In science one year, we did a test of dropping a water bottle from different heights over a Pringle, and we had to protect the Pringle with a paper. But how would increasing the height increase the force is the mass and acceleration is the same?
In: 152
The force acting on the falling pringle can is somewhat irrelevant to your question, gravity exacts a constant acceleration on the pringles can while it falls, this is the correlation between gravity and the pringles can, what matters in your scenario of “protecting it” is the force that acts upon the pringle can once it hits the ground.
Force can be calculated as the change in momentum over time, where momentum is mass * velocity, velocity increases the longer it is accelerating due to gravity. Aka a pringle can falling 20m/s has an increased momentum, double of a pringle can falling 10m/s.
So you end up with a pringle can with a momentum of 20*{mass of pringle can} (dropped from a greater height) or 10*{mass of pringle can} (dropped from a lower height), now the change in time upon impact is going to be nearly instant in both scenarios (both will stop near instantaneously). So the impact force has double the momentum divided by the same change in time, the impact force is doubled in this scenario. Because the impact force or kinetic energy on the greater height is double of that on the lower height this means the impact to your can is “harder” on the greater height.
Latest Answers