At 04:31 PM 5/1/01 -0500, you wrote:
>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?
I'm not sure of the value, but IIRC I'm quite sure it would be achieved in
a fall from that height.
>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".
I'm not sure that he could survive if he _does_ make a perfect
entry.* What would the forces be on various parts of his body? Any
biophysicists in the audience?
(*Not to be confused with a reference to the last line in _Moonraker_.)
> Julia
>
>"Bullets don't kill people, pinpoint momentum trauma kills people."
>(Carrying the "guns don't kill people" argument to a particular extreme)
Or as Dick Solomon (John Lithgow) put it in an episode of "Third Rock From
the Sun":
"Guns don't kill people. Physics kills people."
-- Ronn! :)
