Why do skydivers have a terminal velocity?

People and things keep doing the same thing until a force makes them change according to Newton.

When a skydiver jumps out of a plane they have zero velocity downwards but the force of gravity is pulling them downwards back to Earth. This force, acting on the mass of the skydiver causes them to accelerate downwards at 9.81m/s^2. The skydiver will accelerate downards and get faster and faster but a second force, wind resistance, will get bigger and bigger the faster they go and will act to slow them down. This opposes the force of gravity. At some point the force of wind resistance slowing the skydiver down will be as large as the force of gravity pulling the skydiver down to Earth. Here there is no net force on the skydiver and it is known as equilibirum. The skydiver is at their terminal velocity because there is no net force causing them to speed up or slow down - until they open their parachute.

PF

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

A ball is dropped from a 5.0m high window. Assuming air resistance is negligible, calculate the time taken for it to hit the ground.


What are the assumptions made when calculating values regarding an Ideal Gas?


What is the critical angle of a beam of light leaving a transparent material with a refractive index of 2?


A ball is thrown out of a window 18m off the ground. It is thrown horizontally at 0.5m/s. Show that it takes about 2s to reach the ground