¿Cómo funcionan los PARACAÍDAS? La ciencia de esta OBRA DE ARTE de la INGENIERÍA

For physics, the parachute question is exactly the same as asking: Why is it that if someone spits from a skyscraper and their drool falls on me, it doesn't hurt me, given that, following Galileo Galilei's equations, they reach speeds comparable to Formula One cars? But to relate the drool of a tourist in the Latin American tower to the parachute, let's go step by step: 00:36 This is what SCIENTIFICALLY happens when you PARACHUTE out of an AIRPLANE The interplay of free fall and air resistance. Because we're assuming the person let themselves fall, not that they were thrown... let's continue. So we exit the plane, and the only physical variable that exists at that moment is our weight, that is, the force exerted by our body mass against the action of gravity. Gravity is constant, and we were taught in school that it equals 9.81 m/s^2. Gravity is acceleration, and since the definition of acceleration is the change in velocity over time, we exit the plane at zero velocity and take flight. Following the principles of free fall, you might say, Fernanda, that equation is like a spherical chicken in a vacuum. The air is rubbing against us. Well, indeed, the air stops, and here calculating that gets murky because, to begin with, the density of air is very small (approximately 1.2 kg/m^3, considering that water has 1000 kg/m^3). And that's not the complicated part; it's the study of fluid dynamics, since motion depends on the geometry of the body, and we understand that very well. Let's throw a sheet of paper horizontally and a ball. Clearly, the ball falls, and the sheet, because it collides with the air over such a large area, ends up falling more slowly. Air resists being moved. Now I have a question for you: if, when jumping out of the plane, the only thing acting initially is the acceleration of gravity, and acceleration is the change in speed over time, and we assume the atmosphere extends thousands of kilometers and we launch from there, could we reach the speed of light? Thank goodness Newton, no, because air is a fluid and we have a volume that alters my journey. Every movement will have a limiting or maximum speed that depends on the fluid and the geometry. Given the sum of everything we've discussed, people fall horizontally, not vertically. Can you imagine paying that much for two seconds of falling? 03:55 This is how a PARACHUTE stops FREE FALL Considering that it once stopped a man who managed to break the sound barrier, a brutal speed that a cape stopped from hitting the ground. Well, this can of course be explained with fluid mechanics and geometry. Geometry because they expose a large area of the parachute to interaction with the air, and here it's worth comparing it to something many of us have experienced: belly flopping into a pool: it hurts because your entire body has hit the water. The parachute is belly flopping, a resistance to the air much greater than our stomachs can handle. But not only that, parachutes are tubes with one end closed and the other open, allowing the tubes to inflate with air as they fall, causing the parachute to belly flop. A canopy is also created, which means the air travels faster above than below, creating greater pressure below than above, so the parachute will stay up. And with that comes my favorite part: falling with style. Understanding that if I move a hand, I'll move in the opposite direction. Parachutes are a work of engineering art that begins with the crazy Da Vinci asking himself: how do we fly? The human dream that grows stronger every time you learn about fluid dynamics. And note that I said fluid dynamics because the last time I said my favorite part of my degree was studying fluids, it sent some very strange messages. For now, I'd like to hear from you. What other ways do things work for octopuses would you like? Have you ever skydived? Yes, yes, how was your experience? Physics, Chemistry, Biology... Science every day! A new science video every day! Have you subscribed yet?    / @pulpoculto   Support Pulpo Culto and become a member to get exclusive videos every week! https://www.youtube.com/@PulpoCulto/join Learn more about science content on our playlist: We explain it to you with science:    • Cómo se forma una TORMENTA | Teoría de Nub...   Follow us on Instagram:   / pulpoculto   Follow us on TikTok:   / soypulpoculto   #science #physics