In “Empire Strikes Back”, when Luke learns that Darth Vader is his father, he falls/jumps off a platform in Cloud City without his hand. Given the fact that objects reach terminal velocity, which would have a faster terminal velocity and which would hit the ground first if in the movie that fell from a height of 1000 meters?
Luke would probably reach the ground before his hand. An object reaches a terminal velocity as it fall because the upward force of air resistance becomes stronger as the object’s downward speed increases and this upward force eventually stops the object from accelerating downward. The object’s downward speed at the point when it stops accelerating is its terminal velocity. Since air resistance is what sets this terminal velocity, an object that experiences a great deal of air resistance relative to its weight will have a smaller terminal velocity than an object that experiences relatively little air resistance relative to its weight. Because Luke is much larger than his hand, he has lots of weight relative to his surface area. Since surface area largely determines air resistance, he experiences relatively little air resistance relative to his weight. His hand has less weight relative to its surface area and it experiences a lot of air resistance relative to its weight. So Luke’s terminal velocity is larger than that of his hand. He reaches the ground first. This tendency for large objects to descend faster than small objects explains why small animals, such as insects, can fall from incredible heights without injury. They reach their terminal velocities quickly and descend rather slowly to the ground.