I’m having some trouble wrapping my head around this concept. How does falling/reaching terminal velocity change depending on the force of gravity and atmosphere/drag. Example. Falling from the cliff on the Moon vs Earth or Mars vs. Earth.
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Terminal velocity is a balance of two forces: gravity and drag. Drag increases with speed and depends on the density of the atmosphere and the shape of the falling object. Gravity, in this context, can be considered constant.
On the moon, there’s negligible atmosphere, which means pretty much no drag, and therefore no terminal velocity: something falling on the moon will just keep accelerating until it hits something.
On Mars the atmosphere is very thin, so terminal velocity is higher than on earth, even though the gravity is also lower.
If you had a planet with Earth’s atmosphere and lower gravity, the terminal velocity would be lower.
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