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At 10:14 AM 9/14/00 -0500, Jack Uretsky wrote:
Sudden change of velocity implies infinite acceleration, which is infinitely
destructive and therefore unphysical. Sudden change of acceleration
does not violate any physical principle, although it may be difficult
to achieve in particular cirmumstances. So the displacement-time graph
need be only twice differentiable.
I'm skeptical of this argument, for dimensional reasons among others.
...
I know of no physical law that allows infinite jerk but forbids infinite
acceleration. The laws of electromagnetism essentially prohibit infinite
acceleration of charged particles, but have nothing to say about neutral
particles. As far as I can tell, the laws of gravitational radiation do
not forbid infinite acceleration, although they place severe restrictions
on it.
If somebody knows of a law that clearly forbids infinite acceleration (in
the limit of small particles), please explain.