A skydiver, who weighs 650 N, is falling at a constant speed with his parachute open. Consider the apparatus that connects the parachute to the skydiver to be part of the parachute. The parachute pulls upward with a force of 620 N.
You have to consider the skydiver and parachute to be a single system. What are the external forces acting on this system? I don't know if there is more than one
A) The downward force of the skydiver on the parachute.
B) The upward force of the parachute on the skydiver.
C) The upward directed drag force due to the air.
D) The downward directed force due to gravity.
C and D are forces acting on the skydiver-chute system.
A and B are internal forces within the system. They cancel out when considering the system as a whole.
The external forces acting on the skydiver and parachute system are:
D) The downward directed force due to gravity.
C) The upward directed drag force due to the air.
To understand why these are the external forces, let's break it down:
D) The downward directed force due to gravity: Gravity is an external force acting on the system. It pulls the skydiver and parachute downward towards the Earth. This force can be calculated using the equation F = mg, where F is the force due to gravity, m is the mass of the system, and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
C) The upward directed drag force due to the air: When the parachute is open, it creates a large surface area that pushes against the air as the system moves through it. This results in a drag force that opposes the motion of the system and pushes it upward. The magnitude of this drag force depends on various factors such as the size and shape of the parachute, the speed of the system, and the density of the air.
As for options A and B:
A) The downward force of the skydiver on the parachute: This force is an internal force within the system. As an internal force, it does not affect the motion of the system as a whole.
B) The upward force of the parachute on the skydiver: This force is also an internal force within the system. It is simply the reaction force to the downward force of the skydiver on the parachute.
Therefore, the correct external forces acting on the skydiver and parachute system are D) The downward directed force due to gravity and C) The upward directed drag force due to the air.