X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson
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Wed, 27 Mar 91 01:40:44 -0500 (EST)
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Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 01:40:39 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #302
SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 302
Today's Topics:
Re: Refuting Jules Verne?
Shuttle Status for 03/18/91
OSF News Briefing (Forwarded)
Re: space news from Feb 4 AW&ST
Genome Project talk
Safety Panel Reports to NASA (Forwarded)
Ulysses Update - 03/22/91
Japan Moon Probes article
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>Does anyone know of a solid (read not UFO-logy) work done on the physics
>of Jules Verne's man-launching cannon? I'm interested in the "g"s that
>the original crew would have experienced and just how far off the target
>the old boy was.
> I've guessed that the required initial thrust would have been way too
>much for a human to survive?
Well, it's been a while since I read the book. Like somewhere
around twenty years. So it's possible that the one figure I
remember, the depth of the cannon, is incorrect. Fine, take
it from me that an order of magnitude probably wouldn't make
enough difference to matter.
Depth of cannon: 900 feet. I'll round this up to 275 meters.
Desired velocity: Close enough to 25,000 miles/hour as makes
little difference. Round that down to 11,000 meters/second.
Using the standard formulae of V=AT and D=.5AT^2, the back
of my envelope gives an average acceleration prior to muzzle
ejection at 220,000 meters/seconds^2, with a total time in
the cannon of .05 seconds. This gives an acceleration on the
order of 22,000 times the surface gravitational acceleration
that makes my chiropractor able to afford more Los Angeles
County real estate than I can. I doubt that any of the
various high-gee tricks found in modern speculation, such as
immersion in oxygenated water, would mitigate this enough to
let an astronaut survive.
It's very possible I slipped a decimal somewhere, but this
should be within an order of magnitude or so. I did round
earth gravitational acceleration to 10 m/sec^2, since I
really hate arithmetic.
--
Ward Griffiths, Unisys NCG aka Convergent Technologies The people that make Unisys' official opinions get paid more. A LOT more.
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