Quote:
Originally Posted by Tribesman
Doesn't terminal velocity mainly revolve around the principle of a lack of further acceleration?
What if he sticks his arm out or doesn't? either from a plane at 20,000 or from a balloon at 120,000? what if he sticks both arms out in an las vegas elvis suit?
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Many things determine "terminal" velocity, I'll not go into all of them here. Even wikipedia has a decent entry.
Air density has a huge effect on the speed at which an object falls.
In a vacuum, a bowling ball and a feather would drop at the same speed, not so in the atmosphere.
Now, assuming the object is not falling in a vacuum, then cross sectional area of the falling object exposed to the passing atmosphere has an effect on velocity.
A jumper diving head down with arms and legs straight will fall quite a bit faster than the same jumper spread eagle.
What is a parachute other than an object which increases your cross-sectional area against the atmosphere?