Answer :
Final answer:
The skydiver has more force acting downward due to gravity than upward from air resistance, and thus he's accelerating downwards. You calculate the acceleration by subtracting the air resistance from the skydiver's weight and dividing by his mass, in this case, yielding an acceleration of 7.36 m/s².
Explanation:
The skydiver's situation can be understood by taking into account the forces acting on him, mainly his weight and the air resistance. The weight of the skydiver is determined by multiplying his mass by the gravity constant, 9.81 m/s². This gives a weight of 101 kg × 9.81 m/s² = 991.81 N. The skydiver is said to be experiencing one-fourth that amount in upward force due to air resistance, which would be approximately 247.95 N.
In situations where opposing forces are equal, an object doesn't accelerate and we would expect the skydiver to be in a state of terminal velocity. However, in this case, there's more force acting downward (gravity) than upward (air resistance), so the skydiver is accelerating downwards. To find the amount of that acceleration, we subtract the air resistance from the skydiver's weight, then divide that by his mass. Therefore, (991.81 N - 247.95 N) / 101 kg = 7.36 m/s².
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