This from the astrometry listserve I'm subscribed to. The topics is almost as big there as it is here. I guess there's just some primal desire to do this stuff. Patrick

James didn't try a bowling ball, but since you asked... I also checked oranges and grapefruits and got a value of 42-55 m/s for 3-5 inch diameter spherical objects with the density of water, not counting the effects of the textured surface of citrus fruits, which a golf-ball aerodynamicist might say should make them fall faster. But this fits a figure of 50 m/s I've heard for a spread-eagled sky-diver. But even a small 10 inch diameter round watermelon should fall much faster than a human, 78 m/s, just behind a 16 pound bowling ball. In fact, a lighter weight bowling ball can have density less than 1 gm/cc and would fall slower than the watermelon. Also the grapefruit should fall faster than the orange, but James said the orange was faster.