Question Detail
Question
A gun is held horizontally and fired. At the same time the bullet leaves the gun's barrel an identical bullet is dropped from the same height. Neglect air resistance. If the bullets were not identical, but rather the dropped bullet had twice the mass of the one fired, which bullet would hit the ground first?
Correct Answer
Option C is the correct answer.
Detailed Explanation
In the absence of air resistance, the vertical motion is independent of horizontal motion and independent of mass. Both bullets have the same initial vertical velocity (zero) and same vertical acceleration (g), so they take the same time to hit the ground. Mass does not affect the time of fall.
Hint
The time of flight for vertical free fall depends only on height and gravity, not on mass.