Question

Skydivers accelerate downward when they first jump out of an airplane. Eventually they reach a terminal velocity, however, and their speed remains constant because two forces become equal in magnitude but opposite in direction. What are these two forces?

Answer 1

Take into account that the gravitational force implies an acceleration on the skydivers when they go downward. While they go down the drag force, due to the air, decelerates the motion of the skydiver. The drag force increases in a constant way (becasue the drag force depends on the speed of the skydiver, and the speed, due to the acceleration produced by the gravity, increases), until it equals the gravitational force and the speed of the skydiver becomes constant.

Hence, the two forces are the gravitational force and the drag force