https://www.mrcorfe.com/KS4/AQA/Phy2/Forces/TerminalVelocity.php

10th Sep '25

Terminal Velocity

Falling objects are acted on by a downward force () and an upward force ().

We can take the upward force away from the downward force to find the force acting on the object.

If the force acting on a body is not zero, it will in the direction of the resultant force.

At the start of a fall the forces are and the object , but as the speed of the object builds up the air resistance increases.

At some speed the air resistance will equal weight and the forces will become and so there will be no more . The object continues to fall at a constant speed known as its 'Terminal Velocity'. Different shapes have different amounts of air resistance and so have different terminal velocities.