by Chris Peterson » Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:55 pm
emc wrote:Of course if the skydiver and golfer are on the moon, it would be less dramatic, right?
With no air there would be no sound, right?
Perhaps it would be
more dramatic. With no air, there is no terminal velocity. Skydive on the Moon from a few thousand meters and you'll land hard enough to make a nice crater. No sound through space, of course, but sound travels through the ground. And if you were nearby, the "thunk" you'd feel might be quite dramatic (not as dramatic as the thunk the skydiver would feel, though!)
And a large inflated rubber landing pad would be preferrable to a parachute, right?
Preferable in the sense that it would work a little bit, while a parachute wouldn't work at all. But I don't think it would stop you from killing yourself, unless it was unreasonably large (and it would probably just bounce you back up to where you started, unless it collapsed just right).
[quote="emc"]Of course if the skydiver and golfer are on the moon, it would be less dramatic, right?
With no air there would be no sound, right?[/quote]
Perhaps it would be [i]more[/i] dramatic. With no air, there is no terminal velocity. Skydive on the Moon from a few thousand meters and you'll land hard enough to make a nice crater. No sound through space, of course, but sound travels through the ground. And if you were nearby, the "thunk" you'd feel might be quite dramatic (not as dramatic as the thunk the skydiver would feel, though!)
[quote]And a large inflated rubber landing pad would be preferrable to a parachute, right?[/quote]
Preferable in the sense that it would work a little bit, while a parachute wouldn't work at all. But I don't think it would stop you from killing yourself, unless it was unreasonably large (and it would probably just bounce you back up to where you started, unless it collapsed just right).