I was just scrolling through another sub and the Felix Baumgartner jump came up, along with someone mentioning that the record was broken by Alan Eustace in 2014.
In the Wiki for this, it mentions he was falling at 822mph, however I thought a human’s terminal velocity was 120mph (more if say, a skydiver was diving head first)… So how does this work? Is it as a result of the reduced air resistance and force of gravity increased therefore increasing the terminal velocity?
Sorry, by no means a physicist!
In: Physics
Drag, and therefore terminal velocity, depends on air density, and air is less dense at very high altitudes. Because most of the air is below you, its weight isn’t compressing the air around you.
Gravity is also weaker at high altitudes, but not that much weaker.
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