2 . In real life the heavier object falls down faster however both objects fall at the same rate . A feather doesn ' t have much resistance to acceleration , but it also doesn ' t have much for gravity to grab onto . The ball has more resistance to acceleration , and gravity is better able to grab onto its mass . The feather is being accelerated by gravity by the same amount as the ball is , per unit mass . but the mass that gravity pulls on gravitational mass turns out to be equivalent to the mass that resists being moved inertial mass , so the mass just cancels out of both sides of that equality and both objects fall at the same rate . In air the feather is preferentially more sensitive to the force of drag and small air currents due to its shape but also due to its lower mass . if the same drag force is applied to both the ball and the feather modulo texture , shape , and surface area , that force imparts a greater negative acceleration to the feather due to the feather ' s lower mass . Fdrag ma , too . For a given F , smaller m leads to larger a . Same acceleration , but different rate .