Quote:
Originally Posted by team698
The indoor skydiving is a dead end because the force of drag is directly proportional to the speed of the game piece. (I can't imagine that the speeds will approach that of skydiver at terminal velocity) The coeffient of drag can be determined mathmatically, look up the equation, or experimentally if you can find a room whose air density is similar to the playing field and if you know the velocity that your game piece will be launched at.
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It is actually not a dead end. The question is what is the
coefficient of drag (not drag force).
Fdrag = 1/2 * rho * A * v^2 * Cd
You can easily find out what rho is at your indoor skydiving place by using the temperature, ambient pressure, humidity, and a standard air chart.
A is easy
Fdrag is the weight of the ball as long as you can get it to hover.
v can be read form the indoor skydiver operator controls (and you can measure it inside the tunnel).
Then all you have to do is solve the equation for Cd.
While it is theoretically possible using the skydiving place, the are a lot of books that have characterize the Cd of spheres with many surface textures. I'm sure the wind tunnel would be unnecessary.