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Choose your weapon with more care! :c)
According to Dennis Thompson ([email protected]), safety testing at NASA's Zero Gravity Research Center in Cleveland concluded that coins falling from a height of 510' in air achieve a terminal velocity that is too low to seriously injure a person it strikes, much less bury itself in concrete. Other more aerodynamic objects, such as pens, can achieve a significantly higher velocity and can constitute a hazard to people below.
http://www.tafkac.org/science/penny_falling_im pact.html
The link before didn't work for me. Hopefully this one will.
The link before didn't work for me. Hopefully this one will.
Astronauts become 'weightless' only because of the lack of gravity in space - they still weigh the same! A coin dropped from the top of the Eiffel Tower would only hit you with the same force as if dropped from 20 ft or so - still ouch, but certainly wouldn't kill you. This was demonstrated in the American TV show Mythbusters where they dis-proved the same myth about dropping a coin off the top of the Empire State building!
KRUSTY - Consider the contradiction in your first sentence; 'become "weightless"... [and] ...still weigh the same'.
Weight is the result of a gravitational force acting upon a mass. As the strength of the force changes so too does weight.
Also '...the lack of gravity in space' - how do you explain this reduction of the gravitational force? [Hint: it has something to do with distance].
There is no lack of gravity in space. It is just of a lesser magnitude. Astronauts/cosmonauts are still attracted by the earth's gravity. Otherwise they would not orbit, but simply float off into space. The condition of "weightlessness" is not due to so-called "zero gravity" although, as a mediocre physicist, I would not wish to try to explain in full here. Try googling for a scientific explanation.
The acceleration due to gravity, or what we commonly refer to simply as "gravity", increases slightly but perceptibly as one gets closer to the earth's centre. Thus, the gravitational pull on a man stood at the peak of Everest is slightly less than it is when he is stood at sea level. Similarly, it is slightly less at the top of the Eiffel Tower than at the bottom. Thus, a pound coin will have more weight at the bottom of the Tower than at the top, but this won't be due to it's speed built up as it falls. The difference will also be so small that very sensitive instrumentation would be required to show it up.
Astronauts do not become weightles due to a lack of gravity in space
If there were no gravity in space what do you suppose keeps the moon in orbit?
Astronauts experience weightlessness because they are in free-fall. Like a cannonball fired from a tall tower they fall. Only they are moving fast enough to fall "around" the Earth. like this:
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/nop/tools/cannon.jpg
"Weightlessness" is not only experienced by bodies in orbit (due to the continuous free-fall as described).
The crews of the Apollo missions also experienced "weightlessness" during the Trans-Lunar Injection phase of their flight when they reached the point where the Moon's gravity negated that of the Earth. At this altitude (approximately 300,000km) acceleration due to Earth's gravity is 99.95% less (or 0.05%) of that at sea-level.
The crews of the Apollo missions also experienced "weightlessness" during the Trans-Lunar Injection phase of their flight when they reached the point where the Moon's gravity negated that of the Earth. At this altitude (approximately 300,000km) acceleration due to Earth's gravity is 99.95% less (or 0.05%) of that at sea-level.
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