NCERT Solutions Curiosity Chapter 5 .4.2 Non-contact forces — Activity 5.8: Let us observe

Book page 715 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

Take a ball and throw it vertically upwards. Does it come down?

Answer

Yes. The ball rises, slows down, stops for an instant at the top and then falls back to the ground — every single time.

While going up the ball is slowing down, so a force must be acting on it, and it must act downwards, opposite to the motion. That same downward force then brings the ball back and makes it speed up as it comes. Nothing is touching the ball while it is in the air, so this is a non-contact force — the pull of the Earth.

Q2.

Now throw it again, but this time harder. Does it still fall back down to the ground?

Answer

Yes. Throwing harder makes the ball go higher and stay in the air longer, but it still comes back to the ground.

The strength of your throw decides only how high the ball gets. It cannot switch the Earth's pull off. Fig. 5.10 shows the same thing happening to a basketball, a leaping athlete, a fruit on a tree and a diver — whatever is thrown up in any direction finally falls or comes back to the ground.

Why it happens: since all objects fall towards the Earth, it means the Earth attracts (pulls) them. The force with which the Earth attracts objects towards itself is called the gravitational force — also called the force of gravity, or simply gravity.

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