Question

A skydiver jumps out of an airplane. Her speed steadily increases until she deploys her parachute, at which point her speed quickly decreases. She subsequently falls to earth at a constant rate, stopping when she lands on the ground.

Answer 1

The question is incomplete but an analysis of the situation using various useful physics concepts can still be made

Answer:

• When she immediately jumps out of the plane, the downward force(weight) is greater than any opposing forces upwards (such as air resistance). So the netforce is downwards and therefore the direction of acceleration is also downwards. The direction of acceleration is always in the direction of the netforce
• The person is not falling at the rate of free fall (9.8 m/s²) because that is for bodies falling in a vacuum and this person is not, air resistance is very much a factor here
• Upon deployment of the parachute, upward forces (air resistance) increases matching the downward forces in size, causing the netforce to be zero. A zero netfroce means zero acceleration which is why the person stops accelerating and falls at a constant rate