1. When a body falls from rest it acquires velocity at the rate of about 32.2 feet per second every second. This number, which represents the acceleration due to the force of gravity, varies slightly with the locality, increasing from the equator to the poles, and diminishing as we recede from the surface of the earth. (See Gravity.) At the end of five seconds, therefore, the body would be found to be moving at the rate of 5 × 32.2, that is, 161 feet per second.
2. The space fallen through in the first second is half of 32.2, that is, 16.1 feet; and the space fallen through in any given time is found by multiplying the square of the number of seconds by 16.1. Thus in three seconds a body falls 9 × 16.1 feet, or 144.9 feet.
3. The square of the velocity acquired by falling through any number of feet is found by multiplying twice that number by 32.2. Thus if a body falls 9 feet, the square of the velocity acquired is 2 × 32 × 9, or 576 if we take 32 instead of 32.2; and taking the square root of 576, we find that a velocity of 24 feet is acquired in a fall of 9 feet.
4. When a body is projected vertically upward with a given velocity, it continues to rise during a number of seconds found by dividing the number that expresses the velocity of projection by 32.2; and it rises to a height found by dividing the square of that number by 2 × 32.2, or 64.4. For a machine used in verifying the laws of falling bodies, see Attwood.
Fall of Man, a commonly received doctrine of Christianity, founded upon the historical narrative contained in the third chapter of the book of Genesis, together with the allusions to the same matter in other parts of Scripture. Adam, having eaten of the forbidden fruit, is said to have fallen; and the relation of mankind in general to this fall is stated by St. Paul in the words: "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners" (Rom. v. 19). Thus, in the fall of Adam, all men are held to have fallen and to have contracted 'original sin', alienating them from God and rendering them morally inadequate. The doctrine of the fall does not stand alone in Scripture. It is argued by some interpreters that in the original sentence pronounced on the transgressors there is contained the promise of a redemption, and that the whole scope of Scripture is directed to the development of this promise, and of the divine scheme of providence associated with it.
Fallopian Tubes, in anatomy, are two ducts each of which opens by one extremity into the womb, at either angle of the fundus, and terminates at the other end in an open trumpet-shaped mouth, which receives the ovum as it escapes from the ovary and transmits it to the womb. They are named after Fallopius or Fallopio, an Italian anatomist of the sixteenth century, who first recognized their functions.
Fallow Deer, a European and Western Asiatic deer, the Cervus dama. It is smaller than the stag, of a brownish-bay colour, whitish beneath, on the insides of the limbs, and beneath the tail. The horns, which are peculiar to the male, are very different from those of the stag; they are not properly branched, but are broader towards the upper part, and divided into processes down the outside. A simple snag rises from the base of each, and a similar one at some distance from the first. It was introduced at an early period into Britain, possibly by the Romans, and is kept in many English parks.
Fallow Land, ground that has been left uncultivated for a time, in order that it may recover itself from an exhausted state. Strictly speaking, fallow ground is left altogether without crops; but in agricultural usage strict fallow is not always adopted, and the term fallow is applied to various modes of treatment, of which at least three distinct varieties are recognized: bare fallow, bastard fallow, and green-crop fallow. Bare fallow is that in which the land remains completely bare for a whole year; in bastard fallow it is ploughed up and worked after the removal of a spring or summer crop, preparatory to the sowing of a root or forage crop, to occupy the ground during autumn or winter; in green-crop fallow the land is sown with a root-crop, such as turnips or potatoes, placed in rows far enough apart to admit of the intermediate spaces being stirred, pulverized, and cleaned, during its growth, by horse or hand implements.
Fall River, a city and port, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, on an arm of Narraganset Bay, on Taunton River, 53 miles S.S.W. of Boston. It is at the head of deep-water navigation, and the terminus of a line of