Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ
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SCIENCE

The Claim

In a vacuum, a metal hammer and a feather dropped from the same height at the same time will land at the same time.

The Short Version

The evidence shows that a hammer and a feather dropped together in a vacuum will fall with the same acceleration and reach the ground at the same time. This is a standard result of classical physics and has been demonstrated both on the Moon and in vacuum-chamber experiments on Earth. Apparent differences in ordinary air are caused by drag, not by gravity acting differently on heavy and light objects.

Caveats

  • This holds only when air resistance is absent or negligible; in normal air, a feather usually falls much more slowly.
  • Real experiments can show tiny timing differences from imperfect release or observation, but those do not change the underlying physical law.
  • The claim assumes both objects are dropped from the same height in the same gravitational field without other forces acting on them.

The Receipts

  1. The Apollo 15 Hammer-Feather Drop

    NASA Science

  2. Feather and guinea experiment

    Museo Galileo

  3. Feather and Hammer · Simulator, Drop Both in a Vacuum

    The Scientist Lounge

  4. Hammer vs Feather - Physics on the Moon

    NASA

  5. Falling Feather: Physics & Mechanics Science Activity

    Exploratorium

  6. Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2011 January 4

    Wikipedia

  7. Gravity Falling Experiment: Feather in a Vacuum!

    AstroCamp

  8. See Galileo’s Famous Gravity Experiment Performed in the World’s Largest Vacuum Chamber and on the Moon

    Open Culture

  9. Hammer and Feather in a Vacuum Explained | GCSE Physics Gravity Experiment

    YouTube

  10. Day 18/30 NASA Proves Gravity With a Feather and a Hammer in the World Largest Vacuum Chamber

    YouTube

+ 25 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Vacuum

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