Question:
For a plummeting human, what would be "terminal velocity" on Venus and Titan? How fast would we hit the ground?
uncleclover
2011-05-23 07:40:37 UTC
Not that we could possibly survive the experience to begin with. I guess my main curiosity is more relevant towards the notion of future "skydiver" sports - with suits a few generations removed from the kind currently in development for extreme _terrestrial_ skydiving (skydiving from low earth orbit instead of "just" a plane), the surface of either of these worlds would actually be fairly tolerable I would imagine. I'm wondering if the atmospheres on either might possibly be thick enough to eliminate the need for a parachute. I remember the last Venusian probe sailed down niced and slow through the Venusian clouds almost like they were a thick, soupy broth of molasses. Could a lighter human body eliminate the need for a chute entirely by simply spreading out, flattening themselves and using their own body as an aerobrake? They can -almost- do it on Earth, with a terminal velocity of 120 mph - that's why occasionally people will survive falls from tens of thousands of feet in the air (in combination with other unlikely circumstances, of course, but that ANY survive is short of a miracle).
Three answers:
6ftwonder
2011-05-23 07:43:35 UTC
depends on friction, (drag and resistance and all)

and gravity



but you do make a good point

hmmm
mert
2016-11-25 11:14:31 UTC
Impacting the surface of the moon Titan, terminal velocity would be a 10th of what it is on earth.
?
2011-05-23 08:00:00 UTC
Since the resistance is proportional to density and v^2



Venus: 8.8m/s^2 gravitational acceleration but ~94atm pressure -> VERY HIGH

I would guesstimate 10mph.

Titan: 1.3m/s^2, ~1.5atm pressure

I would guesstimate 50mph


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