Skydiver Felix Baumgartner Plummets Faster than the Speed of Sound

[Tharic-Nar]

If you've been anywhere near the Internet this past week, you've likely been made aware of a record-breaking skydiving attempt that was soon to take place. Well, that happened yesterday, after having been delayed due to bad weather on Tuesday. With this jump, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner, backed by his Red Bull Stratos team, had hoped to break at least three world records. While it may be a couple of days before those are verified, the unofficial results look good.

You can read the rest of our post and discuss here.

 

[madmat]

I fondly remember reading about the early days of cars where scientists (yes, seriously, scientists) and medical doctors both agreed that the human body was never meant to exceed 35mph and was in danger of flying apart if it did.

Good that they were wrong.

 

[Tharic-Nar]

Yes, the good old days when velocity, speed and acceleration were the same thing.

This one time, in science class, I was told that there was no such thing as deceleration, it was in fact negative acceleration. Oh how our minds exploded...

 

[madmat]

Supposedly it's acceleration in the opposite direction of movement. I think it's a load of hogwash as brakes offer no acceleration they merely offer resistance to movement.

 

[Rob Williams]

I fondly remember reading about the early days of cars where scientists (yes, seriously, scientists) and medical doctors both agreed that the human body was never meant to exceed 35mph and was in danger of flying apart if it did.

Good that they were wrong.

Wow, that's sure a far cry from reality. Could you imagine the repercussions if that were actually the case?

 

[madmat]

The world would still be a big place. Rapid transit would be impossible so great distances would take days to weeks to cross rather than hours.

 

[Tharic-Nar]

That resistance affects the velocity of the vehicle, slowing it down, so its speed forward is reducing, thus it is deemed 'negative acceleration'. It's one of those really silly 'relative' measurements. Funnily enough, this brings up something relating this guy going faster than the speed of sound - the speed of sound is relative! Since it's damn cold and pressure is significantly lower at 120K ft, the speed of sound is a lot lower... the maths of which I am too damn lazy to calculate.

Yes, I just felt like making this out to not be some big deal. If he had actually been travelling faster than the speed of sound at ground level... it probably would have been a very different story reported.

Edit: and damnit, slow replay, everyone moved on... I agree with all of the above, yada yada... I want pizza.

 

[Rob Williams]

I don't think it'd affect transit, would it? Your vehicle would be going faster than 35MPH, but the effect on your body wouldn't be the same. Outside of a plane, 700KM/h would make it impossible to breathe, but you're fine when you're actually inside the plane where the effect is drastically lessened.

Edit: Thar ninja'd me.

 

[madmat]

I don't think it'd affect transit, would it? Your vehicle would be going faster than 35MPH, but the effect on your body wouldn't be the same. Outside of a plane, 700KM/h would make it impossible to breathe, but you're fine when you're actually inside the plane where the effect is drastically lessened.

Edit: Thar ninja'd me.

They said a 35mph the human body would fall to pieces. Now if it was from the air rushing over it or from the jostling (no paved roads at the time) or from inertia, I have no clue. But if the human body literally flew apart at 35mph our travel would be governed to less than that.

 

[madmat]

That resistance affects the velocity of the vehicle, slowing it down, so its speed forward is reducing, thus it is deemed 'negative acceleration'. It's one of those really silly 'relative' measurements. Funnily enough, this brings up something relating this guy going faster than the speed of sound - the speed of sound is relative! Since it's damn cold and pressure is significantly lower at 120K ft, the speed of sound is a lot lower... the maths of which I am too damn lazy to calculate.

Yes, I just felt like making this out to not be some big deal. If he had actually been travelling faster than the speed of sound at ground level... it probably would have been a very different story reported.

Edit: and damnit, slow replay, everyone moved on... I agree with all of the above, yada yada... I want pizza.

Read what Wikipedia says on the subject of deceleration. It literally said that it is acceleration in the opposite direction which is hogwash.

 

[Tharic-Nar]

It's not hogwash, it's Science!

 

[Rob Williams]

I forgot to mention... as I was watching the stream yesterday, this happened:

 

[Kougar]

I still don't fully understand the point of the jump....


Speed of sound is nothing when you realize all the people floating aboard the ISS are traveling at a velocity of 4.8 miles per second. The speed of sound is "only" 0.21 miles per second by comparison.

Supposedly it's acceleration in the opposite direction of movement. I think it's a load of hogwash as brakes offer no acceleration they merely offer resistance to movement.

haha, I wish I could go back and tell my science teacher that one as you don't know how true your comment really is! As Tharic says negative acceleration would be the correct, but my science book was teaching that we were simply accelerating in the opposite direction.

 

[RainMotorsports]

They said a 35mph the human body would fall to pieces. Now if it was from the air rushing over it or from the jostling (no paved roads at the time) or from inertia, I have no clue. But if the human body literally flew apart at 35mph our travel would be governed to less than that.

Don't forget they where later worried about the drivers ability to breathe at 60+ mph.

 

[madmat]

Don't forget they where later worried about the drivers ability to breathe at 60+ mph.

Yeah, I forgot that one. But, to be fair, it does feel hard to breathe at that speed with nothing to break the wind on your face.

 

[Glider]

haha, I wish I could go back and tell my science teacher that one as you don't know how true your comment really is! As Tharic says negative acceleration would be the correct, but my science book was teaching that we were simply accelerating in the opposite direction.

Your teacher is right, as acceleration is a vector, not a scalar...

 

[Kougar]

Don't forget they where later worried about the drivers ability to breathe at 60+ mph.

He wore a pressurized suit for his freefall though!

Also, he reached his maximum velocity while still outside most of the atmosphere, because that was the part of his fall with the least wind resistance.

A normal skydiver in headfirst freefall can still breath then they reach terminal velocity. Terminal velocity IS the point where the wind pressing against their body prevents them from accelerating any faster. So if a skydiver can breath when at terminal velocity without a suit, I don't see how Felix would have any trouble when he reaches terminal velocity at any relative altitude of his jump! The air pressure (or force) against his body would still be the same once he hits terminal velocity for the given air density.

Edit: Just saw a brief clip of his interview... during his spinning he was explaining outright that he "couldn't feel the air at all" and that made it difficult when trying to correct his spin.

 

[Merlin]

I always thought a free falling human terminal velocity was 120 MPH ( in the atmoshpere ) I understand that the air was really thin, but it seems ( since sound travels in air waves ) that you would have to travel even faster to break the sound barrier due to the lack of molecules.