A sky diver jumps from a plane in a lying face down position. After a handful of

Question

A sky diver jumps from a plane in a lying face down position. After a handful of seconds the sky diver reaches "terminal velocity'. At this point the sky diver is falling at a constant velocity. If the height of the sky diver is 170 cm and the weight of the sky diver is 500 N then what is the net force on the sky diver once the sky diver reaches terminal velocity? If the height of the sky diver is 170 cm and the weight of the sky diver is 500 N then what is the force of air resistance on the sky diver at terminal velocity? The sky diver rotates so that the sky diver is upright. The sky diver now has less surface area to the air as the sky diver falls, This means that the sky diver has less air resistance. Will the sky diver's "terminal velocity" increase, decrease, or stay the same. Explain why. The sky diver pulls his or her parachute. When the chute opens (lots of surface area now) what initially happens to the air resistance force on the sky diver and how does that affect the sky diver's velocity? Eventually the sky diver will reach "terminal velocity" again - although in this ease that velocity will he fairly small. Once the sky diver reaches terminal velocity what will the force of air resistance on the sky diver he and how does that force compare to the force of air resistance that was on the sky diver when he was at "terminal" velocity without the parachute?

Explanation / Answer

Ans a ) Once the terminal velocity is reached, sky diver is no longer under acceleration, then the force of gravity and air resistance encountering each other.

Fnet = mg = 500 x 9.8 = 4900N

Ans b) Force of air resistance will also be same

    Air resistance = mass x gravity = 500N x 9.8 = 4900N

Ans c)An upward net force on a downward falling object would cause that object to slow down. The skydiver thus slow down. As the speed decreases, the amount of air resistance also decreases untill again it reaches the terminal velocity.

Ans d) once the parachute is pulled, the sky diver undergoes acceleration very quickly. This time however the acceleration is in opposite direction. As the skydiver descends to earth his speed is reduced further and further, untill it is travelling relatively safe speed downward. At this point air resistance and gravity equal each other and there is no more acceleration.

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