
Some example drag coefficients are 1.0 for a cube or a skydiver falling flat on his belly, 0.5 for a sphere and 0.04 for an aerodynamic wing. Its value is determined empirically, usually with the use of a wind tunnel.

The drag coefficient is undoubtedly the hardest thing to estimate in the terminal velocity calculator input. In our calculator you can enter gravity both in m/s 2 and as g-units where 1g = 9.80665 m/s 2 is the standard acceleration due to Earth's gravity at sea-level.

~1.2 kg/m 3 for air versus 985 kg/m 3 for the human body). This equation applies only for objects falling through air or in other cases where the buoyancy force is negligible due to the large difference between the density of the fluid and the falling object (e.g. 1.225 for air), the cross-sectional area projected by the object ( A), and the gravitational (or equivalent) force g in m/s 2 according to the following equation: The formula for the terminal velocity of a falling object ( V t) can be calculated from the body's mass m, the density of the fluid in question ( p, in kg/m 3, e.g. For example, a human body generally needs to fall about 450 meters (1,500 feet) of height before it reaches terminal velocity. Terminal velocity can be achieved by an object provided it has enough distance to fall through so if you want to experience it, you need to jump from a high enough place (do not forget your parachute!). The terminal velocity of an average 80 kg human body is about 66 meters per second (= 240 km/h = 216 ft/s = 148 mph).

An object moving at terminal velocity has zero acceleration and constant speed as the net force on it is zero by definition. That happens when the gravitational force working on the object in downward direction equals the sum of upward forces (drag and buoyancy) impeding it's fall. Terminal velocity is defined as the maximum velocity an object can achieve when falling through a fluid, such as air or water.
