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Yes one can reach greater than mach one in free fall from the stratosphere. Acceleration of gravity is about 32 ft. /sec^^2 and barring atmospheric resistance one would reach mach 1 about 34.375 seconds after release after having traveled about 19000 ft. A frenchman named Michel Fournier plans to attempt a mach 1+ jump in late may 2008. He will jump from a weather balloon at about 131,000 ft. and he intends to reach a maximum speed of 1,113 mph before increasing air resistance halts his acceleration and begins slowing him down. The plan is to pass through mach 1 about 37 seconds after jumping. His free fall plan is about 6.5 minutes with a total jump time of 8.5 minutes. If successful he will be the first skydiver to exceed mach 1 and also break the free fall skydiving time record. http://www.legrandsaut.org/index.php?lang=eng These calculations are for a human in free fall, which has a terminal velocity of only about 120 mph in freefall near sea level. This much greater speed is possible because of much less air resistance at high altitude. The impact air pressure felt by him as he falls will be the same as a normal skydiver in free fall from a much lower altitude would feel. A streamlined object dropped from 131,000 ft. could exceed the expected speed of the skydiver considerably because of much less air resistance allowing a greater time for acceleration and a higher terminal velocity. Yes one can reach greater than mach one in free fall from the stratosphere. Acceleration of gravity is about 32 ft. /sec^^2 and barring atmospheric resistance one would reach mach 1 about 34.375 seconds after release after having traveled about 19000 ft. A frenchman named Michel Fournier plans to attempt a mach 1+ jump in late may 2008. He will jump from a weather balloon at about 131,000 ft. and he intends to reach a maximum speed of 1,113 mph before increasing air resistance halts his acceleration and begins slowing him down. The plan is to pass through mach 1 about 37 seconds after jumping. His free fall plan is about 6.5 minutes with a total jump time of 8.5 minutes. If successful he will be the first skydiver to exceed mach 1 and also break the free fall skydiving time record. http://www.legrandsaut.org/index.php?lang=eng These calculations are for a human in free fall, which has a terminal velocity of only about 120 mph in freefall near sea level. This much greater speed is possible because of much less air resistance at high altitude. The impact air pressure felt by him as he falls will be the same as a normal skydiver in free fall from a much lower altitude would feel. A streamlined object dropped from 131,000 ft. could exceed the expected speed of the skydiver considerably because of much less air resistance allowing a greater time for acceleration and a higher terminal velocity.

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Q: Can an object free fall from the stratoshere and achieve a speed greater than Mach 1?
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