Disclaimer: all following comments made by me are based on the fact that I am
neither an aerodynamicist nor a physcist, I merely have a lumber-room
memory for random, miscellaneous facts. All comments are subject to review
and correction by the appropriate professionals.
>
>Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1992 13:45 CST
>From: [email removed]
>Subject: (4456) Orbital Surveillance, Grav Belts, and Antimatter
>
>- ----------------
>Another odd point:
>The maximum listed speed for a man wearing a grav belt is 300km/hr.
>Why? Drag? Skydivers travel MUCH faster than that.
Do they? Terminal velocity (at reasonable altitudes) is approximately 120 MPH.
Terminal velocity is the speed at which the drag of falling through the
air exactly balances the force of gravity pulling you down. You can change
this to some degree by streamlining your body (pull your arms and legs into
line with the torso), but I don't think you gain a LOT of speed.
>
>Case: I forget when it was done, but sometime back in the 50's-60's they
>were experimenting with high altitude ejection. I remember hearing a guy
>talk about setting the world record for the highest parachute jump on some
>documentary or other. He said that on the way down he actually went
>supersonic. When he got into the thicker atmosphere, he slowed way, way
>down before he pulled the chute.
>
The speed of sound varies with the density of the medium, so it would be less
at higher altitudes. Since the Terminal Velocity also varies inversely to the
density of the air, these two speeds should move toward each other at higher
altitudes (i.e. TV goes up, SoS goes down). How closely they approach, I have
no idea. Any real aerodynamicists out there?
Possibly, GDW considers grav belts to put out a constant force, therefore,
they would produce a constant speed at max output, like terminal Velocity. If
all grav belts come from the factory preset, this would account for the
constant max V.
But, consider this...
Dad gets teenage son a GB for his sixteenth birthday. Said teenage son
proceeds to soup it up. Said teenage son, then goes out and races with other
hotrodders. Sounds like california in the 60's, eh?
>
>Scott 2G Kellogg
>
- ----------
In the dark no one can hear the color of your eyes.
Disclaimer: This is me. Do I sound like anyone else?
Paul Baughman PHB100 @ psuvm.psu.edu