What is terminal velocity in a frictionless environment?

Answer 1

terminal velocity is obtained only in presence of viscous forces. it is that maximum velocity which a body attains while falling freely in a viscous medium. it happens when the net forces acting on the body becomes 0.

Answer 2

In a frictionless environment the word terminal velocity has no meaning and the veloctity will be the velocity at the time of impact if applicable. Terminal velocity arises because air offers friction which is proportional to v^2 (if I remember correctly, it may be v^3 also) and thus the frictional force counteracts the acceleration due to gravity and the velocity becomes constant.

Answer 3

There is no terminal velocity in that case or you might say that the terminal velocity is the speed of light.

Terminal velocity normally refers to the speed at which the frictional force (e.g. air drag) is equal to the accelerating force (e.g. gravity).

For example an object falling in a vacuum in a gravitational field experiences no air drag or any other frictional force. Thus, it just keeps on accelerating (velocity keeps increasing) until it hits another object.

The above applies to Newtonian mechanics. If the object were to accelerate long enough, however, its velocity would eventually reach a significant fraction of the speed of light. That's when relativistic (a la Einstein) mechanics must be used. Newtonian mechanics is just a low-velocity approximation to relativistic mechanics. Relativity (relativistic mechanics) tells you that the speed of the object will approach, but never attain the speed of light. Thus, the speed of light becomes a kind of terminal velocity, but this obviously has nothing to do with friction.

Answer 4

there is none because a terminal velocity is where the resistance caused by the speed is equal to the acceleration of the object... thus the object cannot accelerate.... however withouth friction there is no resistance and the object could never be at a terminal velocity

Answer 5

There are two cases: 1) steady velocity (ie. no acceleration; rectilinear motion): the body will go on forever (Galileo's experiment). 2) with acceleration: the body, approaching the speed of light, will increase its mass significantly; as a limit, when its speed matches the speed of light, its mass will become infinite, then full stop.

Answer 6

Limited only by the speed of light.

Answer 7

U can't live 2 long like that, so i'd say, 9 m.p.h.. Unles U R already dead !!

Answer 8

32 feet per second squared