Can anyone calculate the force that landed on my nose?

[quincy]

I am 5ft 3in tall weigh 11.5 stone and tripped while walking, unable to get my hands down on anything to save myself I landed smack on my nose (surface area 1 sq in?) One knee took some of the force, but my nose was fairly squashed although not broken, and bled like a tap had been turned on. I am wondering what force in pounds per square inch hit me.

[tigersam258]

nothing hit you, you hit the ground! the question is why do you need to know? Insurance claim?

[Muppit]

Force = (Mass x Impact speed) / Impact Time.... F = MV / t

Mass = 11.5 stone = 73kg

Some of your mass was taken by your knee, so I'll assume that only a third was taken through your nose (to be generous)!! So the correct mass value, m = 73 x 1/3 = 24.33kg.

Imapct speed, V = sqr root (2 x a x S)

Acceleration, a = gravity, 9.81m/s

Height (Disatnce fallen, S) = 4' 10" (allowing for 5 inches of head above your nose) = 1.47m

Therefore Impact speed, V = 5.37m/s

The time taken for your momentum to be abosrbed through your front crumple zone (fleshy bit of nose) was probably quite small, say about 0.1 seconds. t = 0.1seconds

So, F = (24.33 x 5.37) / 0.1 = 1307N

This was spread through the surface area of you squashed nose, which based on my nose is probably about 1/2 a square inch.

Which makes it about 2614 Newtons / square inch which is equal to about 587 lbs per square inch!! Congratulations on not breaking your nose!!!!

Please do not respond to this telling me taht it's all wrong - this answer is based on basic principles, outrageous assumptions, and a couple of quick calculations including excessive rounding and guesstimation. Perfectly good for a fact to tell your mate over a pint, but clearly not something to rely upon in a court of law!!!

If you really want to know the answer, we'd have to get you into a wind tunnel to work out your drag coefficients etc in order to work out your actual fall speed, we'd have to findo out the compressive resistance of your nose, your weight distribution and millions of other factors!

Apologies if I made any stupid mathematical mistakes, I did it in a bit of a rush! And please, no jokes about me being a muppit - I am really very clever.

[Lucy Thomas]

The answer to this question is quite simple.

Take more water with it.

[quincy]

Thanks Muppit. It was just for fun!

I can't sue myself for compensation and the POW who placed the object I fell over is not to blame! I was walking on the Bridge over the River Kwai.