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I then have students model the process using spreadsheets with the dragI
coefficient calculated from .5rhoCA: rho = density of the medium, C the
geometric factor (.5 for a sphere) and A the cross sectional area. Yes,
this is cheating somewhat since this IS the factor for v^2 dependence, but
have them model the air resistance force as a v^n dependence and have themcorrections
start with n = 1. Their data clearly doesn't fit this (so small
in 'b' aren't critical--the units from above don't really work). For n =2
they get really very good fits. We don't consider buoyancy but then the
data are not that precise.