Question

A skydiver jumps from a stationary helicopter and reaches a steady vertical speed. She then opens her parachute. Which statement about the falling skydiver is correct?
A As her parachute opens, her acceleration is upwards.
B As she falls at a steady speed with her parachute open, her weight is zero.
C When she accelerates, the resultant force on her is zero.
alda
D When she falls at a steady speed, air resistance is zero.

Answer 1

Answer:

A) As her parachute opens, her acceleration is upwards.

Explanation:

The acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity.

Thus, if you have positive velocity and positive acceleration, your velocity increases

If you have positive velocity and negative acceleration, then your velocity decreases.

(The opposite happens when you have negative velocity).

Now, when the skydiver is falling, her velocity is downwards.

When she opens her parachute, her velocity downwards decreases.

This means that when she opens her parachute, she will have an acceleration in the opposite direction to her velocity, then at this point her acceleration is upwards.

We can conclude that the correct option is:

A) As her parachute opens, her acceleration is upwards.