Speed kills?

[TransformerRobot]

I wanna know what effect certain speeds have on the normal human body.

 

So to start things off, what effects are there on the body when moving at 300 miles per hour?

[Sensei]

Rapid acceleration, deceleration might kill.

 

When your body is decelerating brain in head is continuing flying in previous direction, hitting your skull and smashing, causing damage and internal bleeding.

[John Cuthber]

So to start things off, what effects are there on the body when moving at 300 miles per hour?"

None.

Compared to my cousin who lives near the equator, my speed differs from his by rather more than 300 MPH.

[TransformerRobot]

Rapid acceleration, deceleration might kill.

 

When your body is decelerating brain in head is continuing flying in previous direction, hitting your skull and smashing, causing damage and internal bleeding.

 

Well, what would happen if one was accelerated from 0-300 mph in 3 seconds?

[Endy0816]

If you want to take a look here is a tool to calculate and some different examples/discussion of effects.

 

http://www.smartconversion.com/unit_calculation/Acceleration_calculator.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force#Typical_examples_of_g-force

Edited August 30, 2014 by Endy0816

[between3and26characterslon]

So to start things off, what effects are there on the body when moving at 300 miles per hour?"

None.

Compared to my cousin who lives near the equator, my speed differs from his by rather more than 300 MPH.

 

Nonsense, it's a well known fact that anything over 27mph and you explode.

[Delta1212]

I wanna know what effect certain speeds have on the normal human body.

 

So to start things off, what effects are there on the body when moving at 300 miles per hour?

There is literally no difference between traveling at a constant speed of 300 mph and just sitting still unless you hit something. Acceleration is what has the effect and, incidentally, is what causes all the damage when you hit something or when something hits you. Drive a car into a concrete wall? You're experiencing the acceleration of going for 60 mph to 0 mph very, very quickly. Hit by a car? It accelerates you from 0 to 60 mph a lot faster than your body is comfortable with.

 

Simply moving at any given speed is going to do precisely nothing to you, however.

[Sensei]

There is theoretical work that limits distance cosmic rays with relativistic speeds can travel.

It's based on theory that when relativistic particle will collide with background radiation photon, there might be created pion particle because of large relativistic Doppler blue shifting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greisen%E2%80%93Zatsepin%E2%80%93Kuzmin_limit

 

[MigL]

If I remember correctly, when travelling at speeds over 100 mi/hr in a train, all the air is sucked out of the train car and you suffocate.

This was a common belief in the late 19th century

[Moontanman]

If I remember correctly, when travelling at speeds over 100 mi/hr in a train, all the air is sucked out of the train car and you suffocate.

This was a common belief in the late 19th century

And I was going to say it's not the speed that kills you but that sudden stop at the end...

 

 

​How far can you plummet? Hmmm all the way I guess...

[TransformerRobot]

There is literally no difference between traveling at a constant speed of 300 mph and just sitting still unless you hit something. Acceleration is what has the effect and, incidentally, is what causes all the damage when you hit something or when something hits you. Drive a car into a concrete wall? You're experiencing the acceleration of going for 60 mph to 0 mph very, very quickly. Hit by a car? It accelerates you from 0 to 60 mph a lot faster than your body is comfortable with.

 

Simply moving at any given speed is going to do precisely nothing to you, however.

 

Well what about if you were driving something like this at 500 mph?

 

[Moontanman]

Well what about if you were driving something like this at 500 mph?

 

 

It would rip your skin off...

[TransformerRobot]

It would rip your skin off...

 

It would? O_O

 

Why?

 

What could be done to prevent that?

[Moontanman]

It would? O_O

 

Why?

 

What could be done to prevent that?

You could wear protective clothing but it would be very tiring riding that fast in the open air...

[Fuzzwood]

Still no issue as long as you don't hit something solid, albeit the air friction will simply rip you off of that contraption. Be aware that we are all traveling at 30 km/sec already.

[Delta1212]

 

It would? O_O

 

Why?

 

What could be done to prevent that?

The problem isn't the speed itself, it's hitting something. In this case, the air. That's why most vehicles that travel especially fast are enclosed rather than open air like that.

[TransformerRobot]

The problem isn't the speed itself, it's hitting something. In this case, the air. That's why most vehicles that travel especially fast are enclosed rather than open air like that.

 

Well what's something we can do to resist all that air friction?

[Moontanman]

Any one here ride motorcycles? I can assure you that 180 mph on a motorcycle is not something you want to be expected to maintain in and or on an open vehicle... 500 mph is just silly...

[TransformerRobot]

What if something was propelling the rider forward from behind so that they were kept onto the seat?

[DeathShallWait]

What if something was propelling the rider forward from behind so that they were kept onto the seat?

Its not about being in kept in the seat, its about the air resistance at higher speed. When you travel at higher speeds in open space, the air molecules at higher velocity impacts with your body. The higher the speed, the higher the resistance. At 300 Mph, your skin could be ripped off or atleast face some minor damage. To reduce the friction however you could use the aerodynamic shapes, like the car manufacturers use to reduce air resistance. If the area is higher the air molecules reacting with the surface is higher too, so usually narrowed shapes reduces air resistance.

[Phi for All]

What if something was propelling the rider forward from behind so that they were kept onto the seat?

 

This seems like an awful lot of work just to keep an open cockpit design. I think you need to decide what this vehicle is designed to do.

 

Long-distance travel at high speeds driving practically straight? Enclose the cockpit, no question. Maneuvering and agility? Those don't go together with the kind of speed you're talking about. You've basically got a single rider hover bike here, it has advantages at lower speeds that don't scale up. Why do you need it to go 500 mph while the rider tries to keep his grip on the vehicle?

[TransformerRobot]

To make it more exciting and fun to watch, unless you think I should do something else to make it more exciting.

[Phi for All]

To make it more exciting and fun to watch

 

Fun to watch it do what? I'll assume it's for racing. Is it for drag racing or is it maneuvering curves at 500 mph? The open cockpit suggests a vehicle that's easy to get in and out of and is very maneuverable, like a motorcycle. But the speeds are more like a jet plane at ground level. I'm not seeing the need for easy in and out when this thing can take me 8 miles away in under a minute.

 

Are there other similar vehicles in the race? What kind of terrain? If it's not paved, and these bikes kick up dust, everyone behind the leader gets a 500 mph sand blasting.

 

As to scale, where would the rider's head be in relation to the windshield?

 

Either way, if the driver can feel the wind, he's slowing the vehicle down. It seems logical that a high speed vehicle would be designed to reduce that drag.

 

Is it more important to the story for the vehicle to be exciting and potentially dangerous and fun to watch, or is it more important that the physics are credible? I can suspend my disbelief a little easier if I'm not wondering why anyone would want to ride in an open cockpit at 500 mph.

 

I don't want to change your story, I'm just being a skeptic.

[TransformerRobot]

 

Fun to watch it do what? I'll assume it's for racing. Is it for drag racing or is it maneuvering curves at 500 mph? The open cockpit suggests a vehicle that's easy to get in and out of and is very maneuverable, like a motorcycle. But the speeds are more like a jet plane at ground level. I'm not seeing the need for easy in and out when this thing can take me 8 miles away in under a minute.

 

It's for maneuvering curves at 500 mph, because it's electromagnetically levitated (Don't ask me to explain, it's really complicated alien technology).

 

 

 

Are there other similar vehicles in the race? What kind of terrain? If it's not paved, and these bikes kick up dust, everyone behind the leader gets a 500 mph sand blasting.

 

All vehicles in the race are like that. The tracks range from metal tracks, to dirt, to grasslands.

 

 

 

As to scale, where would the rider's head be in relation to the windshield?

 

Behind the windshield, but a little bit above it.

 

 

 

Either way, if the driver can feel the wind, he's slowing the vehicle down. It seems logical that a high speed vehicle would be designed to reduce that drag.

 

I was thinking that the rider was strengthened by a powered exoskeleton (See: Iron Man).

 

 

 

Is it more important to the story for the vehicle to be exciting and potentially dangerous and fun to watch, or is it more important that the physics are credible? I can suspend my disbelief a little easier if I'm not wondering why anyone would want to ride in an open cockpit at 500 mph.

 

Because it would feel exhilarating, like riding a missile. Plus, it would be an amazing test of reflexes.

[Delta1212]

 

It's for maneuvering curves at 500 mph, because it's electromagnetically levitated (Don't ask me to explain, it's really complicated alien technology).

 

 

All vehicles in the race are like that. The tracks range from metal tracks, to dirt, to grasslands.

 

 

Behind the windshield, but a little bit above it.

 

 

I was thinking that the rider was strengthened by a powered exoskeleton (See: Iron Man).

 

 

Because it would feel exhilarating, like riding a missile. Plus, it would be an amazing test of reflexes.

If they're wearing a fully enclosed suit of power armor, it's not really open air anymore. I mean, you've effectively just created a less aerodynamic, detachable cockpit module at that point.