A skydiver jumps from a high-flying helicopter. As she falls faster and faster through the air, does her acceleration increase, decrease, or remain the same?
Question 3.S&C.4: A skydiver jumps from a high-flying helicopter. As she falls...
Acceleration decreases because the net force on her decreases. Net force is equal to her weight minus her air resistance, and since air resistance increases with increasing speed, net force and hence acceleration decrease. By Newton’s second law,
a=\frac{F_{\text {net }}}{m}=\frac{m g-R}{m}
where mg is her weight and R is the air resistance she encounters. As R increases, both net force and a decrease. Note that if she falls fast enough so that R=m g, a=0 \text {, } then, with no acceleration, she falls at constant speed.
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