Please explain terminal velocity.?

Answer 1

Objects falling to earth with its gravity accelarate at close to 10g. So the speed increases. However, as the speed increases friction caused by air also increases. At some point the speed cannot increase anymore because of the friction. That is called the terminal velocity. Not to be confused with the movie (though the movie had great scenes with free fall! :-)

Answer 2

When an object is in freefall, it will experience air resistance, or drag. The drag force depends on the object's speed (among other factors): the faster the object is moving, the greater the drag. At some velocity, the (upward) force of drag will exactly equal the (downward) force of gravity. This is the "terminal velocity", where the object is no longer accelerating and is falling at a constant speed.

Incidentally, the reason cats can fall from great heights without sustaining massive injuries is because they can manipulate their bodies in such a way as to REDUCE their terminal velocity. So they actually slow down before they land.

Answer 3

If you drop an object from a great height it begins accelerating towards the earth at roughly 9.8 m/s^2. If gravity was the only force acting then the object would continue to accelerate infinitely.

However there is another force. The force of friction through the air. This is so small at normal speeds we tend to disregards it. However the faster something moves, the more resistance it encounters from this air resistance.

Eventually for most objects as speed increases, this resistance from air builds to a point where it matches the force of gravity.

At this point, the object does not accelerate any more and the speed (velocity) remains constant. This is the terminal velocity.

Answer 4

As the speed of an object through the air increases the force of the air molecules smacking into it increases as well, exerting a force on it opposite the direction of motion. This is known as drag. As a falling object falls faster and faster due to the constant pull of the earth, eventually the drag increases enough to equal the force of gravity but in the opposite direction. At this point the falling object has reached terminal velocity - the fastest rate at which it can freefall.

Note that since there's less air to resist an object's motion at higher altitudes, terminal velocity is higher as you go up and lower as you go down.

Answer 5

I will explain with an example. If you were to jump off a tall building, you would gain speed until you reached terminal velocity. It's the fastest speed an object can reach while plummeting to earth. It all depends on the mass of the object and the height of the fall if you will reach terminal velocity.

Answer 6

The terminal velocity of an object falling under the influence of gravity is the velocity attained when the resistance due to friction exactly matches the gravitational force (allowing for buoyancy effects)

Answer 7

The upthrust = viscous drag ( air friction) - if you ignore the bouyancy of the air which is negligible. The air friction will be zero at the start and will increase with the increase in velocity. As the body is released it will accelerate and increase in velocity so the drag increases until it equals the weight. At this point the body stops accelerating and the velocity will be constant ( terminal velocity)

Answer 8

Terminal Velocity is the point at which gravity's pull equaly opposes wind resistance's push.

The faster one falls, the greater wind resistance will be. So Gravity will continue accelerating the object until the wind resistance directly opposes it, they cancel, and the object falls at a constant speed for the rest of the fall.

Unless another force acts uppon it, it changes shape (and thereby changes it's resistance) or reaches a thicker part of the atmosphere, it will fall at this speed.

Answer 9

To finish STMC's thought.

It is the maximum velocity that an object can be subjected to before the integrity or structure of the object becomes compromised

Eric J Warren
www.ewarren1.qhealthzone.com

Answer 10

Basically speaking it is the absolute fastest speed at which an object can travel (not to be confused with Terminal Ballistics: what happens to a projectile when it strikes an object).
For more information try going to:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov.www/k-12/airplain/termv.html

good luck