Question

A flying squirrel is gliding (no wing flaps) to the ground at a constant velocity

What does the FBD look like

Answer 1

Answer:

See attached figure

Explanation:

The FBD (Free Body Diagram) of an object represents the forces acting on the object.

In this problem, the squirrel is moving at constant velocity. Constant velocity means that its acceleration, therefore the net force acting on the squirrel must be zero as well, according to Newton's second law:

$F=ma=0$

where F is the net force, m is the mass of the squirrel, a is its acceleration.

There are only two forces acting on the squirrel:

- The force of gravity, also called weight, acting downward, of magnitude (mg) (where m is the mass of the squirrel and g is the acceleration of gravity)

- The air resistance, R, upward

Since the net force is zero, the two forces are balanced, therefore they have same magnitude, and they are represented in the graph as two arrows of same length.