As an object accelerates, the amount of drag exerted on it increases.

This means that more force is necessary to sustain the same level of acceleration. If that external force is increasing, as in a car or plane, then the object can be accelerated well past its terminal velocity. If, however, the only force being exerted on it is the force of gravity, then eventually the drag will become as great as the static force of gravity, and the object will cease to accelerate. An object may also decelerate towards terminal velocity, if it was initially moving faster thanterminal velocity. This may be because it entered from somewhere with less drag, such as the thinner upper atmosphere, or because it was initially launched with some external force other than gravity at a greater velocity. In this way, terminal velocity can be viewed as a sort of equilibrium point that objects in freefall naturally gravitate towards. A free-falling object achieves its terminal velocity when the downward force of gravity (FG) equals the buoyancy/resistance force [1] of drag (Fd). This causes the net force on the object to be zero, resulting in an acceleration of zero. Mathematically, terminal velocitywithout considering buoyancy effectsis given by

where = terminal velocity, = mass of the falling object, = acceleration due to gravity, = drag coefficient, = density of the fluid through which the object is falling, and = projected area of the object. Mathematically, an object approaches its terminal velocity asymptotically. Buoyancy effects, due to the upward force on the object by the surrounding fluid, can be taken into account using Archimedes' principle: the mass has to be reduced by the displaced fluid mass , with the volume of the object. So instead of use

the reduced mass in this and subsequent formulas. On Earth, the terminal velocity of an object changes due to the properties of the fluid, the mass of the object and its projected crosssectional surface area. Air density increases with decreasing altitude, ca. 1% per 80 metres (262 ft) (see barometric formula). For objects falling through the atmosphere, for every 160 metres (525 ft) of falling, the terminal velocity decreases 1%. After reaching the local terminal velocity, while continuing the fall, speed decreases to change with the local terminal velocity.

The downward force of gravity (Fg) equals the restraining force of drag (Fd). The net force on the body is then zero, and the result is that the velocity of the object remains constant. [edit]Derivation for terminal velocity Mathematically, defining down to be positive, the net force acting on an object falling near the surface of Earth is (according to the drag equation):

At equilibrium, the net force is zero (F = 0);

Solving for v yields

Terminal velocity in the presence of buoyancy force When the buoyancy effects are taken into account, an object falling through a fluid under its own weight can reach a terminal velocity (settling velocity) if the net force acting on the object becomes zero. When the terminal velocity is reached the weight of the object is exactly balanced by the upwardbuoyancy force and drag force. That is where = weight of the object, = buoyancy force acting on the object, and = drag force acting on the object.

If the falling object is spherical in shape, the expression for the three forces are given below:

where diameter of the spherical object gravitational acceleration, density of the fluid, density of the object, projected area of the sphere, drag coefficient, and characteristic velocity (taken as terminal velocity, ). Substitution of equations (24) in equation (1) and solving for terminal velocity, to yield the following expression

. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics) http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-terminal-velocity.htm http://physics.info/viscosity/ http://www.files.chem.vt.edu/chem-dept/marand/Lecture10.pdf The quantity defined above is sometimes called dynamic viscosity, absolute viscosity, or simple viscosity to distinguish it from the other quantity, but is usually just called viscosity. The other quantity called kinematic viscosity(represented by the symbol "nu") is the ratio of the viscosity of a fluid to its density. = Kinematic viscosity is a measure of the resistive flow of a fluid under the influence of gravity. It is frequently measured u sing a device called a capillary viscometer basically a graduated can with a narrow tube at the bottom. When two fluids of equal volume are placed in identical capillary viscometers and allowed to flow under the influence of gravity, a viscous fluid takes longer than a less viscous fluid to flow through the tube. factors affecting viscosity From everyday experience, it should be common knowledge that viscosity varies with temperature. In general, the viscosity of a simple liquiddecreases with increasing temperature (and vice versa). As temperature increases, the average speed of the molecules in a liquid increases and the amount of time they spend "in contact" with their nearest neighbors decreases. Thus, as temperature increases, the average intermolecular forces decrease. The exact manner in which the two quantities vary is nonlinear and changes abruptly when the liquid changes phase. Viscosity is normally independent of pressure, but liquids under extreme pressure often experience an increase in viscosity. Since liquids are normally incompressible, an increase in pressure doesn't really bring the molecules significantly closer together. Simple models of molecular interactions won't work to explain this behavior and, to my knowledge, there is no generally accepted more complex model that does. The liquid phase is probably the least well understood of all the phases of matter. While liquids get runnier as they get hotter, gases get thicker. (If one can imagine a "thick" gas.) The viscosity of gases increases as temperature increases and is approximately proportional to the square root of temperature. This is due to the increase in the frequency of intermolecular collisions at higher temperatures. Since most of the time the molecules in a gas are flying freely through the void, anything that increases the number of times one molecule is in contact with another will decrease the ability of the molecules as a whole to engage in the coordinated movement. The more these molecules collide with one another, the more disorganized their motion becomes. Since viscosity is so dependent on temperature, it shouldn't never be stated without it.