by slideshow on November 28th, 2006

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What is the terminal velocity

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  • by teknimage on November 28th, 2006

    teknimage

    I grabbed this right from Wikipedia.

    The terminal velocity of an object falling towards the earth, in non-vacuum, is the speed at which the gravitational force pulling it downwards is equal and opposite to the atmospheric drag (also called air resistance) pushing it upwards. At this speed, the object ceases to accelerate downwards and falls at constant speed. An object moving downwards at greater than terminal velocity (for example because it previously used power to descend, it fell from a thinner part of the atmosphere or it changed shape) will slow until it reaches terminal velocity.

    Comments
    • good answer, but do you know what it is in km/h at sea level?

      slideshow

      by slideshow on December 6th, 2006

    • That would all depend on the mass of the object falling. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page that gives the full explanation, as well as the equation to figure out what the terminal velocity is for the mass you are using. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity

      teknimage

      by teknimage on December 6th, 2006

    • Good answer

      cambsman

      by cambsman on January 16th, 2007

    • Here's the math

      v_t=√(2mg/(pAC_d ))

      m=mass, g= gravity, p= density (air), A= surface area of object, C_d= coefficient of drag v_t = term velocity

      archimedes

      by archimedes on December 7th, 2009

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