December 18, 2008
The Kirk Car Jump Physics

Remember the trailer for the new Star Trek where Kirk leaps from a car just before it goes over a cliff? Well, /film notes that Popular Science has done The Physics of Kirk’s Star Trek Car Jump and found that once again, Kirk is da man!





Posted by Arcterex at December 18, 2008 09:30 AM
Comments

Actually they did miss something - the friction is up against this entire torso most of the time, so the 3900 Newtons force spreads over that. In fact around half of it would be dispersed when his feet hit the ground, which they did before anything else. To be fair, the amazing this is not so much that he didn't go over the edge of the cliff, but that (a) he didn't shatter his legs, and (b) his clothes were still recognisably clothes.


Posted by: fudje on December 21, 2008 10:21 PM
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