terminal velocity
Sign in to savehighest velocity attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid
Wikidata facts
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- property
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- has contributing factor
- weight
- Commons category
- Terminal velocity
- studied by
- physics
- has characteristic
- acceleration
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Encyclopedic overview
The downward force of gravity (Fg) equals the restraining force of drag (Fd) plus the buoyancy. The net force on the object is zero, and the result is that the velocity of the object remains constant.
Terminal velocity is the maximum speed attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid (air is the most common example). It is reached when the sum of the drag force (Fd) and the buoyancy is equal to the downward force of gravity (FG) acting on the object. Since the net force on the object is zero, the object has zero acceleration. For objects falling through air at normal pressure, the buoyant force is usually dismissed and not taken into account, as its effects are negligible.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “terminal velocity” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.