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I am doing an experiment where I want to measure the effect of the change of mass of the object to the terminal velocity of the object when falling down a liquid.

I am using a ping pong ball and I will use syringe to add water to the ping pong ball to vary its size.

I am just wondering will the drag coefficiant varies as well as a result of the change of the mass.

Any help will be appreciated.

James
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  • The following past question will probably help as well. https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/390241/intuitive-explanation-how-does-a-led-work – Fredrik Sy Jan 23 '23 at 04:00

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Drag is a complex phenomenon. In different cases, it's approximated as being linearly or quadratically dependent on velocity.

So if you think of just "the drag coefficient" -- you're thinking of an approximation for a certain object in a certain atmosphere in a certain range of speeds. Since changing mass will change terminal velocity, the best approximation of drag at terminal velocity may be different as well.

But, if you think of drag as a function of velocity, which may be linear or not, then, that function will be (almost) the same regardless of mass. So a ping pong ball traveling at $X$ m/s will feel the same drag force, regardless of mass.

I say "almost" because once you get to really low mass objects, I would expect that their vibrations and other movements in response to drag would start having secondary effects.

Alex K
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