Download Terminal velocity is the speed an object freely falling reaches where

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AP Physics 1 Terminal Velocity LAB
Terminal velocity is the speed an object freely falling reaches where the weight of the object is equal to
the upward force of air resistance. When terminal velocity is reached, the object no longer accelerates
(at terminal velocity, acceleration is zero) but the object is still moving downward at some constant
speed. The reason people use parachutes involves the fact that terminal velocity is based upon (among
other things) the area: a parachute has a greater area than an individual will have.
YOUR JOB in this lab is to design an experiment to find out if there is a correlation between area and
terminal velocity, and to figure out exactly what is that correlation (linear or exponential).
You and your group will build small, square parachutes and tie them to army men. You’ll drop them and
measure the terminal velocity using the motion detectors. You only need to record the general shape of
the graph and the terminal velocity for each area you choose. As always, you’ll need to have three
measurements that agree with each other before you start graphing A vs v.
For the write up, you’ll be listing the materials, procedure you used, and lots of calculations and graphs.
Good luck, and keep those army men safe.