Jumping Through a car Window

Most recent answer: 09/19/2013

Q:
Is it possible for an adult to jump from the drivers window to the passengers window? the car is stationary and the person must clear the window completely. As done in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWdgfu2AcXw thank you very much
- Bridget (age 21)
Sydney, Australia
A:

Hi Bridget,

I saw the video, it's pretty amazing.   But let's put in some numbers.

A good sprinter can achieve a speed of 40 km/hour which is ~ 11 meters per second.  The distance between the two car windows is around d = 1.8 meters.   So the time lapse between going in one and out the other is t = d/v =  0.19 seconds.   During that time the sprinter will fall a distance of h = gt2/2 = 0.175 meters. Here, g = 9.8 m/s2 is the acceleration due to gravity.   I presume he makes a bit of a vertical jump right before entering.  I don't see why he can't make it through. I'm sure I wouldn't make it, but then I don't think I would try

 

LeeH


(published on 09/19/2013)