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Terminal Velocity for a human is between 115 and 120 mph. According to Newton and Galileo, anything else (not in powered dive) should fall at the same rate. N'est ce pas?
When you say "same rate" do you mean same speed? What Galileo demonstrated was that objects of different weights (strictly speaking I should say different masses) accelerate at the same rate, as long as air resistance is not a significant factor. This does not mean they reach the same terminal velocity as that is a factor of mass and air resistance.
Terminal velocity for a human, with arms and legs outstretched, is about 120 mph in the lower atmosphere. Skydivers have achieved much higher speeds (a saw one claim of 321 mph, which seems awfully fast) by tucking in and controlling their attitude. I believe the fastest terminal velocity ever attained by a human was by Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger on August 16, 1960. He jumped from a balloon at 102,800 feet and hit 614 mph in the near vacuum at that altitude. (Some reports stated he hit 714 mph and broke the sound barrier, but apparently those reports are not considered reliable.) Of course his speed had decreased considerably when he opened his parachute at 18,000 feet; 4.5 minutes after leaving the balloon.
Tom Gourley
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