Let the particle and carrier-fluid mass densities be and , with identical density contrast for both species. At small particle Reynolds number, balance Stokes drag law against submerged weight:
Consequently
At large particle Reynolds number, use approximately constant drag coefficient and quadratic drag. Balancing against the same submerged weight gives , so
Both particles must lie in the constant- regime for this simple square-root ratio. More generally it contains an additional factor . The speeds are positive downward magnitudes; the signs of the shock velocities below depend on the chosen spatial coordinate.
For spheres with the same density contrast, balance submerged weight, proportional to , against Stokes drag law, proportional to , to obtain . With constant drag coefficient, quadratic drag is proportional to , giving . The two radius laws require their corresponding particle Reynolds number limits.