When we talk about objects falling freely, Newton's Laws of Motion help us understand what’s going on. Let’s break it down in simple steps.

Newton's First Law: Inertia

Newton's First Law says that an object will stay still or keep moving at the same speed unless something else pushes or pulls on it.

For example, when you drop a ball, it doesn’t move until you let it go. When you do let go, gravity pulls the ball down toward the ground.

Newton's Second Law: F = ma

Newton's Second Law explains how the motion of the object changes when a force is applied. It can be written as:

$F = m \cdot a$

In this formula, $F$ is the force, $m$ is the weight of the object, and $a$ is how quickly it speeds up.

When something is in freefall (and we ignore air resistance), everything falls with the same acceleration because of gravity. This acceleration is about $9.81 \, \text{m/s}^2$.

So, if you drop a ball that weighs 2 kilograms, the force acting on it is calculated like this:

$F = 2 \, \text{kg} \cdot 9.81 \, \text{m/s}^2 = 19.62 \, \text{N}$

Newton's Third Law: Action and Reaction

Newton's Third Law tells us that for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.

As the ball falls, it pushes down on the air around it. The air pushes back, but this force is very small compared to the pull of gravity when the ball is in freefall.

These laws show us how gravity affects falling objects, making their movements predictable and easy to understand.