This guy's going to mess up our nice flat prairies with an ugly crater, isn't he?
I have doubts concerning the physics behind this freefall. Could somebody explain to me the apparent breaking of the laws of physics going on here. Terminal velocity is 134 miles/hr. How is is possible to break the sound barrier. Notice the following.
Terminal Velocity Examples
Falling object Mass Area Terminal velocity
Skydiver 75 kg 0.7 m^2 60 m/s 134 mi/hr
Baseball (3.66cm radius) 145 gm 42 cm^2 33 m/s 74 mi/hr
Golf ball (2.1 cm radius) 46 gm 14 cm^2 32 m/s 72 mi/hr
Hail stone (0.5 cm radius) .48 gm .79 cm^2 14 m/s 31 mi/hr
Raindrop (0.2 cm radius) .034 gm .13 cm^2 9 m/s 20 mi/hr
Data from Serway, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Table 6.1. A drag coefficient C=0.5 is assumed, falling through air.
Is it due to the drag coefficient being a great deal less at the high elevation? Makes you wonder.