Quoting BigRab <[email hidden]>:
Quoted message said:PhilD said:Clive George said:>[1] Heavy things fall at the same speed as lighter things:
>http://www.jimloy.com/physics/galileo.htm
The thing is, due to the presence of this "air", it is no longer true to say
that heavy things fall at the same speed as lighter things. Trivial example
for pelting downhill, all other things being equal, you+bike needs to
be heavier to achieve higher speeds.
Surely as you increase mass then your acceleration (for a given
force ) will be less?
"For a given force" is where you go wrong. What matters is the net force.
If I am at terminal velocity on a given hill, the net force is zero; if I
magically exchange an empty water bottle for a lead-filled one, the air
resistance does not change but the gravitational force does. The net force
is now positive; I accelerate to a higher terminal velocity.
However, generally you aren't increasing mass without changing air
resistance. The square-cube law means heavier riders tend to have a higher
ratio of mass to frontal cross section, so they descend faster. A tandem
has added an extra rider's mass almost entirely in the wind shadow of the
first rider; they descend _much_ faster. But the original question, loaded
or unloaded bike; the panniers are partly in the shadow of the legs,
partly not, probably less dense than a human rider - it's not all that
clear whether they will increase or decrease terminal velocity.
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