3 ms·
> At that speed, the driver's momentum was around 67.000 kg*m/s. > That is an impact about 10 times bigger as getting thrown out of a plane and hitting the gro
by etskinner 4y ago
> At that speed, the driver's momentum was around 67.000 kg*m/s.
> That is an impact about 10 times bigger as getting thrown out of a plane and hitting the ground at terminal velocity.
That doesn't seem right.
Momentum is mass times velocity, p=mv. Average male weight is around 89kg, 74mph is about 33m/s. p_driver=33*89=2937 kg*m/s.
Terminal velocity of a skydiver is around 120mph, which is about 54m/s. p_skydiver=54*87=4698 kg*m/s.
p_skydiver/p_driver=4698/2937=1.6. So the momentum of the driver is smaller than that of falling at terminal velocity by a factor of 1.6.
- estsauver 4y agoI think he means the momentum of the driver+car system, not the momentum of the driver alone.
- etskinner 4y agoThen it doesn't make any sense to compare it to falling out of a plane. No matter what mass you're talking about, it cancels out when you compare it to another velocity, so the factor would still be 1.6, not 10.
- malfist 4y agoIn that case, to keep equivalent comparisons, shouldn't we compare the momentum of a driver+car system and a pilot+plane system? Clearly GP's physics experiment makes little sense.