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The Physics of Skydiving
By: Christian Aponte
Boris Shluger
What is Skydiving?
The practice of jumping out of
an aircraft from several
thousand feet above sea
level and then free falling
before releasing
a parachute,
which allows
the skydiver
to reduce his
speed so he
can land gently
on the surface of the earth.
What concepts of physics are
involved with Skydiving?

Acceleration

Air Resistance

Surface Area

Terminal Velocity

Aerodynamics

Newton's Laws
Acceleration
Acceleration (the rate of change
of velocity) is caused by a net
force on an object. On Earth,
one force we can always count
on is the ever present force of
gravity pulling down on any
object that has mass. If gravity
is the only force acting on an
object, then we find the
object will accelerate at a rate
of 9.8m/s2 down toward the
center of the Earth. Gravity acts
on all bodies in the universe,
and each bodies' gravitational
effects are related. The body
that the majority of the human
population is affected by is the
planet earth.
What is Air Resistance?
What is air resistance?
Basically, it is friction between an object and the air. When a
mass is moving at high speeds, air resistance causes them to
slow their velocity by their position. If they were in a diving
position ' V ' , there is less air resistance, because there is
less surface area facing the direction you are going in. If you
were to spread all of your limbs out, it causes a much greater
surface area, causing more air to collide with your stomach,
slowing you down.
What causes air resistance?
All matter is made from atoms and/or molecules. The air is no
exception. When something moves through the air, it bumps
into the atoms and molecules.
Surface Area
Air resistance depends on your
surface area. For example, if you
are falling in a ball you will fall fast,
if you are falling flat out completely
stretched out, you will fall slower.
Using a parachute just creates
more surface area (hence you can
land without dying). When you dive
(falling completely straight) you
have less surface area and your
velocity is be higher.
How are Acceleration and Air
Resistance connected?
Acceleration of a skydiver
is connected with air
resistance by the fact that
when a skydiver's speed
becomes so great and the
force of air resistance
becomes so great that
they both equal each
other. With this happening
a skydiver does not
accelerate anymore, and
reaches what is known as
terminal velocity.
Terminal Velocity
.  Terminal velocity is the maximum velocity that an object can reach
when falling through the air.



Without air resistance, a body would continue to accelerate
towards infinity.
Terminal velocity varies between different kinds of bodies. A
feather, released from a very tall building, will fall much slower and
reach a terminal velocity much sooner than that of a rock.
Gravity is acting equally on both of these objects, but because of
the greater surface area to mass ratio of the feather, the feather
reaches its terminal velocity much sooner.
Unbelievable Demonstration
How do my laws play
into skydiving?
Newton'sFir
stLaw
Newton'sSec
ondLaw
Newton's
ThirdLaw
Newton's First Law
This law states "A body persists its state of rest or of uniform
motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force."

In skydiving, this law is demonstrated easily when the diver pulls
the parachute. Once the parachute is pulled, the diver's velocity,
which at terminal velocity, is traveling at a constant speed but then
immediately changes. The outside force of air resistance changes the
divers velocity. Then when a diver lands the force of the ground
changes the velocity of the skydiver and completely stops him.

Back
Newton's Second Law


Newton's second law states that "Force equals
mass times acceleration (F = ma)": the net force on
an object is equal to the mass of the object
multiplied by its acceleration
A skydiver needs this equation to figure out when
he's gonna hit the ground and when to pull the
parachute. The skydiver can find out their
acceleration by inputting the force of gravity in
along with their mass.
Back
Newton's Third Law

This law sates that "To every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction."
This is just a basic when it comes to
understanding the way motion works. It relates
to skydiving in the fact that all of the gravity
and other forces a skydiver experiences while
jumping are being counteracted by and equal
and opposite force.
Back
Works Cited
Lenaker, Dane. "The Physics of Skydiving." Fall 2002. <http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211
_fall2002.web.dir/DaneLenakerSkydiving/index.htm>.
Physlink.com. 15 Nov. 2002 <http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae536.cfm>.
The Physics Classroom. Mathsoft Engineering & Education. 15 Nov. 2002
<http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmedia/newtlaws/sd.html>.
"The Physics of Skydiving" St. Chris Physics.
http://waowen.screaming.net/revision/force&motion/skydiver.htm
The End