A skydiver jumped from a plane. As she fell, her speed kept increasing until it reached terminal velocity of 150 miles per hour at 15 seconds. At terminal velocity, an object's speed (velocity) stops increasing due to air resistance. At 40 seconds after her jump from the plane, she opened her parachute. After the parachute opened, her descent speed rapidly decreased until it reached 20 miles per hour just after 60 seconds into the dive. Which of these graphs best represents the skydiver's kinetic energy during her dive?
The graph that best represents the skydiver's kinetic energy during her dive is a graph that starts at 0 at the beginning of the dive, increases to a peak at 15 seconds when the skydiver reaches terminal velocity, and then decreases rapidly after 40 seconds when the parachute is opened.
