• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 12:52
CEST 18:52
KST 01:52
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!9[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League21Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.162Rollback Netcode in Brood War1235.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 202624Weekly Cups Results (Sep 28-Oct 4)0
StarCraft 2
General
Best Cryptocurrency Recovery Company To Recover Server Blocker Terran AddOns placement SCII needs to put more weight on strategy and tact How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR?
Tourneys
Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) $3,500 WardiTV Not-Summer Championship ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train Mutation # 545 And Drops and Rifts
Brood War
General
Rollback Netcode in Brood War GG Lan Fest Sofia, Bulgaria [this November] [Megathread] Daily Funny Videos [Recap] Hive ZvZ in MonstarZ vs Dreams [ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!
Tourneys
[ASL22] Grand Finals [$1250] International ShieldBattery League 2v2v2v2 Tournament Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers Replay Review Process - What do you do?
Other Games
General Games
Dawn of War IV Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Artificial Intelligence Thread The Chess Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
MLB/Baseball 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
The Link Between Gaming and …
TrAiDoS
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10121 users

Physics problem (With Video!)

Blogs > CubEdIn
Post a Reply
CubEdIn
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
Romania5359 Posts
October 11 2011 21:53 GMT
#1
Hey guys.

So I was watching this video today of some insane wingsuit stunts, and discussing with a friend.
I was wondering if I could find some terms of comparison of how hard this guy would hit something at that speed.

I know that the terminal velocity for a human could get as high as 200mph, but say he's gliding and such, so let's assume that he's going 200km/h. That's about 5.5m/s.
Say he weighs 75kgs or so.

Is there any way to compare the impact between him and... say a tree or that guy holding the camera, and something else? I'm curious how devastating it would be.

Said video:


Lemme know what you guys think.


*
Im not a n00b, I just play like one.
DreamChaser
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
1649 Posts
October 11 2011 21:57 GMT
#2
instant death at those speeds dont even need an equatio to know that
Plays against every MU with nexus first.
CubEdIn
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
Romania5359 Posts
October 11 2011 22:00 GMT
#3
Of course. But that's not the point. That's why I'm curious what it would be comparable to.

Like say, being hit by that guy is like being hit by a truck going 80? Because I know for sure that the breaking distance is proportionate to the square of the traveling speed, so I think that so is the force of the projectile. That's why bullets do so much damage even though they're super light, no?
Im not a n00b, I just play like one.
Risen
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States7927 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-11 22:24:36
October 11 2011 22:07 GMT
#4
I'm upset right now :<

Got to watch a cool vid, though!

Edit: To actually answer your question.

You're thinking of forces, so just do a simple F = ma

the acceleration in this case the body's negative acceleration imparted onto it by the object he is impacting. Let's say he slows from your 55 m/s to 0 m/s over the course of .1s

F = 75kg * 55 m/s^2
= 41250N

The reason I was upset: bullets don't usually kill b/c of their force impacted. They kill because of the shit they tear up. A bullet imparting minimal amounts of it's energy on the human body but passing entirely through can easily be deadly b/c of the systems it damages.

Double Edit: For all the cool kids fresh out of ES201. I'm well aware that this is a horrible approximation for the body hitting an object at 200km/h, but it shows an easy approximation of the force with which a body moving at that speed with that mass will impact. In the real world the body isn't just a 75kg unit, it's a system of attached masses. Upon impact the body would hinge around various points (and additional points of impact) and decelerate in a much different fashion. End result: Still dead, still hitting real hard.
Pufftrees Everyday>its like a rifter that just used X-Factor/Liquid'Nony: I hope no one lip read XD/Holyflare>it's like policy lynching but better/Resident Los Angeles bachelor
Telcontar
Profile Joined May 2010
United Kingdom16710 Posts
October 11 2011 22:08 GMT
#5
I'm not really sure what you're asking for. Comparison between him colliding with a tree and a person? If so, are you looking for specific measurements like impact force, velocity, kinect energy...etc? or are you more interested in how the material, surface area, density, shape...etc of the second body would effect the outcome of the collision?
Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta.
Seth_
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Belgium184 Posts
October 11 2011 22:13 GMT
#6
he's going 200km/h. That's about 5.5m/s.

It's 55 m/s.

A fall at terminal velocity results in death. Gliding near this speed will have the same result if you crash against a tree or something.
Djzapz
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Canada10681 Posts
October 11 2011 22:15 GMT
#7
Well I don't know the answer but wow, I want to do that.
"My incompetence with power tools had been increasing exponentially over the course of 20 years spent inhaling experimental oven cleaners"
tac0
Profile Joined October 2011
Sweden14 Posts
October 11 2011 22:17 GMT
#8
can tell you this, apparently a freaking coachroach-llookin flying bug can kill a human when we ride a bike at like 120KMH, so if hes around 200 i bet he'd kill anything.or die instantly
"to the bank"//Stephano
turdburgler
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
England6749 Posts
October 11 2011 22:21 GMT
#9
are all you asking is the forumula for momentum?

p=mv broheim
Risen
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States7927 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-11 22:27:55
October 11 2011 22:26 GMT
#10
On October 12 2011 07:21 turdburgler wrote:
are all you asking is the forumula for momentum?

p=mv broheim


Negative. Momentum wouldn't really apply here. (or, it would apply, but that's not what he's asking for)

Edit: And it doesn't apply here beyond any attempt at finding impulse b/c he's asking for the force with which he would hit (presumably) a tree, person, or the ground.
Pufftrees Everyday>its like a rifter that just used X-Factor/Liquid'Nony: I hope no one lip read XD/Holyflare>it's like policy lynching but better/Resident Los Angeles bachelor
CubEdIn
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
Romania5359 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-11 22:28:28
October 11 2011 22:27 GMT
#11
Right, I wanted to say 55.(5), but then I decided to make it simple and just write 55.5. I fail.

@Risen: thanks, that does figure though, because with kevlar you still suffer from the force of impact but you only get superficial damage. Sorry, I was never good at physics. (which is odd cuz I like maths)

@telcontar: I was wondering what the force of impact would be... like.
So as Risen said, if it's ~41250N, I was wondering if someone could give me an example of a different collision with the same type of force (~40kN). Judging by F=m*a, it would seem that it's a similar impact as a 1000kg car hitting a wall while doing 14.4km/h. That doesn't sound TOO bad (but yeah, I realize that that's the force one would feel if he were between the wall and the car).

@tac0: haha, yes, I've seen that mythbusters episode. It has to be a really big bug though.
Im not a n00b, I just play like one.
Smoot
Profile Joined April 2011
United States128 Posts
October 11 2011 22:36 GMT
#12
55 m/s =/= 55 m/ s^2. Velocity does not equal accel.

The energy of impact would simply be 1/2 mV^2 assuming he has reached terminal velocity.
The energy of impact against earth is 113,473 Joules.

Determining the force of impact is a bit different.

The force of impact differs depending on:
1. The mass and velocity of object 1
2. The mass and velocity of object 2

A tree and a person are 2 entirely different objects. I also think that spring force would have some effect to the collision as well. The earth would be easier to calculate a collision against because you can assume the velocity of the earth after impact to be 0.

If you put in some more assumptions such as the time it takes for object a (the person) to go from 55m/s to 0 m/s (stopped) Lets call this the impact duration time.
Assume impact duration lasts .01 sec

Then you can calculate F= ma
where a = (55-0)/(.01-0) m/s^2 (ie 5500m/s^2)

Then the force of impact would be (75kg)*(5500m/s^2) = 412500N

But again this is against the earth where the earth 'absorbs' the whole impact and does not move as a result.

Hitting a person or tree involves center of masses, spring forces, object velocities, and object masses among other things.

Hope this helps.

ZpuX
Profile Blog Joined December 2002
Sweden1230 Posts
October 11 2011 22:42 GMT
#13
Not sure if it's right to say the acceleration is just from 55-->0 in 0.1s.

Isn't the force more like the air resistance he needs to overcome at the speed of 55m/s?

Which then would be k*v^3 where k includes air density, "cross section" etc and v is the velocity of the moving object.
Really, play for fun!
Risen
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States7927 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-11 22:49:42
October 11 2011 22:45 GMT
#14
Let's take an average car and we'll assume 4000 pounds (google gogogo)

4000 lbs is about 1800 kgs according to a rough estimate in my head.

F = ma
41250 = 1800a
a = 22.91 m/s^2

If we take this and assume we're talking about a car crash. We work backwards.

Assume an average tim from point of impact to "rest" as .5s

at = v = 22.91m/s^2 * .5s (yup, that car ran headon into a brick wall that didn't even move, these things happen all the time in real life, or physics problems)= 11.455 m/s

So your guy falling from the sky is the rough equivalent of a car imparting ALL it's energy in a crash into a brick wall over half a second at 11.455 m/s or something like 25-26 mi/h. If this doesn't seem like a lot, REALLY think it through. Cars are pretty big, and usually a crash involves them gradually slowing down over the course of seconds, not HALF-seconds. Most crashes don't entail running into the immovable object, either. This is why cars have airbags on top of nature's natural tendency to have crashes occur in non-complete fashion. The longer you can have it take for that human eggshell inside the car to slow down, the better it's chances at survival.

A better example to give would be a car traveling at 45 mi/h crashing into a human. That's about 20 m/s. Human gets hit and slows the car by about .5m/s, how much energy is imparted on the human? We'll assume the human weighs about 70 kg.

NOW we bring in momentum. Find the velocity at which the human is now traveling, and make a baseless assumption about how long it took for said human to reach that velocity. (this doesn't even touch the fact that most humans "spin" away from car hits due to center of gravity issues)

p=mv now, car is p = 1800*20 before p=1800*19.5 after. We'll assume complete transfer of momentum (lol physics) 1800*20 - (1800*19.5 + 70*x) = 0 (Zero sum harharhar)

x is about 13 m/s

I've watched a few people get hit in my time. They get hit, and almost instantly go flying into cartwheels and shiz. We're going to assume the victim bent at the waist into a ball prior to being hit and is flying straight away from the impact (also, the car doesn't run him over because the driver used his brakes a little too late for our victim)

Time to accelerate to full speed: .1s

F = ma

a = v/t = 13/.1 = 130 m/s^2

F = 70*130 = 9100N

Yup, your skydiver is hitting with the force of 4.5 times my make believe, entirely unreliable, assumption filled, example.

Edit: Yup, this is probably riddled with errors. Someone come and fix it.

Double Edit:

On October 12 2011 07:36 Smoot wrote:
55 m/s =/= 55 m/ s^2. Velocity does not equal accel.

The energy of impact would simply be 1/2 mV^2 assuming he has reached terminal velocity.
The energy of impact against earth is 113,473 Joules.

Determining the force of impact is a bit different.

The force of impact differs depending on:
1. The mass and velocity of object 1
2. The mass and velocity of object 2

A tree and a person are 2 entirely different objects. I also think that spring force would have some effect to the collision as well. The earth would be easier to calculate a collision against because you can assume the velocity of the earth after impact to be 0.

If you put in some more assumptions such as the time it takes for object a (the person) to go from 55m/s to 0 m/s (stopped) Lets call this the impact duration time.
Assume impact duration lasts .01 sec

Then you can calculate F= ma
where a = (55-0)/(.01-0) m/s^2 (ie 5500m/s^2)

Then the force of impact would be (75kg)*(5500m/s^2) = 412500N

But again this is against the earth where the earth 'absorbs' the whole impact and does not move as a result.

Hitting a person or tree involves center of masses, spring forces, object velocities, and object masses among other things.

Hope this helps.



There should be an additional 0 on the 55. All you did was take my example and make impact time .01 instead of .1.

Triple Edit:

On October 12 2011 07:42 ZpuX wrote:
Not sure if it's right to say the acceleration is just from 55-->0 in 0.1s.

Isn't the force more like the air resistance he needs to overcome at the speed of 55m/s?

Which then would be k*v^3 where k includes air density, "cross section" etc and v is the velocity of the moving object.


No. We're not talking about the air resistance he's under at impact, b/c it's a nonfactor. The air resistance is what is keeping our example human falling at 55m/s instead of infinitely accelerating at 9.8m/s^2 to the ground.
Pufftrees Everyday>its like a rifter that just used X-Factor/Liquid'Nony: I hope no one lip read XD/Holyflare>it's like policy lynching but better/Resident Los Angeles bachelor
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-11 22:45:58
October 11 2011 22:45 GMT
#15
On October 12 2011 06:53 CubEdIn wrote:
Hey guys.+ Show Spoiler +


So I was watching this video today of some insane wingsuit stunts, and discussing with a friend.
I was wondering if I could find some terms of comparison of how hard this guy would hit something at that speed.

I know that the terminal velocity for a human could get as high as 200mph, but say he's gliding and such, so let's assume that he's going 200km/h. That's about 5.5m/s.
Say he weighs 75kgs or so.

Is there any way to compare the impact between him and... say a tree or that guy holding the camera, and something else? I'm curious how devastating it would be.

Said video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k

Lemme know what you guys think.



Mythbusters did something like this, didn't they? When they were testing a skydiver catapulting a kid off a seesaw? And they pretty much had to build a super-industrial strength seesaw to stop breaking things? And obliterated the dummy several times worse than usual?

Oh, and Lenovo recently did an ad showing one of their new notebooks with an SSD booting in freefall before it hit the ground to open a parachute. The one that didn't pull it off was pretty thrashed, and that weighs a lot less.
CubEdIn
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
Romania5359 Posts
October 11 2011 22:54 GMT
#16
Wow, thanks everyone for the replies.
@Smoot: thanks for the energy input, I was wondering what it is in Joules, as I know that's what they calculate projectile energy at the muzzle of the gun in. That's an insanely high number.

Yes, Risen, that does seem a lot stronger of an impact.
I can sort-of visualize it now, it's probably worse than getting hit by a decently-sized car going 100km/h. Wow.

@JingleHell: didn't see that one, but I'll look for it, and the lenovo thingamabob.

Thanks again for all the input, I didn't think so many people would be interested.
Im not a n00b, I just play like one.
Bibdy
Profile Joined March 2010
United States3481 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-11 23:00:13
October 11 2011 22:58 GMT
#17
200km/h is still something like 125mph. A human-being hitting any stationary, solid object with that much kinetic energy is going to leave a nice big, red stain in the local vicinity.
TheKefka
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Croatia11752 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-11 23:14:37
October 11 2011 23:14 GMT
#18
Ahaha,oh man this topic reminds me of the time we were bored in physics class and calculated how many farts it would take to fill up the room and suffocate everyone in it.
Cackle™
CubEdIn
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
Romania5359 Posts
October 11 2011 23:18 GMT
#19
On October 12 2011 08:14 TheKefka wrote:
Ahaha,oh man this topic reminds me of the time we were bored in physics class and calculated how many farts it would take to fill up the room and suffocate everyone in it.


It's called applied physics and it's the best way to learn, cuz it's FUN! :D
Im not a n00b, I just play like one.
Arite
Profile Joined April 2010
United States218 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-12 01:55:34
October 12 2011 01:55 GMT
#20
When I can go to a thread like this and understand even half of it, it feels like I'm not wasting my time going to physics class.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
AI Arena Tournament
01:00
Swiss - Round 6
Laughngamez YouTube
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
BRAT_OK 41
MindelVK 11
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 31712
Shuttle 710
Horang2 661
BeSt 405
Rush 306
firebathero 126
Dewaltoss 97
Mind 67
910 58
White-Ra 44
[ Show more ]
Trap 42
Barracks 30
Sacsri 28
scan(afreeca) 27
HiyA 25
Bishop 22
soO 13
yabsab 12
Dota 2
qojqva1261
canceldota120
Counter-Strike
fl0m2625
byalli394
Other Games
singsing2372
Mlord1380
Cr1tdota821
B2W.Neo591
Khaldor467
FrodaN449
Beastyqt336
Liquid`Hasu249
crisheroes143
KnowMe140
Grubby44
Fuzer 34
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• 3DClanTV 31
• StrangeGG 28
• Adnapsc2 27
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• Airneanach46
• Michael_bg 11
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 4664
League of Legends
• Nemesis2969
• Jankos1698
Other Games
• Shiphtur553
Upcoming Events
BSL Open Qualifier
2h 8m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
17h 8m
OSC
20h 8m
IPSL
23h 8m
BSL Open Qualifier
1d 2h
WardiTV Weekly
1d 18h
IntoTheTV X SOOP
2 days
PiGosaur Cup
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
Kung Fu Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
IntoTheTV X SOOP
4 days
FEL
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Super Anchor Qualifying S3
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Copium Cup

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
Acropolis #5 - GSC
HCC Season 3
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

BSL Season 23
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.