The Simple Physics of Freefall

Every object near Earth's surface accelerates at the same rate — about 9.8 m/s². Your phone is no exception. When it slips from your hand, it enters freefall: the only forces acting on it are gravity and air resistance. In the first fraction of a second, the physics is beautifully simple.

The standard freefall distance formula is:

d = ½ × g × t²

Where g = 9.8 m/s² (gravitational acceleration) and t = fall time in seconds. From a height of 1 meter (about 3.3 feet), a phone falls in roughly 0.45 seconds. From 2 meters (6.6 feet), about 0.64 seconds.

These numbers assume zero air resistance. For a phone falling a meter or two, air resistance is negligible — the fall is fast enough that the surface area-to-mass ratio doesn't meaningfully slow it down.

What About Real-World Drops?

The formula above tells you the theoretical maximum distance for a given fall time. In practice, a few things affect the measurement:

  • Drop height — How high above ground was the phone when it started falling?
  • Rotation — A phone tumbling through the air covers more path distance than its straight-line drop height, which can throw off naive distance calculations.
  • Sensor latency — Phone accelerometers sample at 50–100 Hz (every 10–20ms). Very short falls may have only 2–3 data points before impact.
  • Orientation during fall — The accelerometer axis being measured matters. Most phones use the z-axis (vertical) by default, but a tilted phone or an uneven release can mix in lateral components.

How Floop Measures It

Floop uses your phone's built-in accelerometer to track acceleration throughout the fall. Instead of relying on a fixed formula, it integrates the acceleration signal over time to reconstruct the distance traveled. This approach naturally accounts for small variations in initial orientation and device rotation — as long as the z-axis remains dominant, the measurement stays accurate.

The key insight: gravity is constant at 9.8 m/s² downward. When you drop a phone screen-up, the accelerometer reads +1g on the z-axis (gravity pushing into the sensor). On release, that reading drops toward zero, then negative as the phone accelerates downward. The area under that acceleration curve is proportional to the distance traveled.

On a flat surface from 1 meter, expect readings in the 0.95–1.05 meter range from a well-calibrated phone. On a rough surface or with a significant tilt, the measurement may be off by 10–20%.

The Short Answer

From a height of 1 meter, a phone falls in about 0.45 seconds and reaches a speed of about 4.4 m/s (9.8 mph) at impact. From 2 meters, about 0.64 seconds and 6.3 m/s (14 mph). The exact numbers depend on the surface, orientation, and your phone's sensor accuracy.

Floop turns your phone's accelerometer into a measurement tool — so instead of guessing, you get a number you can actually compare across drops.