A basketball player jumps to make a basket,and remains in the air for a moment.A sportscaster,talking about the game,then remarks that she has "defied gravity." Which of the following accurately describes the situation?
A)The player did stay in the air in spite of the Law of Gravitation,but a single counter-observation is not enough to warrant revisiting a theory that usually works.
B)The player produced enough force with her legs to accelerate up into the air,and gravity brought her back down with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s².
C)The player only seemed to defy gravity,but part of the Universal Law of Gravitation makes an exception for basketball players.
D)The player has defied gravity,so scientists must go back into the lab to refine their theory.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The player did not defy gravity. She produced enough force with her legs to jump into the air, and then gravity brought her back down with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s². This is in line with the Law of Gravitation, which states that all objects are attracted to each other with a force that is proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The player did not break any laws of physics, and there is no need for scientists to revisit or refine the theory of gravity based on this observation.

A Basketball Player Jumps to Make a Basket,and Remains in the Air