What factors affect the amount of air resistance on an object?

Answer 1

The main aspects that affect the amount of air resistance against a particular object are the weight of the object and the speed that it is travelling at. The other important aspect is the shape of the surface area in the direction the object is falling.

Answer 2

The amount of air resistance on an object is affected by the object's speed, size, shape, and the density of the air it is moving through. Faster speeds, larger sizes, and less aerodynamic shapes result in higher air resistance.

Answer 3

Air resistance, more technically called drag, refers to forces that oppose the relative motion of an object as it passes through a fluid (liquid or gas).

There are three main factors which effect air resistance, more technically called drag:

1) The physical properties of the air (eg there is less resistance at higher altitudes where the air pressure is lower).

2) The physical characteristics of the object. (eg an object whose profile is like an airplane wing, or a water droplet will exhibit less air resistance than other shapes. Also objects with smooth surfaces exhhibit lower drag.

3) The velocity of the object through the fluid. The greater the velocity the greater the drag.

Answer 4

Air resistance depends on size, shape and speed (or velocity).

Generally, air resistance will be higher if the object is:

• Less rounded
• Larger
• Moving more quickly

You may have seen that a car has a low "drag coefficient" of 0.32 (which is pretty low for a car). That is the characteristic of its shape; you would still need to multiply by the "frontal area" (apparent area as viewed from the front) and by a power of the speed, to arrive at the actual amount of drag (air resistance). But it is a more-or-less useful measure of how "slippery" the shape of the car is.

Answer 5

The main factors is the speed, shape and the cross-sectional area of the object.

Answer 6

Surface and velocity are the two main factors that influence air resistance. However, area is also another factor that influences air resistance.

Answer 7

According to Conceptual Physics by Paul Hewitt, the object's frontal area (only the surface area that has to push through the air) and the object's speed are the two forces.

Answer 8

Fluid density, relative velocity, and object shape affect air resistance.

Answer 9

The object's velocity and maximum cross section.

Answer 10

Fluid density, relative velocity, and object shape affect air resistance.