Velocity quantity, momentum, is a vector and defined by In special relativity, the dimensionless Lorentz factor appears frequently, and is given by where γ is the Lorentz factor and "c" is the speed of light. Escape velocity is the minimum speed a ballistic object needs to escape from a massive body such as Earth. It represents the kinetic energy that, when added to the object's gravitational potential energy, (which is always negative) is equal to zero. The general formula for the escape velocity of an object at a distance "r" from the center of a planet with mass "M" is where
Terminal velocity until it reaches the terminal velocity. Drag depends on the projected area, here, the object's cross-section or silhouette in a horizontal plane. An object with a large projected area relative to its mass, such as a parachute, has a lower terminal velocity than one with a small projected area relative to its mass, such as a bullet. Based on wind resistance, for example, the terminal speed of a skydiver in a belly-to-earth (i.e., face down) free fall position is about . This speed is the asymptotic limiting value of the speed, and the forces acting on the body balance each