Experiment - Air Resistance
Laboratory
Air Resistance
In Adventures in Skydiving Philippe Theys says
"Who would be crazy enough to leave a perfectly good airplane, accelerate for eleven seconds to reach a terminal velocity, where the pull of gravity equals wind resistance, of almost 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour)?"
As we learn in the article, many people do - and love it! At terminal velocity, of course, these jumpers open a parachute and float to the ground. Once the parachute is opened, velocity is reduced to only 6 meters per second, or about 22 kph -- slow enough to land safely. The total mass of Philippe + parachute is the same, but with the parachute spread above him rather then folded up tightly in his back pack, the air resistance is much greater.
Here's a little experiment that demonstrates how this works. Materials
The Experiment
What do you expect to happen when you drop both pieces of paper from the same height? Check our results. |