This experiment spectacularly showed how relative speed works.

  • D_C@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    Mythbusters did a version of this with a watermelon, or a ball.

    Their version was entertaining, but this is a lot more dramatic.

  • Albbi@piefed.ca
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    3 days ago

    What in the world would that feel like? Pretty fast acceleration, and then you’re just standing still? Must be disorienting.

    • Mac@mander.xyz
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      3 days ago

      If you’ve ever jumped off a trailer, yes. Very weird.
      Small note: when you’re doing the jumping yourself its even weirder because you’re used to landing with momentum. Your brain is expecting to have to land and arrest your momentum but then you’re already stopped. It’s such a weird feeling. lol

    • Evil_Shrubbery
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      2 days ago

      Yeah, exactly, still feels the same as accelerating to some speed (and then stop accelerating further), but afterwards you see that the ground around you isn’t moving.

      About the same as seating backwards in a car/bus/train/plane/bicycle/horse/(space)ship/running backwards/etc - ppl say it’s disorienting bcs you are “pushed back in the seat & then you aren’t moving anymore”.

    • mech@feddit.org
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      3 days ago

      Like sitting in a car backwards when it brakes hard, and then the bottom falls out.

    • iamthetot@piefed.ca
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      3 days ago

      I imagine it might feel similar to running fast on a treadmill and then coming to a complete stop.

      • Evil_Shrubbery
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        2 days ago

        He is facing backwards so if you are differentiating between acceleration & deceleration then he was accelerated bcs he was facing the same way we the vector.

        • ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Which way he’s facing makes no difference. Relative to the ground, by which we are measuring his speed and on which he comes to rest, he is decelerating. Just as a seat belt presses against your waste and chest to decelerate you when braking hard, the chair he’s sitting in is doing the same, but against his entire back.

          I will however agree relative to the moving vehicle he is accelerating in the opposite direction of motion, but that not the frame of reference by which we’ve documented his moving velocity.

            • Evil_Shrubbery
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              2 days ago

              Exactly.
              Otherwise he might not have been accelerating at all compared to a meteor on the other side of the galaxy (by pure chance).

    • Rimu@piefed.socialOP
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      3 days ago

      Very weird. It’d be hard to ignore the reflex to curl up and instead put your feet down.

  • Evil_Shrubbery
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    2 days ago

    The two nerdy cannonballs on that lad …

    … are prob of just average size bcs the boio understood the physics/risks.

    Actually, the demonstration would have been even more radical (as the kids say) if they fired a cannonball at him too. If they matched the acceleration & the engineering accordingly, he wouldn’t get hit.

  • LumpyPancakes@piefed.social
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    3 days ago

    I like the comment on the source: This means the end of bus stops!

    Not sure I’d want to be launched off a bus or train.

  • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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    3 days ago

    I thought that would happen but I was puckering anyway that shit gave me anxiety. I was like “wait just bare road and a helmet? What if something goes wrong?”

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Bare road and a helmet, if something goes wrong you’ve got yourself a controlled environment similar to a motorcycle riding experience without the danger of the weight of a motorcycle landing on you I guess. No cars behind you to run you over. Safe, not exactly… but definitely a thrill seeking experience

      • rainwall@piefed.social
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        3 days ago

        Thats a good take on it. Its not explictly clear what gear he has on under the red jacket, but it looks like it might be a motercycle suit. These are full body and tend to be armored with kevlar and other material in order to blunt abrasion/collision damage.

        With one of those suits, what looks like a good helmet and no bike to roll on top of you, you would likely survive a 30-60 mph “crash” off the end of the truck mostly unscathed.

  • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    There’s no practical difference between accelerating the other way and braking, so yeah, that’s what I would expect.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Is it really an “experiment”, or just an engineered stunt? I mean, nothing was learned.

    Seems like something you’d see in a movie.

    It was fun to watch, but let’s not dress it up as more than it was.