The first thing I decided to research was simply the definition of cross-sectional area. There’s only one equation for calculating drag forces, so I felt it would be necessary to fully understand each of the equation’s components to fully understand the concept as a whole. Originally, I thought that the cross-sectional area would be the area of the object when compressed into a two-dimensional shape along the movement axis. For example, if a soda can was falling straight down, the cross-sectional area would be the area of the can if you squished it down into one flat circle. However, this is not necessarily true. The cross-sectional area can actually be any area, depending on how you look at the equation. Because the drag coefficient is based on real-life tests (it is an intrinsic and self-defined number based on the area used), it will reflect the area chosen for the cross-sectional area, or reference area. Typically, people will use the area of a slice perpendicular to the axis of movement as in my example with the soda can. However, you could also consider the area to be the entire surface area of the object, and in real life tests the drag coefficient will reflect that.
I also wanted to fully understand what exactly the drag coefficient is, and in researching cross-sectional area, I think I have accomplished that. It’s similar to the coefficient of friction in that it is affecting the frictional/drag force in a constant way, but it is dissimilar in that it is a much less concretely defined value, which surprised me. It is entirely based on the reference area used, so when scientists discuss drag coefficients and cross-sectional areas, they must specify exactly which they have chosen for their tests.
I think I’ve made good progress on my learning objectives; I understand things conceptually a lot better now, and I’ve made solid progress towards understanding the drag force equation and what it can be used for. I haven’t fully related all of this to skydiving yet, but I’m getting there.
Sources:
Physics of Skydiving 
Your topic is very interesting and your blog is coming along well
You may want to post some additional pictures or videos to supplement your research and talk about any misconceptions/surprises you encountered
I agree with Pranal. I feel like your topic is going to be very interesting and I really like how classy your blog looks and the picture at the top. Some pictures would be helpful when explaining what the cross-sectional area is but I understand that helpful images/videos about that are probably hard to come by.
Delightful theme and the cover photo. Your information is good, but like Pranal mentioned, some use of videos or pictures might make the post more interesting
I agree with your approach to find more information about the components of the equation before you start to apply it directly to skydiving. Maybe if you could also say what the equation is that would be good so that your readers can see how the different components fit in. So today we could have seen how the cross sectional area fits into the overall drag equation.
This is a great start. I really like that the learning shown in this blog is your own words and not off some website. For me, it definitely makes it easier to understand because its more like normal speech (if that makes sense!).