FALL encyclopedia topics

free fall

free fall, in physics, the state of a body moving solely under the influence of gravitational forces (see gravitation). A body falling freely toward the surface of the earth undergoes an acceleration due to gravity of 32 ft/sec² (9.8 m/sec²), which is symbolized by g.

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fall, the

fall, the, i.e., the fall of man, in Christian thought: see original sin; grace.

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fall line

fall line, boundary between an upland region and a coastal plain across which rivers from the upland region drop to the plain as falls or rapids. A fall line is formed in an area where the rivers have eroded away the soft rocks of a coastal plain more quickly than the older harder rocks of an upland region. Such erosion follows a crooked line along a coast. River vessels usually cannot travel beyond a fall line and their cargoes must be unloaded there. The falls (see waterfall) also supply water power for the development of industry such as textile and grist mills. For these reasons a fall line often marks a string of developed areas, such as the break between the Appalachian rise and the coastal plain of the eastern United States, where a band of commercial and industrial cities quickly developed in the 19th cent., paralleling the line of port cities along the coasts. Typical fall-line cities on the Atlantic coast of the United States are Lowell, Mass.; Pawtucket, R.I.; Troy, N.Y.; Trenton, N.J.; Georgetown, now part of Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Va.; Raleigh, N.C.; Columbia, S.C.; and Augusta, Ga. Among the fall-line cities of the Mississippi valley are Louisville, Ky., and Minneapolis, Minn.

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Fall, Albert Bacon

Fall, Albert Bacon, 1861-1944, American cabinet official, b. Frankfort, Ky. He became a rancher in New Mexico and a political leader in that state. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1912, he served there until President Harding made him Secretary of the Interior in 1921. Fall was one of the chief figures in the scandal concerning oil lands that rocked the Republican administration (see Teapot Dome). He resigned in 1923 and was later tried and found guilty (1931) of conspiracy to defraud the government.

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Fall River

Fall River, industrial city (1990 pop. 92,703), Bristol co., SE Mass., a port of entry on Mt. Hope Bay, at the mouth of the Taunton River; settled 1656, set off from Freetown 1803, inc. as a city 1854. It was once the foremost cotton textile center in the United States; the first cotton mill was built in 1811. Textiles and clothing are the leading manufactures, and a variety of products are made, including metals and chemicals. The Bradford Durfee College of Technology is in Fall River. The U.S.S. Massachusetts, the state's official World War II memorial, is berthed in the harbor. The city was the scene (1892) of the famous trial of Lizzie Borden, who was acquitted of murdering her parents in the family's home there.

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free fall

In mechanics, the state of a body that moves freely in any manner in the presence of gravity. The planets are in free fall in the gravitational field of the Sun. A body in free fall follows an orbit such that the sum of gravitational and inertial forces equals zero. Seealso gravitation; Newton's laws of motion.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Fall, Albert Bacon

(born Nov. 26, 1861, Frankfort, Ky., U.S.—died Nov. 30, 1944, El Paso, Texas) U.S. secretary of the interior (1921–23). He began practicing law in New Mexico Territory in 1889. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1913 to 1921, when he was appointed Secretary of the Interior by Pres. Warren G. Harding. He resigned his cabinet post two years later and returned to New Mexico. In 1924 a Senate investigation revealed that Fall had accepted a large bribe to lease to private oil interests, without competitive bidding, naval oil reserve lands in the Teapot Dome reserve in Wyoming and other reserves in California. He was convicted of bribery in 1929 and served nine months of a one-year prison sentence. Seealso Teapot Dome scandal.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.