Terminal Velocity

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Can a human skydiver travel faster than a peregrine falcon?

Channel: Howto & Style
Uploaded: January 22, 2007 at 8:11 am
Author: bjtaylor09

Length: 00:04:46
Rating: 4.89
Views: 40630

Tags: skydiver peregrine falcon terminal velocity

Video Comments:
agfosterjr (July 4, 2008 at 5:29 am)
Nice shots but pure BS. You don't get up to 300mph just by wearing baggy pants--you have to jump at high altitude. And the math and physics altogether preclude a 2 pound bird falling faster than a human. It's a psychological problem: why are these falconers so committed to the superbird myth that they're willing to lie to uphold it against the physical reality--the rules of drag and terminal velocity backed up by radar measurements that put the duck hawk's stoop max at 80mph? --AGF
supersandor (August 4, 2008 at 7:11 am)
I heard about an incendiary bomb that was dropped in WWII which failed to ignite. It landed with such speed that when it hit a horseman in the head, it penetrated through his head, all the way through his body lengthwise, and through the horse to land on the ground! I guess it shows you the difference between the attainable terminal velocity of a human skydiver and a sleek and dense ball of metal. I have a feeling he could do a lot better than 300 mph if he sacrificed some stability....
agfosterjr (August 4, 2008 at 3:37 pm)
A 50 caliber bullet can fall 150 mph, and injure and even kill someone unlucky enough to be standing under it. Bombs are so heavy and dense they never reach their terminal velocity. Skydivers always do, or they risk deployment failure. Bungee jumpers don't. A human can reach 600mph jumping at high altitude, but in the breathable atmosphere they have a hard time hitting 200, and closer to sea level it gets even harder. Ballistics are better known than human freefall--military money. --AGF
Adnukator (June 10, 2008 at 2:26 pm)
to achieve that speed in 2 seconds you would need an acceleration of 16G (a tiny bit more,even). that's a tad too much, in my opinion...
Adnukator (June 10, 2008 at 2:27 pm)
that was in reply to cambo191's comment :)
cambo191 (June 11, 2008 at 12:42 am)
your maths is pretty far off...convert mph to kph, multiply by 1000, divide by 60, divide that by 60, divide that by time (2), then divide that by gravity
Adnukator (June 12, 2008 at 1:13 am)
oh man, i suck ass. sorry, my bad. cheers ;)
agfosterjr (July 4, 2008 at 5:41 am)
Even so six G's is pretty far fetched, especially in an acceleration. A 6G deceleration might be possible if you threw the bird out of jet plane's window, but it would probably break the birds wings. Don't believe anything they tell you on those documentaries--they make it all up. The birds can't even go 90 in a dive as per radar measurements. The math and the wind tunnel tests lead to predictions of 70mph--slightly beat by actual measurement. It's called the superbird myth. --AGF
agfosterjr (July 4, 2008 at 5:45 am)
Your math was wrong but your point was right: the birds can't do any such thing. This is all pseudo science of the worst sort. The duck hawk super stoop myth is growing wings and feathers, and you can even find superimposed video with the handler and bird in free fall together, but the fraud is easy to detect. If the birds could dive as fast as claimed there would be no need to fake the video, but these falconers just can't admit that their whole profession is full of crap. --AGF
Kelo60 (February 29, 2008 at 6:50 pm)
Wow.