Re: [Phys-L] real-world physics

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

I may have misremembered, but apparently it is about 120mph in random
posture according to some sources.  Most tend to agree with you, but I am
sure that I saw my figures somewhere a long time ago.  So after looking
around, you would seem to be right.  Perhaps I confused it with the maximum
terminal velocity for cats which was stated by some sources as 60mph, but it
decreases with the height as the cat relaxes and spreads.  Cats apparently
have 95% probability of surviving above the 4th floor according to one
reference, but that may be a bit high.  I did not quickly find any highly
authoritative sources.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> On Jun 6, 2012, at 8:19 AM, John Clement wrote:
>
> > 60mph is about the terminal velocity for someone spread 
> eagled, but over 100
> > is for dropping vertically, so it depends.
>
> Hmmm.  My understanding is that terminal velocity for typical 
> humans in the spread eagle position is 110 to 130 mph and 
> that one can reach well in excess of 200 mph if one goes into 
> a vertical dive position.
>
> John Mallinckrodt
> Cal Poly Pomona
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