written by Michael R. Gallis

This mobile-friendly model allows students to design a free-fall ride to explore how height and time duration parameters affect g-forces on the rider. Students will drag control points on the Height vs. Time graph to adjust the acceleration. As the model runs, graphs of g-Force vs. Time and Vertical Velocity vs. Time are displayed. The apparent weight of the rider arises from the acceleration of gravity in combination with the acceleration of the elevator. If the elevator is stationary or moving with constant speed (i.e. not accelerating), riders feel their normal weight. If the elevator accelerates upwards, the rider feels heavier, whereas downward acceleration causes a sensation of lightness. With a strong enough downward acceleration, the rider can experience effective weightlessness or even negative g forces (requiring seat belts or restraints to avoid head trauma!).

The Free Fall Ride JavaScript Model was developed using the Easy Java/JavaScript Simulations (EJS) modeling tool. Although EJS is a Java program, EJS v5 and above can be used to create stand-alone JavaScript programs that run in almost any browser.

• Download ejss_model_FreeFallRide.zip - 2295kb Compressed File

Published January 1, 2017
Last Modified January 25, 2017

This file has previous versions.

Student worksheet to accompany the Free Fall Ride simulation.

• Download Elevator_Ride_worksheet.pdf - 33kb Adobe PDF Document

Last Modified January 1, 2017

This source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Free Fall Ride JavaScript Model.   Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS ver 5.1.  Although EjsS is a Java program, it creates a stand alone JavaScript program from this source code.

• Download ejss_src_FreeFallRide.zip - 1025kb Compressed File

Last Modified January 1, 2017

This file has previous versions.