What animal, excluding birds, would have the highest terminal velocity if thrown out of an airplane?

See:

"Splat calculator."

Large mass, (relatively) small surface area, limited appendages. Yeah, blue whale or another cetacean might be it, though there's something to be said for the compactness of an elephant.

When You're Strange wrote:

danube steak wrote:

Rosie O'Donnell?

This maybe would have been considered clever in 1998.

I was gonna say a hippo but you already said Rosie O'Donnell

Did the plane take off from a treadmill?

ienjoyracing wrote:

Birds would actually have the lowest terminal velocity.

Not if they are trying. A diving bird can reach more than 240mph

However, looking at flying bird records led me to the astounding discovery that some African vultures fly at 10,000 meters over the desert! Not a tall mountain, but the Sahara, a former sea. So this is basically AGL altitude higher than the plane you dropped animals out of. Drop this vulture out and it might fly UP.

birdie birdie wrote:

ienjoyracing wrote:

Birds would actually have the lowest terminal velocity. They are extremely light for their size, which is a big factor given that this happens in real life where there is air resistance.

The OP didn't say the animal was dead. If you threw at bird out of a plane if would fly. There are birds that can fly a lot faster than terminal velocity.

You seem to have a misunderstanding of what terminal velocity is. If its flying under its own power, that's not terminal velocity.

Furthermore, I solved the issue by brute force anyway. I saw that peregrine falcons can fly up to 240 miles per hour, which really surprised me, so I decided to find the actual terminal velocity of a marlin.

Terminal velocity is a function of the cross sectional area of the object, its mass, and its drag coefficient.

Google tells us that marlins range between 200 and 1,800 pounds. To be safe, I picked 1,000 pounds.

Google also tells us the body height of marlins can range up to 23 inches, I chose a hypothetical marlin with exactly 2 feet of height, and given that marlins are roughly cylindrical, that gives us a cross sectional area of 3.14 feet squared.

I could not find the drag coefficient for a marlin, which is to be expected, but I did find the drag coefficient of a shark, which is apparently 0.4 at most. I think the two must be similar, and if not, then skewing in favor of the marlin having the lower drag coefficient given how its way more aerodynamic.

These values give a terminal velocity of 798 miles per hour. That is a bottom end terminal velocity given that every assumption was made in favor of a lower terminal velocity.

So because some guy decided to take it personally that I said we don't need to exclude birds, here is a rigorous proof that no we don't need to exclude birds.

Is it peregrine falcon?

for you old timers wrote:

Did the plane take off from a treadmill?

Just spat my cup of tea on my computer

A pet rock?

I had also thought peregrine falcon, but this is a fair point.

I see the case for the marlin, out of the popular options so far (armadillo/hippo/elephant/marlin). I think it's very strong if the optimal shape is kept for the whole drop.

These are all relatively high mass, smooth, and low drag. The armadillo has lower mass (though can still apparently be >50kg/110lbs), but if rolled and spinning in flight, the perfect 'golf-ball' effect. So I think it depends on the manner of flight - can we assume perfect stance/pose for the animal? Or for it to react by instinct? Because if the armadillo isn't rolled, that's no good - similar to the marlin fin for example, and movement. I don't know that the sheer mass of a hippo/elephant is enough to counter the shape - maybe depends on altitude?

Alternatively here is a wild-card option: if we assume that animal instinct is active, a giant Galapagos tortoise would retreat into its shell, making a high mass (>400kg/circa 1000lb), smooth, relatively round and inactive projectile.

I can still see the case for the marlin if animal instinct is inactive, but the tortoise perhaps is a legitimate winner if instinct kicks in

<insert 'fight or FLIGHT' pun here>

I think for a lot of these animals - definitely the marlin I'd say - the force exerted by the air is going to force them into their most aerodynamic position, whether they want to thrash around or not.

Sperm whale? The head accounts for 1/3 of the body weight, but only 1/4 the length of the body. So that would have it hurtling head first, in a streamlined position, despite thrashing? Maybe?

Is this a regular airplane, or the one that took off from a treadmill?

My Brother? He's a pretty big guy.

When You're Strange wrote:

danube steak wrote:

Rosie O'Donnell?

This maybe would have been considered clever in 1998.

Still clever in 2021.

Just an excuse to offer this video of one of the funniest bits ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf3mgmEdfwg

SlowFatMaster wrote:

A pet rock?

Hard coral could work. Include the accreted limestone structure and not just the living polyp.

as read on Letsrun wrote:

When You're Strange wrote:

This maybe would have been considered clever in 1998.

Still clever in 2021.

How? She hasn't been relevant for decades, and saying that she's fat is hardly a nuanced take on the situation.

elvid33 wrote:

Why exclude birds? It’s not like a bird would have the fastest terminal velocity. Birds create a lot of drag, which can be great for generating lift.

My bet would be a black marlin, tarpon, or whatever the longest shark is. I think it’s obvious that some fish would be fastest.

The snake wouldn’t be fastest unless you froze it as a rigid cylinder. In reality it would flop all around and create a bunch of drag.

This is probably a very good bet as something moving through water should have very good Aerodynamics.

Black Marlins are heavy and fast swimmers so that would give them good odds. A Mako shark would be my next guess.