Student book, pages 18–19

Objectives
• Explain what affects air resistance
• Describe what is meant by terminal velocity
• Explain how and why the speed of a skydiver changes

Overview
Students will be very familiar with the idea of air resistance from Stage 6, and
their everyday experience. In this lesson the practical activities establish the link
between air resistance and the area of an object, and air resistance and speed.
It is important for students to think about the mechanism by which the air is
exerting a force, which is explained by the collisions with the air molecules.
This will help them to explain the observations of the effect of changing area
and speed on the force of air resistance.
The idea that air resistance increases with speed (and so affects the motion of a
falling object like a skydiver) can be linked back to balanced and unbalanced
forces. When air resistance is equal to weight the object falls with a constant
speed, called ‘terminal velocity’. (The distinction between speed and velocity is
not needed here). The forces are balanced.

Activities
• Demonstrate dropping sheets of paper in different ways:
■ two screwed up pieces
■ one screwed up and one flat piece
■ one held flat and one held vertically.
Ask students why the fall at different rates, and establish the idea of air
resistance.
• Discuss what exactly we mean by ‘air resistance’ and bring out the idea of
collisions with air molecules. Students draw diagrams of the second case
above showing the air molecules colliding with the paper. More collide with
the flat piece than the screwed up piece.
• Students make parachutes of different areas and find how long each one
takes to reach the ground. This activity could be made into a competition to
find the parachute that takes the longest time to travel a set distance.
Worksheet 1.6.1 supports this activity.
• Show a video clip of the feather and hammer being dropped on the Moon or
demonstrate in the classroom if a vacuum pump is available. See
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_15_feather_drop.html
Discuss the difference between the Moon and the Earth in terms of
gravitational field strength and atmosphere.
• Students consolidate what they have done by making a cartoon strip of a
person jumping out of a plane. Worksheet 1.6.2 supports this activity.

Homework
Workbook page 12

Key words
air resistance, streamlining, terminal velocity

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