A new approach to solving physics problems related to freely falling objects

Abstract

One way to ease the solution of physics problems is to visualize the situation. However, by visualization we do not mean the pictorial representation of the problem. Instead, we mean a sketch for the solution of the problem. In this paper a new approach to solving physics problems, based on decomposing the problem into with and without gravity, is presented for solving free falling problems. The method is implemented for several problems from well-known books, which have been extensively used by instructors. The approach is shown to be highly applicable, and only a simple sketch is required to obtain an accurate computable solution. Our observations with students showed that building a geometry for the solution helped them to visualize the situation and avoid applying the more complex formulas of kinematics.