Question

Describe qualitatively the motion of bodies
falling in a uniform gravitational field with and
without air resistance (including reference to
terminal velocity)

Answer 1

Answer:

Assuming the question refers to motion of a body, rather than the body, falling in a uniform gravitational field, it will continue to accelerate uniformly as long as it encounters no opposing force, such as that provided by air friction. If air friction is present, and the body begins falling from rest, it’s initial acceleration will be the same as in a frictionless environment, but very quickly, air friction will build up as the body forces it’s way through the air. A body moving through air is the same as air moving past a body. Anyone who has stood in a strong wind will have noted the significant force the moving air produces, compared with a gentle breeze.

So, as the body continues to fall faster and faster, its motion is opposed by an increasingly greater air frictional force. With the force of gravity now being opposed by an increasing oppositely directed force, the body’s acceleration slows, so that, although it is getting faster, it is getting faster more slowly. At the point where the falling velocity has built to the point where the air friction acting upwards has built up to equal the force of gravity downwards, the body is not acted on by any net force, so continues in the state of motion it was in at that point ( Newton’s First Law of Motion.) The body is now falling with a constant velocity, referred to as it’s TERMINAL VELOCITY. Please give me brainlist answer