Friction and Terminal Velocity

• When an object first starts falling, its weight downwards is much larger than any air resistance upwards
• Resultant force in the downwards direction causes the object to accelerate towards the ground
• As the object accelerates and its velocity increases, the air resistance will also increase
• At some point, the air resistance will equal the weight
• Resultant force will fall to zero when the air resistance equals the weight
• No resultant force means no acceleration
• Object has reached its terminal velocity when there's no acceleration
• Terminal velocity is when the object's velocity remains constant, no longer accelerating or decelerating
• What a parachute does

  1. Increases surface area
  2. Increases collisions with air
  3. Air resistance increases
  4. Persons decelerates
  5. Air resistance decreases
  6. Forces balance out and we reach a new lower terminal velocity