What is Acceleration due to gravity?

Acceleration due to gravity is when things fall toward Earth because of a pull that’s always there.

Imagine you drop your favorite toy from a height, it doesn’t just float in the air; it falls straight down, getting faster and faster as it goes. That's acceleration due to gravity. It’s like Earth gives everything a little push every second to make them fall.

The pull is pretty strong! When you drop something, like a ball or even yourself when you jump, it falls at about 9.8 meters per second squared. That means, each second you’re falling, you’re going faster by almost 10 meters every second.

Think of it as Earth giving everything a little nudge every time the clock ticks. You might not feel it while you're standing still, but when you drop something or jump up, that nudge becomes clear, just like how your toy falls from your hand to the floor.