4/27/2017 FallingObjectwithAirResistance

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Anobjectthatisfallingthroughtheatmosphereissubjectedtotwoexternalforces.Thefirstforceisthegravitationalforce,
expressedastheweightoftheobject,andthesecondforceistheaerodynamicdragoftheobject.Theweightequation
definestheweightWtobeequaltothemassmoftheobjecttimesthegravitationalaccelerationg:

W=m*g

thevalueofgis9.8meterspersquaresecondonthesurfaceoftheearth.Thegravitationalaccelerationdecreaseswiththe
squareofthedistancefromthecenteroftheearth.Butformostpracticalproblemsintheatmosphere,wecanassumethis
factorisconstant.Iftheobjectwerefallinginavacuum,thiswouldbetheonlyforceactingontheobject.Butinthe
atmosphere,themotionofafallingobjectisopposedbytheaerodynamicdrag.ThedragequationtellsusthatdragDis
equaltoadragcoefficientCdtimesonehalftheairdensityrtimesthevelocityVsquaredtimesareferenceareaAon
whichthedragcoefficientisbased:

Onthefigureatthetop,thedensityisexpressedbytheGreeksymbol"rho".Thesymbollookslikeascript"p".Thisisthe
standardsymbolusedbyaeronauticalengineers.Weareusing"r"inthetextforeaseoftranslationbyinterpretivesoftware.

D=Cd*.5*r*V^2*A

ThemotionofanymovingobjectcanbedescribedbyNewton'ssecondlawofmotion,forceFequalsmassmtimes
accelerationa:

F=m*a

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4/27/2017 FallingObjectwithAirResistance
Wecandoalittlealgebraandsolvefortheaccelerationoftheobjectintermsofthenetexternalforceandthemassofthe
object:

a=F/m

Weightanddragareforceswhicharevectorquantities.Thenetexternalforceisthenequaltothedifferenceoftheweight
andthedragforces:

F=WD

Theaccelerationoftheobjectthenbecomes:

a=(WD)/m

Thedragforcedependsonthesquareofthevelocity.Soasthebodyacceleratesitsvelocityandthedragincrease.It
quicklyreachesapointwherethedragisexactlyequaltotheweight.Whendragisequaltoweight,thereisnonetexternal
forceontheobject,andtheaccelerationbecomeszero.Theobjectthenfallsataconstantvelocityasdescribedby
Newton'sfirstlawofmotion.Theconstantvelocityiscalledtheterminalvelocity.

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