The maximum speed due to gravity?

[fawk3s]

Say you go parachuting. And you jump, without opening the parachute...
You get a constant acceleration due to gravity, so your speed builds pretty high. And as long as you keep falling without any friction, your speed keeps building.
But let's now take air resistance into consideration. Does this build a barrier for the speedbuild?
I mean, would there be a situation where the force of gravity and the force of friction balance each other, where the net force of the 2 would become 0?
(Plus ofcourse, there is upthrust aswell.)

Im not exactly looking for any fancy equation, but I don't mind them. I am more interested in if this situation exists, can it be created by a parachuter and how much would be the speed barrier for an average mass, and an average bodyshape person.

Thanks in advance,
fawk3s

 

[nicksauce]

Indeed such a limit exists. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity for a good overview. Typical maximum speeds are something like 200-300 km/h.

 

[Jonnyb42]

Yeah this velocity is called 'terminal velocity.'