Pressure Air

How much does air pressure change terminal velocity?

How much does air pressure change terminal velocity? Let’s say you were in a big airtight tower and the air pressure could be turned way up or down. What’s the relationship between the air pressure and a person’s terminal velocity?

It’s not really a question of air pressure, but air density. The formula for finding the terminal velocity v_t of an object of mass m, accelerated by a gravitational acceleration of g, with cross-sectional area A and drag coefficient Cd, moving through a fluid with density rho is
v_t = sqrt[(2 m g)/(rho Cd A)].

What we call air pressure is basically the weight per unit area of a column of air extending from the ground into space. Because air is compressible, a higher air pressure corresponds to a higher air density, and so the terminal velocity in an environment where the air pressure is different from one atmosphere will be different from normal. USAF test pilot and parachutist Joseph Kittinger performed free-fall parachute jumps from the edge of space. In 1960, he jumped from over 30 km up, and almost reached the speed of sound before his parachute deployed, due to the extreme thinness of the atmosphere at such altitudes (he was wearing what was effectively a space suit).

Air Pressure – Science Theater 4