If you drop an object in the absence of air resistance, it accelerates downward at 9.8 m/s2 . If instead you throw it downward, its downward acceleration after release is
A) smaller than 9.8 m/s2 .
B) 9.8 m/s2 .
C) bigger than 9.8 m/s2 .
D) indeterminate.
Solution: B. The free fall acceleration due to gravity is roughly a constant based on latitude, altitude, and local geology. It is independent of initial conditions.