Work sheet of terminal velocity

Describe the motion at
each stage of the skydiver’s
jump:
Stage 1: at the moment of
leaving the plane…
Explain why her motion is the Draw arrows to show
way it is (think about the forces): all forces acting on the
skydiver:
Stage 1:

Stage 2: Stage 2:

Stage 3: terminal velocity… Stage 3:

Stage 4: just after opening the Stage 4:

parachute…

Stage 5: Stage 5:

Stage 6: terminal velocity Stage 6:

again…
terminal velocity – sample answers
Describe the motion at
each stage of the
skydiver’s jump:
Stage 1: at the moment of
leaving the plane, the skydiver
is accelerating downwards.
Stage 2: she is still accelerating
but not as much as before.
Decreasing acceleration
Stage 3: she is moving at
constant velocity (speed and
direction).
Stage 4: she is decelerating.
Stage 5: she is decelerating but
at a lower rate.
Decreasing deceleration
Stage 6: her velocity (speed
and direction) is constant (until
she hits the ground). (This new
terminal velocity is lower than
the previous terminal velocity
when she was in free fall.
Provided she lands correctly,
she can hit the ground at this
speed without hurting herself.)
Explain why her motion is the way Draw arrows to show
it is (think about the forces): all forces acting on the
skydiver: = weight
Stage 1: since she is not yet moving,
there is no air resistance acting on her.
However, her weight acts downwards, as
ever. So the resultant force on her is
downwards and equal to her weight.
Stage 2: she is now moving downwards,
so she experiences an air resistance force
upwards. Her weight is the same as ever.
Her resultant force is downwards, but it is
not as large as before.
Stage 3: as her speed increased, the air
resistance increased until it was equal in
size to her weight. At this point there was
no longer any resultant force. With no
resultant force, her velocity (speed and
direction) stays the same (until she either
hits the ground or opens the parachute).
Stage 4: when she opens the parachute,
her air resistance increases dramatically
(because of the parachute’s larger area).
It now exceeds her weight, and so there is
a resultant force upwards. This does not
make her move upwards; it eats away at
her downward speed. (Think of pulling on
a heavy, moving object in the opposite
direction to its motion. It doesn’t instantly
change direction; first, it just slows down.)
Stage 5: she has slowed down, so her air
resistance has decreased. The resultant
upwards force is therefore less than
before.
Stage 6: as her speed decreased, the air
resistance decreased until it was equal in
size to her weight, again. At this point
there was no more resultant force and her
velocity no longer changed.