Air viscosity and density(what determines projectile distance)

[UIUCstudent]

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This has been bugging me for awhile. Warmer air is less dense than colder air, but it is more viscous than colder air. So if air friction is present in projectile motion, which factor weighs more on how far the projectile travels? Density or viscosity?

 

[gunj122]

http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/329/lectures/node42.html

To sum it up:

Microscopic molecules, such as the oil droplets in the Millikan experiment, are more affected by the viscosity of the medium, and thus obey Stokes' Law better (the Magnus force is still present, however, but it's effects are masked). However, for macroscopic objects, such as a baseball, the density of the fluid medium plays a much bigger role in air resistance. The larger mass of the objects creates more turbulent flow. So basically to answer your question, density affects it more when its on the macroscopic scale while viscosity affects it more on a microscopic scale. Hope this helps.