A falling skydiver has a mass of 108 kg. What is the magnitude of the skydiver's acceleration when the upward force of air resistance has a magnitude that is equal to one-sixth of his weight?

Question

A falling skydiver has a mass of 108 kg. What is the magnitude of the skydiver's acceleration when the upward force of air resistance has a magnitude that is equal to one-sixth of his weight?

Answer 1

Interesting question. I'm sure you know that, without air resistance, the acceleration a = g = 9.81 m/s². So the answer will be a bit less than that. Since air resistance has an upward force of one-sixth the skydiver's weight, we're basically saying that one-sixth of their weight is being cancelled out, which also translates to one-sixth of their acceleration being cancelled out. So their acceleration will be five- sixths of "g". I'll leave the calculation to you.