We all know that when we drop a small steel ball (size 3mm diameter; weight 1.10 grams) and a paper (size 11.7 inches length and 8.3 inches breadth; weight 4.5 grams) from a height. The steel ball will win the race to the ground due to its aerodynamic structure.Now imagine the same steel ball with the same weight converted to the structure similar that of paper. What will be the result? Which object will fall first; steel sheet or paper?
The 2 objects will have the same size and shape. Therefore they will have the same air resistance. So the heavier object (the sheet of paper) will reach the ground first.
In okorder /... 11.7x8.3 inch paper 97.11 square inches 0.062651488 sq meters at 4.5gm is a non-standard 19 pound bond ledger paper, but that is OK, because at least it is in range. 38 gauge steel sheets are about the thinnest that hold their structure 0.00625 thick 1221 g/m? or, at 11.7x8.3 76.5grams So, with this data at hand we can better visualize the situation. Paper of 0.00625 thick in the size shown is 35# paper 131.68 g/m? 8.25grams Steel is higher in density than paper, so you cannot get the same size and air flow without it being lighter in weight than the steel and the air resistance would be lower for the heavier item, so steel of the same shape and thickness as paper falls faster. Suppose you want paper heavier than steel for the same area, then the thickness increases. Will a steel sheet 0.00625 thick and 11.7x8.3 inch size 76.5gm fall faster or slower than a 9 or 10 times thicker paper sheet? If it was able to hold flat in each type the thicker paper should get more backflow behind it aerodynamically and fall faster than an equal weight thinner steel sheet as my guess, but I don't have those numbers. The steel will always be heavier than the paper for the same exact shape and thickness by about 9x. My answer here is difficult, but the question has some flaws to think about.
