202 
HAROLD’S DISCUSSIONS. 
were dropped from a height of sixty-four feet it 
struck the floor in exactly two seconds. 
Now, what were the conclusions ? The first second 
it fell sixteen feet; the second second it fell forty- 
eight feet—that is, thirty-two feet farther than the 
flrst second. Now, the force of gravity is constant, 
and it ought to fall by gravity no farther in the 
second second than in the first. Therefore the differ¬ 
ence, or thirty-two feet, must have been due to the 
momentum gained in the first second. Later we had 
opportunity to make the same experiment by drop¬ 
ping a ball in a tower. There we found that in 
three seconds the ball fell a distance of one hundred 
and forty-four feet. Allowing sixteen feet a second 
for gravity, there would be left sixty-four feet due 
to momentum gained in the first and second seconds; 
in other words, the constant force of gravity draws 
falling objects toward the center of the earth through 
a distance of sixteen feet per second, and each second 
the body falls, its velocity is increased thirty-two 
feet. In the fifth second a body will fall one hun¬ 
dred and forty-four feet, or 16 -f (4 X 32) feet— 
that is, 16 -|- 32 (^1), t being the number of seconds. 
In five seconds a body will fall four hundred feet, 
or 25 X 16 feet (number of seconds squared by 
16 feet). 
We looked into a book on physics and found that 
our figures were practically correct. Mathematical 
calculations show that the distance a body falls the 
first second is least at the equator and most at the 
poles, varying from 16 to 16.25 feet. In latitude 45° 
