A mass of mass m, experiences a viscous drag, F and an upthrust, U as he descends towards the ground at a steady velocity, Using a parachute. If the acceler...

A mass of mass m, experiences a viscous drag, F and an upthrust, U as he descends towards the ground at a steady velocity, Using a parachute. If the acceleration of free fall is g, which of the following expressions is correct?

Answer Details

When an object is descending at a steady velocity, the forces acting on it must be balanced. Therefore, the net force on the object must be zero. In this case, the forces acting on the mass are the viscous drag force, F, the upthrust force, U, and the force due to gravity, mg. Using Newton's second law, we know that the net force on an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration. Since the object is descending at a steady velocity, its acceleration is zero, so the net force on the object must also be zero. Therefore, we can write the following equation: U + F - mg = 0 This equation shows that the upthrust force and the viscous drag force must balance the force due to gravity in order for the object to descend at a steady velocity with a parachute. So, the correct expression is: U + F - mg = 0.