StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Physics of Skydiving - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This essay "The Physics of Skydiving" discusses skydiving as a popular sport involving individuals jumping off from a high place, usually an airplane, and falling down several thousand feet. It is an adrenaline-based sport that involves the use of parachutes to ensure a safe landing…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96.4% of users find it useful
The Physics of Skydiving
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Physics of Skydiving"

The reason behind this is the force of gravity. This gravity results in an acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2. Given this acceleration, the following formula determines how far the skydiver will travel in a given time:

X = Vi * t + .5 * g * t^2

where X is the distance traveled, t is the time and g is the acceleration due to gravity. (Lenaker 2002).

Air resistance is the force that acts against gravity while the skydiver is accelerating downward. Air resistance acts upwards against gravity which acts downwards. In the beginning, the push provided by air resistance is much smaller than the pull of gravity; therefore, the skydiver continues to accelerate downwards. However, as the skydiver falls faster and faster, the value of air resistance increases because of which the acceleration starts to decrease. Eventually, the force of air resistance becomes equal to that of the force of gravity. At this point, the skydiver stops accelerating and attains a constant speed. This constant speed is known as the terminal velocity. Terminal velocity is the maximum velocity that a particular body can reach when falling through the air. (Gordon et al 2000; Lenaker 2002)

The cross-sectional area of the skydiver plays a very important role in how quickly or slowly the skydiver will reach its terminal velocity. This is because the cross-sectional area determines the amount of air resistance that will act on the skydiver. The greater the cross-sectional area, the greater will be the force of air resistance. For example, a skydiver who falls in a spread eagle position will encounter a greater air resistance than one who falls head, or feet, first. This is where the role of parachutes comes in. As soon as the skydiver opens their parachute, their cross-sectional area increases, leading to an increase in the air resistance. This air resistance becomes greater than gravity. The upward net force causes the skydiver to slow down. As the speed of the skydiver decreases, so does the air resistance, until the skydiver reaches terminal velocity again. (Gordon et al. 2000).

As we can see, behind this energetic sport lie some complicated concepts of physics that enable us to fully enjoy it and experience the addictive rush of adrenaline that this sport provides!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Skydiving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1602328-skydiving
(Skydiving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1602328-skydiving.
“Skydiving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1602328-skydiving.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Physics of Skydiving

Parachute jump(Felix jump)

Such mandatorily require an exceptional expertise that has mastered the rules of skydiving or freefalling.... He now topped the skydiving record from the highest altitude and broke the record of former best skydiver who enjoyed the title for half a century (Wall, 2012).... In the case of Baumgartner, it's presumed that he has been undergoing training on skydiving and his constant exposure to this practice has reduced his level of fears.... The latter means a vector quantity which meant ‘the rate of an object as it changes its velocity' (physics Classroom, 2012)....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Issues in Tort Law: Duty and Reasonableness of Care

Torts is a category of law that deals with personal injury.... There are several types of personal injuries, to be sure-both intentional and unintentional, dealing with the issues of negligence and so forth.... Basically, there are six types of torts. ... ... here are intentional torts against persons, which deal with very specific charges that are incurred when one person injures another....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Skydiving company

Westbound is a skydiving company that I intend to run and should employ 30 members of staff.... There are various legal issues that one should consider when starting a skydiving company (Kyle 15). ... The skydiving Company skydiving is one of the popular adventures in many countries of the world.... Westbound is a skydiving company that I intend to run and should employ 30 members of staff.... There are various legal issues that one should consider when starting a skydiving company (Kyle 15)....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Parachute jump

He descended with a parachute recording the greatest free fall velocity in history of skydiving.... This case study brings us to the physics discussion of free fall and the factors involved (Heitzmann, From the Newton laws of motion, a free fall is the motion which involves the weight of a body as the only body is the only force that acts against it....
3 Pages (750 words) Research Paper

Laws of Conservation for Skydivers and Paratroopers

The paper "Laws of Conservation for Skydivers and Paratroopers" reminds us that parachuting and skydiving involve freefalling from an aircraft and later opening a parachute to lessen the speed of descent.... In physics, the term conservation means that there is no loss in energy, only that it is transferred through objects without net change in the energy....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

Experiences of Participants in the Three Extreme Sports

The paper "Experiences of Participants in the Three Extreme Sports" highlights that extreme sports teach humanity to respect fear.... Most athletes indulge in it for the pleasure that they derive from it.... Extreme sports have become so popular that there are several TV channels dedicated to this sport....
5 Pages (1250 words) Coursework

The Prior Information in Our Brains

For instance, skydivers are assumed to be forgetting to trigger their ripcords: this is approximated to be the responsible cause of fetal deaths as a result of skydiving, representing almost six percent of the deaths.... The following paper under the title 'The Prior Information in Our Brains' gives detailed information about Garry Marcus who is a cognitive scientist and a writer says that Hamlet could have concluded that humans creatures are infinite in faculty and noble in reason....
6 Pages (1500 words) Case Study

The Adventure Tourism Attraction in the East Coast of Australia

Adventure tourism in question is skydiving and the naturally beautiful East Coast of Australia.... With people wanting to try new activities in their tours and adventures, skydiving has proven to be a great alternative.... With the inherent risk involved in skydiving, the report aims at revealing how the operators manage those critical situations and also ensuring profitability and customer satisfaction.... he target groups of adventure companies are skydiving lovers and they have plenty to offer to them for the sport providing an exciting experience....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us