A skydiver, who weighs 650 N, is falling at a constant speed with his parachute open. Consider the apparatus that connects the parachute to the skydiver to be part of the parachute. The parachute pulls upward with a force of 620 N.

Question

You have to consider the skydiver and parachute to be a single system. What are the external forces acting on this system? I don't know if there is more than one
A) The downward force of the skydiver on the parachute.
B) The upward force of the parachute on the skydiver.
C) The upward directed drag force due to the air.
D) The downward directed force due to gravity.

Answer 1

C and D are forces acting on the skydiver-chute system.

A and B are internal forces within the system. They cancel out when considering the system as a whole.