Never have I been so happy to find my old physics notes! (nerd alert
)
The object travels the 3.81 m accelerating at 9.8m/s/s (gravity), so we can figure out how long it takes to fall.
Code:
distance = initial velocity * time + 0.5 * acceleration * time^2
3.81 = 0 * t + 0.5 * 9.8 * t^2
3.81 = 4.9 * t^2
3.81 / 4.9 = t^2
sqrt(3.81/4.9) = t
t = about 0.8818 s
Now, we can figure out how fast it was going at the impact.
Code:
final velocity = initial velocity + acceleration * time
Vf = 0 + 9.8 * 0.8818
Vf = about 8.64164 m/s
Now, we know that it decelerates from 8.64... m/s to 0 m/s over 1cm. Time to find the acceleration.
Code:
final velocity ^ 2 = initial velocity ^ 2 + 2 * acceleration * distance
We know that 1 cm = 1/100 m.
0 = 8.6414 ^ 2 + 2 * acceleration * 0.01
-74.6779 = 2 * acceleration * 0.01
-74.6779 = 0.02 * acceleration
acceleration = -3733.897 m/s/s
Divide that by gravity (9.8)
We get an answer of 381 Gs.
Someone please check this; I didn't take the weight into account but I think it's irrelevant here...
Wish I had my physics teacher right here now.
JBot