What has a faster terminal velocity heavy skydiver or lighter skydiver?

Answer 1

Terminal velocity is determined not by mass (weight) but by air resistance. When the gravitational force is matched by the drag force (air resistance), acceleration becomes zero. If a skydiver did two dives, one with a backpack filled with feathers and one with the same backpack filled with lead, the terminal velocities of each dive would be the same, as the air resistance induced by the diver did not change from dive to dive. Weight alone does not influence terminal velocity. However, it is likely that a heavy person will also have a large projected area (surface area), increasing the drag coefficient, and effectively lowering the terminal velocity.

A heavy person is therefore likely to have a slower terminal velocity than a light person, assuming heavy people are also large and bulky.

The previous answer is completely wrong.

The differential equation describing sky divers is

dv/dt=g-k/m*v

where x denotes the distance fallen, and k describes the gas viscosity and interaction with the diver. This equation is an approximation, but one that is very valid in the case.

The solution to the equation is

v=(g m)/k + exp(-((k t)/m)) C[1]

where C[1] is a constant term determined by initial conditions. The terminal velocity is a velocity determined by long term behavior. For large t, the exp decay term goes to zero, so

v terminal = (g m)/k

Thus, it depends on m.

I agree. As a general rule, light jumpers need to add weight, (increase Mass) to fall at a similar rate to average sized jumpers. A Tandem pair require a drogue parachute in the freefall phase to increase drag and reduce velocity to compensate for the extra mass of the tandem passenger. If you threw a cat out of a plane and jumped out soon after, you would barely have time to wave as you flew past. The cat might even survive this cruel act. I once filmed a tandem where the TM was 115kg and the passenger was 105kg. I used my Scuba weight belt with about 5kgs of weight to keep up. The company eventually saw the light and restricted him to passengers, 70kgs or less.