show the total energy of a body falling freely under gravity is constant
Answers
Mass does not change sometimes, but g varies.
Mass can vary when an object enters the Earth atmosphere with a great velocity. Mass is an intrinsec property of matter so it does no vanish but in the case of an ice meteorite most if not all the ice ends into the atmosphere as vapor and liquid.
Definitely acceleration changes. g (gravitational acceleration) depends on the distance between the two mass centers - the Earth’s and the falling object’s.
You may know that gPole > gEquator g is the gravimetric acceleration (The Earth Pole radius < Earth Equator radius by approx. 22km).
So if you threw an object from 22 km under the South Pole towards the Earth it will have the Equator g exerted on it: 9.7805 m/s^2 . Right before it reaches Antarctica it will have the South Pole acceleration exerted on it: 9.8144 m/s^2
If the object falls from the height of 1 meter, the g acceleration varies but you would probably see the variation in the 20th significant figure