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To: John Valentine
as you slow the vehicle from 60 to zero, in a VERY short time

no way. conservation of momentum. you will be flung at a sizable fraction of that 60 mph for a hundred feet or so (until you hit the ground and the law of friction takes over) but the car will scarcely lose velocity.

10 posted on 05/21/2005 3:48:33 AM PDT by The Red Zone (Florida, the sun-shame state and Georgia, the rotten peach, and Illinois the chicken injun.)
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To: The Red Zone

That was obviously one of the senarios I had in mind, when I referred to a very small reduction in the velocity of the car.

The other scenario, where the cars velocity was reduced to zero in a very short time presupposed a solid brick wall immediately behind the experimenter. Now it is true that the brick wall would ultimately be responsible for the deceleration of the car (if it is possible to speak of a brick wall as "responsible") but the action-reaction of the car-wall combination wwould be mediated through and by the body of the experimenter.

Result: severe compression.


15 posted on 05/21/2005 6:06:07 AM PDT by John Valentine (Whoop dee doo)
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To: The Red Zone
...conservation of momentum. you will be flung at a sizable fraction of that 60 mph...

You will be flung at far greater than 60 mph, actually, but the poster is correct about conservation of momentum.

16 posted on 05/21/2005 10:25:44 AM PDT by MonroeDNA ("Eat my body, drink my blood." --Catholicism)
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