This article analyzes the video shown in class where a skydiver free fell 23 miles above earth. The diver should be accelerating during his entire fall, but air resistance prevents this. Instead his speed increases for 30 seconds until reaching it's peak at 1,225 km/hour. After that he remains falling at this speed. Air resistance acts against an object at free fall. When the diver drops, air acts against gravity by sending a force in the opposite direction. When the diver reaches his peak velocity, the force from air resistance is equal to it and pushes up on the diver. Because of the two forces being balanced, the diver stops accelerating.
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