The Physics of Skydiving (Science Out Loud S2 Ep1)

When you fall thousands of feet from the sky, it seems like something strange is happening with the laws of physics. Turns out, everything relies on a simple force - DRAG!
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made with love at MIT
Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA
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Hosted and written by: Andrew Horning, Banks Hunter, Swati Varshney
Additional scripting: Elizabeth Choe, George Zaidan
Executive producer: Elizabeth Choe
Director: George Zaidan
Editor: Per Hoel (perhoel.org/)
Production assistants: Conor Olmstead, Ryan Pelletier
Skydiving footage: Andrew Horning
Special thanks: Jumptown

[@Gixer750pilot]

In the end it’s just falling with style

[@okiepita50t-town28]

Wow a group of MIT skydivers. Now that’s an exclusive club.

[@oscarhansen7957]

WhO ElSe iS HeRe FoR sChOoL

[@makth5173]

me

[@lukeofthemotherlandrussia1912]

Ur mum

[@anabozin240]

i got here for school but this video was so much fun. now i wanna sky dive lol

[@kozume9638]

meeeeee

[@bonzodimduly]

me

[@cesca5581]

Thank you for uploading this!!!

[@Bella-qw4dw]

2021 and it's still a great educational video. well done

[@DunoyerFilms]

very nice work, you answered some questions I had with some gorgeous visuals

[@jaywilliams2920]

Great video. Tells it like it is. Thanks MIT.

[@parkerhiggins6136]

this is beautiful

[@maryswift5441]

thanks guys

[@lukeofthemotherlandrussia1912]

How did I get here

[@kimski1875]

😂

[@DragonHunter926]

Awesome video!!!

[@ProfessorPonko]

Love this!

[@jimday666]

MOREEE skydive physics please MIT.

[@geeebus23]

Thank you- from Columbia

[@Allourquestions]

Excellent video and fantastic explanation!

[@jamesleem.d.7442]

Good video !! What is the brand of shoes worn by person at very start of the video: Blue laces on these shoes.

[@shanaelee1057]

Hi 303 lmfao

[@ConnorHill_cooljivehigh]

NIIIIICEEE!!!!

Wonderfull!

[@dr.n.8390]

Great

[@ericah6546]

Do you feel weightless? That was a delight to watch! Thank you MIT skydiving club 👍😀

[@jimsagubigula7337]

For the first 1-2 seconds.

[@DJInclined]

My home drop zone 😎😎😎😎 JumpTown

[@anabozin240]

i got here for school but this video was so much fun and now i wanna sky dive lol

[@kimski1875]

Do it!

[@RYTISJAS]

hi, dope movie! Have a great evening :o)

[@tuttt99]

I *wish* that I had had the money to skydive when I was at MIT. Those were the brokest years of my life LMAO. But now I can afford all the gear and jumps I want. Woo hoo!

[@aeroprince]

Awesome stuff to show my whuffo friends :D

[@bws205]

you mean your sane friends

[@tuttt99]

@@bws205 LMAO

[@davidwang5770]

BWS205 😂😂😂

[@ramka5861]

Drag or Upthrust or Buoyancy or Air Resistance depends on the area of contact and the shape of the body. This is the key for skydiving.

[@M4TT4TT4CK]

buoyancy doesn't depend on surface area. It is directly proportional to the weight of the displaced fluid

[@nimssayson1045]

Hello! Can I use some footage here for my new channel? Thanks

[@MrReasonabubble]

I liked this, and for the most part I thought you did a really good job of explaining the physics involved. It was only at the end, where you implied that parachutes work simply because of the drag generated by the large surface area, that you lost it a bit. That might be largely true of old-style round canopies, but it's really the aerofoil shape of a square canopy that arrests your descent - because it generates lift as it flies forward, like a wing.

[@50buttfish]

The only physics is that gravity sucks and you cannot resist the inevitable end.

[@jimsmith1856]

Massachusetts Institute of wooahh duuude!!

[@julianfernandez7254]

Very well done video thank you ! but to explain the physics properly you need to explain the Drag force at t=0 / which is in the direction of the movement - this is very different that free falling from a Hot balloon. That's why the sensation is totally different - without considering Fd0 in the direction of the plane you are not really analyzing the scenario described in the video.

[@iqbalthootha]

Thank you! this helped me so much my science teacher just looked at me and said "How do you know all this""

[@mrmojorisin8527]

Song?

[@flyingAMT]

@2:23. Correct my wrong thinking, but I thought Newt's 2nd Law showed that objects all fall at the same speed, regardless of weight...

[@wrthalheimer8394]

you're right, but when you factor in air resistance, that means that the object with less mass and more surface area is going to fall slower than an object with more mass and less surface area.

[@flyingAMT]

+That oneguy , but that is not what he says. he says she has less surface area and is so much lighter, she tends to fall slower, neither makes sense in light of newtons 2nd law.

[@alistairhammond1564]

+flyingAMT They will both accelerate towards the earth at a constant rate, but after a few seconds of falling drag has increased enough to equate the pull of gravity. This is 'terminal velocity' - and a heavier object will have a higher terminal velocity for a given surface area. [DANGER - GEEK WARNING] Remember F=MA? (Force = Mass x Acceleration). If we rearrange to get A = F/M, we see that for a constant gravitational acceleration (~9.81m/s), increasing the mass of the object means it experiences a greater force due to gravity. Greater gravitational force needs more drag to balance it out. Where do we get extra drag? MORE SPEED! :)

[@himself187]

well try this, drop a feather and any other object from the same height.....

[@danielwilliams7685]

Once you factor in drag weight and surface area matter. She can make herself fall faster by getting small. He can make himself fall slower by getting bigger. There are lots of different positions you can put your body in to go faster or slower.

[@Zxxyn22]

i have to watch this for homework lol

[@jamesblakeman8172]

General relativity would have it that the skydiver is in an inertial frame and that the earth is accelerating towards them and there's no force of gravity pulling them down. Thus, it's the air being pushed upwards by the planet accelerating towards the skydiver which causes the drag effect in relation to the skydivers area!

[@ashwathnarayan2033]

Nice👍

[@drfazailzia8830]

Spacex Starahip Bellyflop brought me here 😂

[@IDADDYIproductions]

Song?? Please reply. Such a sick remix

[@sts3121]

how is it possible to breathe? Will it be harder if you have wider nostrils? I once went to a wind tunnel for indoor skydiving and the air was suffocating for some reason and I don't know why. The same thing happens when I have down my window in a car while driving. When the wind is blowing, it gets hard to breathe. Do you know why this happens?

[@alexisbeaudoin9967]

You get used to it after a few jumps

[@maddiegreenwood6928]

This is a super late response- but I have Cystic Fibrosis and I just got back from a jump today! the best advice I can give is to remember to breathe out, it's really easy to forget that when the wind is coming at you over 100mph.

[@xBoddahhh]

alot of people forget to breath out. So it is actually quite helpful to scream because it makes you breath

[@highonboard]

02:34 look he's not in the freefall. These dudes've just jumped of a cliff in the middle of the air.

[@cumeman5113]

Song Used, Kill Bill - Battle Without Honor or Humanity

[@IDADDYIproductions]

But it’s a remix

[@cumeman5113]

@@IDADDYIproductions thats crazy bro

[@IDADDYIproductions]

@@cumeman5113 do you know which remix it is? ive been tryna find it

[@cumeman5113]

@@IDADDYIproductions no idea bro i commented this 5 years ago 😂😂

[@IDADDYIproductions]

@@cumeman5113 worth a shot

[@makth5173]

yes

[@makth5173]

yes

[@makth5173]

yes

[@makth5173]

yes

[@days8531]

its 2023 now:)

[@user-mn2vb6rd5f]

2024🎉

[@GamerVijayy]

Imagine The Big show and Mark Henry of WWE doing sky diving 🤣

[@BLUE-dq6uc]

Swati's father is really rich❤️

[@user-fl1ph4ji6i]

I don't get one thing. If Swati is lighter then why on earth would she accelerate faster? It all gets equalised because acceleration is force/mass. More mass = more gravitational force. So getting more force requires more mass and these quantities are opposite so it stays the same. Or is there something I don't understand? It seems to me, the only thing that makes a difference is the surface area of a falling body

[@nishiter]

Up their high is there a breathing issue due to less oxygen and thin air?

[@jimsagubigula7337]

More for a while, but nothing too serious. There is a reason the maximum altitude is limited to 4500 meters.

[@sakumar2287]

what happens if parachute doesn't open after jump

[@alexxxmmm1]

you have a reserve parachute which is packed by a professional, not a skydiver.

[@Phlegethon]

Can’t tell what school they’re from

[@Graham.556]

mit

[@rossfisher3846]

What's the song at the start

[@sammyhoopster7225]

Battle Without Honor or Humanity By Tomayasu Hotei

[@IDADDYIproductions]

But it’s a remix :(

[@yomama8333]

bruhhhh

[@raideepu4]

I wanna learn sky diving. How can I join a school?

[@xBoddahhh]

Deeps Emo look up the parachuting organisation for your specific country (ie USPA, APF, FAI) & usually they list training organasations

[@seoceancrosser]

Show up with money.

[@jonathanguerra1976]

seoceancrosser lot hehehe but its also lot of fun ,😉💙

[@ohyeahyeah7731]

I don't need to learn thisI just fall

[@misc.2331]

music?

[@sammyhoopster7225]

Battle Without Honor or Humanity By Tomayasu Hotei

[@yousufhamdani9859]

Starting Music in this video ??

[@sammyhoopster7225]

Battle Without Honor or Humanity By Tomayasu Hotei

[@shanaelee1057]

Chicken poop

[@SamB-oz3jz]

ok

[@sabre2x135]

Gravity sucks

[@williamcarrington3474]

Double knot your laces or use velcro fasteners, please .

[@MamisaMambu]

Comment cette appareil c,est envole

[@kakudmi]

As this was so rudimentary, why don't you remove MIT ligos and promote a high school instead.

[@Suave.aint_ez]

i wanna fly like goku and i can pretend to fight in the air and make it like dragon ball where you just get blasted >:3 and then land in the white house like a boss

[@astro.editz.mp495]

Swati Indian?

[@zaidhaobsh9989]

1:23 that was so cringey...

[@cultleaderkenji]

good point

[@Klivdx]

nope, u're cringey !

[@malcolmkeith816]

the most uncool skydiving video ever... E for effort tho

[@theapacherider21]

Indian girl

[@johnli5538]

This is copied from Khan Academy!!!

[@vidomon1844]

Swati don't do overacting lol