Problem 1.

14

[Difficulty: 4]

Given:

M = 70 kg

Data on sky diver:

k = 0.25

N s

Find:

Maximum speed; speed after 100 m; plot speed as function of time and distance.

Solution:

Use given data; integrate equation of motion by separating variables.

Treat the sky diver as a system; apply Newton's 2nd law:

Newton's 2nd law for the sky diver (mass M) is (ignoring buoyancy effects):

(a) For terminal speed Vt, acceleration is zero, so M g k V = 0

dV
dt

(1)

M g

Vt =

so

= M g k V

FD = kV2

1
2
2

m
m
N s
Vt = 70 kg 9.81

2
2 kg m
s
0.25 N s

(b) For V at y = 100 m we need to find V(y). From (1) M

Separating variables and integrating:

dV
dt

= M

so

Mg

dV dy
dV
2

= M V
= M g k V
dy dt
dt
y

M g

k V
2 k
ln 1
=
y
M

g
M

m
Vt = 52.4
s

dV = g dy

2
0
k V

V
1

a = dV/dt

or

M g
2
V =
1 e
k

2 k y
M

Hence

V( y ) = Vt 1 e

2 k y
M

For y = 100 m:

N s
1
kg m

2 0.25
100 m

2
70 kg s 2 N
m
m
V( 100 m) = 52.4 1 e

V( 100 m) = 37.4

m
s

V(m/s)

60
40
20

100

200

300

400

500

y(m)

(c) For V(t) we need to integrate (1) with respect to t:

Separating variables and integrating:

dV
dt

= M g k V

dV = 1 dt

M g
2
0
V
k
V

M
t=
ln
2 k g

so

2
e
V( t) = Vt

2
e

Rearranging

k g

k g
M

+V

V +V
k
= 1 M ln t
2 k g Vt V
M g
V
k

M g

or

k
V( t) = Vt tanh Vt t
M

+ 1

V(m/s)

60
40
V ( t)
20

10
t

t(s)

The two graphs can also be plotted in Excel.

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