Is air resistance dependent on mass?

AI Thread Summary
Air resistance is primarily influenced by surface area, shape, texture, and velocity, rather than mass. Objects of the same size and shape experience equal air resistance regardless of their mass. However, in practical scenarios like aircraft, increasing mass requires more lift, which leads to a larger angle of attack and increased drag. When dropping two identical objects, the one with greater mass will eventually accelerate faster and reach a higher terminal velocity due to the effects of air drag. Overall, while mass does not directly affect air resistance, it plays a significant role in the dynamics of motion through air.
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Is air resistance dependent on mass?

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It's dependant on surface area.
 
The air resistance is a force that is imposed on whatever comes air with some relative velocity regardless of their mass. A styrofoam ball undergoes the same air resistance that a lead sphere of the same diameter.
 
Air resistance is dependent on size, shape, surface texture, and velocity of a body. Bodies equal in all these respects, but differing in mass, will experience equal air resistance.
 
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It depends on the situation.

If you increase the mass/weight of an aircraft (by filling it with more passengers) then the lift required to keep it in the air increases. The wing has to fly at a larger angle of attack to produce the extra lift and that increases drag.
 
CWatters said:
If you increase the mass/weight of an aircraft (by filling it with more passengers) then the lift required to keep it in the air increases. The wing has to fly at a larger angle of attack to produce the extra lift and that increases drag.
Changing the wing profile is an alteration to the shape.
 
alright thanks peeps!
 
If you drop two objects (identical except for the mass) from a height initially the acceleration is the same (when the speed = 0) but as air drag takes a role (as the speed comes into play) the greater mass will always have a greater acceleration than the lesser mass as well as a higher terminal velocity
 
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