Forces acting on a skydiver Flashcards
What force acts as soon as he jumps out the plane?
Weight due to gravity
Will the force of weight change?
NO NOT DURING THE WHOLE JOURNEY
What does the skydiver experience due to weight
Resultant force acting downwards
Therefore accelerates towards the ground
What does the skydiver experience that opposes weight when they first fall
Friction due to air molecules
(Air resistance)
Acting upwards
Why does the skydiver continue to accelerate?
Because the weight is greater than the air resistance
What happens when the velocity increases?
The air resistance begins to increase
At a certain point, what eventually happens?
Air resistance and weight is balanced as the velocity continued to increase
What happens when there’s no resultant force because the velocity and air resistance balanced?
There is no resultant force
So velocity stays constant
= terminal velocity
Terminal velocity
When the velocity is constant because the force of air resistance and weight are balanced = resultant force of 0
It’s very big
At what point does the skydiver open the parachute?
At the terminal velocity
What does the parachute allow?
For the surface area to increase therefore air resistance massively increases
What does increasing the air resistance mean?
It’s larger than the weight
Therefore the resultant force acts upwards
If the resultant force acts upwards what does that mean for the skydiver?
Their velocity decreases
Thus they decelerate
If the velocity decreases what does that mean?
The air resistance will decrease
So it will balance the weight
And resultant force = 0
The sec’ d time the resultant force = 0 what does it mean?
It will fall at a constant rate
It will be at a much smaller terminal velocity
So it’s safe to hit the ground
