Recent content by GlennB

What I meant was that if the 2 balls fell at the same rate until the light one hit terminal velocity, the heavier one would now be in a bit of trouble in achieving its term.vel. The graph would have a kink in it, which is ridiculous, therefore the original (incorrect) proposition is daft. (if...

No problem. And, in fact, it got me to thinking that my "intuition" was maybe right after all (though I totally accept that intuition and physics don't always get along too well). It goes like this : There is a final "instant" where the lighter body stops acclerating and reaches terminal...

That's based on your original reply, indicating that the two bodies fall together until the lighter one reaches terminal velocity. Maybe I misunderstood your post. (until today I would have thought the more massive one would 'outpace' the lighter one - in a fluid - even before terminal...

Sorry. I should perhaps have said 'when comparing the momentary speeds of 2 "still accelerating" differently massive but otherwise identical bodies' ? ;)

Thanks Hootenanny, I understand your answer. We'd dug the formula for terminal velocity out of Wikipedia, so understood that it was proportional to mass. What seems counter-intuitive is that mass is not a factor when measuring the momentary speed of a "still accelerating" body in a fluid.

Hi all - I wonder if you could settle a dispute that's happening at a non-science forum? The maths itself seems complex, but the principle will be very familiar. Two bodies are identical in every respect, except for mass (e.g. a solid steel ball and a hollow steel ball of the same dimensions)...