Ideally 2 objects of different mass and weight will hit the floor at same time because they face same gravitational pull and accelerate. Will the terminal velocity of both objects be same also? and with that theory does terminal velocity of every object is same ideally?
[Physics] Terminal velocity of all falling objects is same
dragnewtonian-gravitynewtonian-mechanicsvelocity
Best Answer
Terminal velocity is reached when the drag force due to moving through air is equal (but opposite) to the gravitational force. Now, the gravitational force is proportional to the mass, while the drag force has nothing to do with mass, but everything to do with how large and "streamlined" the object is. Suppose object A is twice as heavy as object B. If object A also experiences twice the drag force as object B (at a given speed), then their terminal velocities will be the same.
To put it another way, let's suppose that the two objects have the same masses, and therefore the same weights; they have the same gravitational forces. The question becomes: do they have the same drag force?
Drag comes from the resistance of the air to an object's movement, so – all else being equal – something that's more streamlined will have less resistance. If one of this is shaped like a bullet, and one is shaped like a big hollow ball, the big ball will have the same amount of drag at low speeds as the bullet does at high speeds. So the ball's terminal velocity will be a lot lower.
(I've simplified a little; the force of buoyancy should be added to the drag force. But usually this is relatively small, so we can ignore it just for simplicity.)