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An object that is falling through the atmosphere is subjected to two external forces. The first force is the gravitational force, expressed as the weight of the object. The weight equation which is weight (W) = mass (M) x gravitational acceleration (A) which is 9.8 meters per square second on the surface of the earth. The gravitational acceleration decreases with the square of the distance from the center of the earth. If the object were falling in a vacuum, this would be the only force acting on the object. But in the atmosphere, the motion of a falling object is opposed by the air resistance or drag. The drag equation tells us that drag is equal to a coefficient times one half the air density (R) times the velocity (V) squared times a reference area on which the drag coefficient is based.
The motion of a falling object can be described by Newton's second law of motion, Force = mass x acceleration. Do a little algebra and solve for the......
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