Why are objects that fall near Earth's surface rarely in free fall? O Gravity does not act on objects near Earth's surface.
Air exerts forces on falling objects near Earth's surface.
The objects do not reach terminal velocity
O The objects can be pushed upward by gravity.

Air exerts forces on falling objects near Earth's surface.

Explanation: Objects falling near the earth surface are rarely in free fall due to the force exerted by air on falling object near the earth( air resistance).

The acceleration of free fall tend to pull the body towards the earth surface while air resistance (drag) tends to act in the opposite direction.

Given that the weight of the body is always  constant.

The drag acts in the upward direction, thereby negating the downward weight of the object.

From Newton's Second law:

Force = mass × acceleration due to gravity

Acceleration = force / mass

The net force acting on the object becomes :

(Downward weight - upward drag)

This hampers the free fall of the object due to gravity.

It is the areas with lines. this may sound a little confusing, but i hope it !

Since you have not included the experiment situation and the data, of course, i can not give you specific details about it. but i can you with this question.1) i will assume that the motion is projectile (parabolic) motion.2) yes, the horizontal distance depends on the horizontal velocity as, naming vx the horizontal velocity and t the time, it is: x = vx × t3) now, observe that the flight time depends on the vertical velocity as, naming voy the initial vertical velocity, t the time and y the vertical distance before reaching the ground: y = yo + voy×t - gt² / 2.the higher the initial vertical velocity (voy) the longer the object will be flying and so t will be higher in the equation for the horizontal distance.that explains the relationship between the horizontal distance and the horizontal velocity.