A skydiver jumps out of a plane and reaches her terminal speed of 120 mph after falling for 15 s. How fast will the skydiver be going 12.4 s later at the moment she pulls the ripcord? (The parachute hasn't deployed yet)
You are asking the same question again and again.
At terminal speed the speed is constant. The drag force up equals the weight force down. Once at 120, always at 120 (until the parachute increases the drag and a lower speed balances the weight again) )
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Physics
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To find out how fast the skydiver will be going 12.4 seconds later, we need to understand the concept of terminal speed and how it affects the acceleration of the skydiver.
Terminal speed is the maximum speed that an object, in this case, the skydiver, can reach when the force of gravity pulling the object down is balanced by the force of air resistance pushing against it. Once the skydiver reaches terminal speed, their acceleration becomes zero.
From the given information, we know that the skydiver reaches her terminal speed of 120 mph after falling for 15 seconds. This means that the acceleration of the skydiver is zero beyond this point.
Now, let's calculate how far the skydiver will fall in 12.4 seconds after reaching terminal speed. We can use the equation of motion:
Distance = (Initial Velocity × Time) + (0.5 × Acceleration × Time^2)
Since the skydiver has reached her terminal speed, her initial velocity is 120 mph, and the acceleration is zero.
Distance = (120 mph × 12.4 s) + (0.5 × 0 × (12.4 s)^2)
Distance = 1488 miles + 0 miles
Distance = 1488 miles
Therefore, the skydiver will fall approximately 1488 miles in 12.4 seconds after reaching terminal speed.
However, this distance does not directly tell us the speed of the skydiver at this moment. To find the speed, we need to know the starting point. Let's assume the starting speed is zero (at the time the skydiver pulls the ripcord).
To calculate the speed of the skydiver after 12.4 seconds, we can use the equation:
Final Velocity = Initial Velocity + (Acceleration × Time)
Since the acceleration is still zero, and the initial velocity is zero, the final velocity will also be zero. This means that the skydiver will be momentarily stationary at the moment she pulls the ripcord.
Therefore, the speed of the skydiver 12.4 seconds later, at the moment she pulls the ripcord, will be zero mph.