The effect of mass on the terminal velocity of an object falling in air is commonly done using basket coffee filters. But how could we study the effect of area on the terminal velocity of a falling object? One way to do this is to use PocketLab Voyager and its range finder along with a single piece of cardstock as the object to be dropped. In this lesson, students discover a relationship between area and terminal velocity and compare their results to a common model of air resistance (aka drag).
Subject
Grade Level