Two rain drops of same radius $r$ falling with terminal velocity $V$ merge and form bigger drop with radius…

Two rain drops of same radius $r$ falling with terminal velocity $V$ merge and form bigger drop with radius $R$, terminal velocity is
  1. $\frac{V R^2}{r^2}$
  2. $\frac{V R}{r}$
  3. $\frac{V r^2}{R^2}$
  4. $\frac{2 V R}{r}$

Solution

Expression for terminal velocity can be obtained by balancing weight of the droplet with viscous retardation force and the buoyancy force. Terminal velocity is given by $v=\frac{2}{9}\left(\frac{r^2(\rho-\sigma)}{\eta}\right)$ $\therefore v \propto r^2$ Now, let $V^{\prime}$ be the terminal velocity of the merged droplet $\begin{aligned} & \therefore \frac{V}{V^{\prime}}=\frac{r^2}{R^2} \\ & \Rightarrow V^{\prime}=\frac{V R^2}{r^2} \end{aligned}$

Asked in: MHT CET 2022 (08 Aug Shift 1)

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