Corrected entry: The Whale and the bowl of petunias should have hit the ground at almost exactly the same time, not at separate times, as gravity is a constant on any given planet. If anything, the bowl should have hit first, due to it having less air resistance.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Correction: Gravity is a force of attraction between two objects and is dependent on the mass of these objects. The acceleration of an object due to the gravitational force of a planet is constant, but two unequal masses would only descend at the same rate if a vacuum existed. When the force of air resistance equals the force of gravity, the object ceases to accelerate and continues to fall at a constant speed (terminal velocity). A higher mass = larger gravitational force = faster terminal velocity. The whale would be falling quite a bit faster.