# Q about velocity of a falling object
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 5, 2024, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179 "2024-12-05T05:36:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/1 "2024-12-05T05:36:00Z")
If an object weighing between 17 (hen) to 41 (tom) pounds was dropped from an altitude of, let’s say, 2,000 ft., what would be it’s velocity when it landed on the Earth.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/2 "2024-12-05T06:01:20Z")
I’d definitely think it would reach terminal velocity after falling that far and this site says that “A chicken’s terminal velocity is 144 meters per second.” This is 322 miles per hour.
I suspect the terminal velocity of a frozen de-plucked chicken is higher.
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### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/3 "2024-12-05T06:08:08Z")
Need more info.
European or African?
Or more seriously, shape and density.
Lots of things will reach terminal velocity over such a drop. If we assume a spherical critter of roughly unit density it is easier. A feathered critter flapping about is arbitrarily messy. Especially when it hits.
Birds may be significantly less than unit density in full feather. Drag coefficient isn’t going to be easy. In the limit the dang thing might actually fly. For limited meanings of “fly”.
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/4 "2024-12-05T07:01:55Z")
Just to set an upper bound, if there were no air resistance, the time to hit the ground would be \sqrt{\frac{2h}{g}}, where h is the distance (2000 ft) and g is the earth’s gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/s2). That equals 11.1 seconds. The final velocity would then be g\*t = 245 mi/hr.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/5 "2024-12-05T08:15:09Z")
> [@OldGuy](#):
>
> I’d definitely think it would reach terminal velocity after falling that far and this site says that “A chicken’s terminal velocity is 144 meters per second.” This is 322 miles per hour.
>
> I suspect the terminal velocity of a frozen de-plucked chicken is higher.
Given that the terminal velocity of a human sky diver is 120-180 mph (depending on orientation), the TV of a chicken, plucked or otherwise, is surely much less than 120 mph.
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### Author:  [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/6 "2024-12-05T08:44:58Z")
That’s one way of solving it. The other, which I would have used (but I’m not claiming it is easier) would be via conservation of energy: potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy, so
mgh = .5m \* sq(v)
The m cancels out, and the remaining equation can be solved for v.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/7 "2024-12-05T09:08:06Z")
Just for the record, suppose it was a live turkey.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/8 "2024-12-05T09:13:37Z")
I strongly advocate using consistent units. Mixing ft, m/s2, seconds and mi/hr is a [**mess**](https://www.wired.com/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-report/).
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### Author:  [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/9 "2024-12-05T09:28:16Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> Given that the terminal velocity of a human sky diver is 120-180 mph (depending on orientation), the TV of a chicken, plucked or otherwise, is surely much less than 120 mph.
Higher, surely? It’s drag force due to friction that determines the terminal velocity, and since the chicken has a more nearly spherical shape than the skydiver we would expect a lower drag force and so a higher terminal velocity.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/10 "2024-12-05T12:04:25Z")
> [@UDS1](#):
>
> Higher, surely? It’s drag force due to friction that determines the terminal velocity, and since the chicken has a more nearly spherical shape than the skydiver we would expect a lower drag force and so a higher terminal velocity.
TV is a function of drag force and the object’s weight. A chicken may be much more spherical than a person, but the chicken also weighs a lot less, i.e. the earth isn’t pulling it down so hard. If you drop an apple and a grape from 1000 feet, the apple will hit ground far sooner. A watermelon will beat the apple handily; it will also look far more awesome when it hits.
> **[Terminal velocity](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity)**
>
> Terminal velocity is the maximum speed attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid (air is the most common example). It is reached when the sum of the drag force (Fd) and the buoyancy is equal to the downward force of gravity (FG) acting on the object. Since the net force on the object is zero, the object has zero acceleration. For objects falling through air at normal pressure, the buoyant force is usually dismissed and not taken into account, as its effects are negligible.\[citatio As th...
Also, for objects in this size range, the primary components of drag force are the increased pressure on forward-facing surfaces and decreased pressure on rear-facing surfaces. Viscous drag (what most people think of as friction) doesn’t start to dominate until you get into the size range of airborne particulate matter, i.e. things a fraction of a millimeter across.
> **[Stokes flow](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokes_flow)**
>
> Stokes flow (named after George Gabriel Stokes), also named creeping flow or creeping motion, is a type of fluid flow where advective inertial forces are small compared with viscous forces. The Reynolds number is low, i.e.
>
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> R
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> ≪
> 1
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> {\\displaystyle \\mathrm {Re} \\ll 1}
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> . This is a typical situation in flows where the fluid velocities are very slow, the viscosities are very large, or the length-scales of the The e...
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/11 "2024-12-05T12:28:18Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Just for the record, suppose it was a live turkey.
Now we get to fully incalculable. It’ll be flailing and flapping like mad. And maybe tumbling.
As @Francis_Vaughan presciently noted before your clarification:
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#):
>
> Birds may be significantly less than unit density in full feather. Drag coefficient isn’t going to be easy. In the limit the dang thing might actually fly. For limited meanings of “fly”.
As a general matter birds are “designed” with fairly low drag coefficients. Flightless birds whose anatomy has been ~~destroyed~~ re-purposed by human breeding less so.
I know that domestic chickens don’t exactly fly in a sustained way, but they haven’t forgotten how. They can flee via flight up into trees and flap/glide in a controlled way back to the ground. Just not fly around the neighborhood.
When faced with a flight situation do domestic turkeys try to fly, and fail, or do they plummet in a panic more like a sheep or human might?
Now all bets are off if the bird is a _wild_ turkey, not a domestic one. Those unequivocally can fly a lot better than domestic chickens, albeit not as sustained as e.g. a sparrow.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/12 "2024-12-05T12:38:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> When faced with a flight situation do domestic turkeys try to fly, and fail, or do they plummet in a panic more like a sheep or human might
The definitive documentary on this issue gives the answer:
“The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement!”
— Les Nesmond
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!”
— Arthur Carlson
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/13 "2024-12-05T12:58:16Z")
Which was, I’m pretty sure, the impetus for the OP’s slyly titled question.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/14 "2024-12-05T13:44:05Z")
Wild turkeys can fly just fine. Not sure they’d be able to control their descent from 2000 feet but they’d give it a good shot for sure.
> **[Wild turkeys fly!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWyMbMTAvgY%2F)**
>
> We encounter bold post-Thanksgiving turkeys hanging around the snack bar at Corporation Beach in Dennis (MA). Then they fly away! Cape Cod Times video by Eri...
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/15 "2024-12-05T13:58:32Z")
Yep; they fly. Not great, not for long distances, but they do. They’re a commonplace in much of the US.
I spent some time trying to find vids about domestic turkey flight. I failed; it was all breathless excitement (or gotchas) about wild turkeys.
I hope someone else can have greater success with vids answering the Q of whether / how well the domestic raised-for-Butterball kind can fly.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/16 "2024-12-05T15:39:49Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> Wild turkeys can fly just fine.
A few times when walking in the woods with our dogs very early in the morning we’ve startled roosting turkeys and they’ve flown down to the ground so they could run away. It’s a very scary moment.
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### Author:  [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/17 "2024-12-05T16:09:46Z")
Here’s a story about live turkeys dropped from a plane at 500 feet:
> **[Turkey drop at Arkansas festival is 'twisted,' 'sick,' famous heavy-metal...](https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/nov/15/turkey-drop-clears-faa-rocker-aghast-20/?f=news-arkansas)**
>
> Heavy-metal rocker and animal-welfare activist Tommy Lee has called for an end to the chuckwagon races in Calgary, Alberta, and the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
Apparently an annual event. During the one year cited 2 of the 12 turkeys dropped died on impact. From the article:
> While the turkeys usually spread their wings and glide to a landing, some are apparently confused and try to flap their wings. Instead of floating, they fall. Out of a dozen turkeys that were dropped during the 2016 festival, two reportedly died on impact.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/18 "2024-12-05T17:37:58Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Just for the record, suppose it was a live turkey.
You mean from the 1970’s?
Oh sorry, I thought you wrote jive turkey.
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### Author:  [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/19 "2024-12-05T20:39:32Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> TV is a function of drag force and the object’s weight. A chicken may be much more spherical than a person, but the chicken also weighs a lot less, i.e. the earth isn’t pulling it down so hard. If you drop an apple and a grape from 1000 feet, the apple will hit ground far sooner. A watermelon will beat the apple handily; it will also look far more awesome when it hits.
You all are going to let this slide by without any comment?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-velocity-of-a-falling-object/1011179/20 "2024-12-05T20:53:46Z")
They had half a right idea. Density, not weight, is what matters. Assuming constant shape and surface smoothness. As they mostly addressed.
Yes, in a vacuum the proverbial anvil & feather fall identically. But we’re not talking about vacuums.
In our atmosphere a cannonball (sphere of iron) _will_ beat a grape (almost sphere of more or less water) by a readily-detectable smidgen. And beat a beachball by a hugely obvious amount.
My bottom line ...
Your point?
Considering who posted that, I see a smidgen of sloppy terminology, not fundamental error or sneaky deadpan BS. Then again, it might have been deadpan BS and your BS detector is better than mine. 😉
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