On Tue, 1 May 2001, Marvin Long, Jr. wrote:
> On Tue, 1 May 2001, J. van Baardwijk wrote:
>
> > While watching "Tomorrow Never Dies", an interesting (if somewhat morbid)
> > math puzzle arose. See if you can solve it.
> >
> > The Case
> > --------
> > James Bond is in an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean; the plane is flying
> > at an altitude of 8,000 meters above sea level. James jumps out to land on
> > a small island, but unfortunately his parachute fails (d'oh!). For 007,
> > this means 8,000 meters of free fall before he plunges into the ocean.
> >
> > The Questions
> > -------------
> > 1. What is James' speed (in meters per second) when he hits the water? You
> > may assume that his initial speed (at the moment he leaves the airplane) is
> > 0.00 meters per second.
> >
> > 2. Once James is under water, the water will slow him down. At how many
> > meters below the surface will his speed reach 0.00 m/s?
> >
> > With both questions, you may assume 007 goes down in a straight line (so
> > you can ignore factors like wind and the rotation of the earth).
>
> Does he nail the dive, or does he bellyflop?
What is terminal velocity for a human falling in air like that, anyway?
Or do we ignore that and just run the numbers?
And in response to Marvin's question, if he hits the water at a high
enough speed, then if he doesn't nail the dive, he's probably toast
anyway. :P Think "sudden momentum change trauma".
Julia
"Bullets don't kill people, pinpoint momentum trauma kills people."
(Carrying the "guns don't kill people" argument to a particular extreme)
