experience also made me aware of a misconception among my students
that an object in free fall is not "falling" on the way up.

Pang-Chieh Chou
Missouri City, TX

pchou@tenet.edu