(no subject)

[dakegra]

today's idle amusement:

there's a ride outside the library, which is basically a big rotating arm with a set of seats at each end. Myself and J were pondering how far someone would go if the seatbelts broke at the top of the circle. I reckoned they'd hit the road, he reckoned not.

assume the length of the arm is 30 metres (we're crap at estimating, so any Leeds-based people who would like to venture a different suggestion, feel free), and at full pelt, it rotates once every 7.8 seconds.

my elementary maths gives us therefore a speed of 94.26 m/s, from a height of 32 metres (adding on the height of the base).

At this point time has dimmed my mathematical skillz. How far would an average person travel if projected at that speed from that height?

[edit] a quick google for projectile simulators reveals that the body would travel about 30 metres horizontally.

Next question therefore was how fast you'd have to be going to get as far as the road (about 80m, we reckon). Turns out you'd need to be doing a full revolution in about 3 seconds.

So, dear reader. How many G's would you be pulling?

Comments

Let's see if I remember how to do this...

[corivax.livejournal.com]

Centripetal acceleration is velocity squared over radius. So, um, circumference is 188 meters, which makes the velocity 62 meters/second.

So the acceleration is 62*62 / 30 = 128 m / second².

Earth's gravity is 9.8 m / second², so you'd be doing about 13 Gs. 8-10 is where one passes out.

[sugar-shrapnel.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I went on that ride earlier in the year, now corivax is making me retrospectively nervous. It was fun though it was far too expensive. :)