How do buoyant forces affect free fall?

If a solid metal object is thrown into water, it will have an upward buoyant force in addition to its gravitational force, which prevents us from saying it is in free fall. This is because the definition of free fall states that the only force acting on the falling body is its weight.

Newton's Second Law states that an object in free fall will accelerate as follows:

Since net force is the vector sum of all forces acting on a body, our solid metal object's acceleration decreases in the water because buoyant force acts upward, which is opposite to the force of gravity acting on it. Frictional drag, another upward force, will also be present because of the speed the object develops as it moves through the water.

Hope this is helpful, Steve.

Buoyant forces do not affect free fall since they act in the opposite direction to gravity. In free fall, an object experiences only the force of gravity.