Same here - When he stepped onto the platform I was actually jealous and wanted to jump ......... very expensive way to re-prove what Isaac Newton had already done with an apple, but what the hey - if I could convince someone to pay for me to do it, I'd be up there tomorrow..... Was it just me who was waiting for the 'cartoon moment' of the capsule landing on his head?
Speed of sound is a function of temperature as I recall. square root of gamma * R * T where gamma is ratio of specific heats, R is the gas constant and T absolute temperature. Don't think gamma varies a great deal for a given gas and R doesn't, so that leaves T. Colder it gets lower the speed of sound is. That's why supersonic jets use Mach No as it relates the aircraft speed relative to the speed of sound no matter what the conditions Sorry if I come across as trying to be a smartass. I posted Just in case anybody is interested (Old enough to know that there is always somebody smarter than me..........................actually in my case its nearly everybody) John
He would have been accellerating at 32 feet per second per second.........but then he wouldn't, because the atmosphere is much thinner at higher altitudes.... ......and I doubt if he is that worried whether he broke the sound barrier or not, judging by the tumbling and spin he's just lucky he didn't break his neck (and everything else)... ....I wonder what would have happened if the chute didn't open......I mean, would the suit have contained him as he hit the ground? I reckon you could have frozen the result and sold it as a giant tomato fruit shoot.... ......his dog tag with his blood group wouldn't have been much use.......... AL.
I think if no suit he would have been a Popsicle anyway? We were quandering at work why they didn't use a pig - for scientific reasons
I don't know how he managed to correct that spin, may have even corrected itself but could have had a different ending.
I think he managed to correct the spin once there was actually enough atmosphere to push against. In a near vacuum, how are you going to do it? There is no resistance. As for using a pig instead, yeah, I can just imagine Red Bull signing away millions to brand a pig.
All descent records were broken last week when a man achieved the most rapid fall from grace in history. The late Jimmy Savile plummeted from respected national treasure to hated paedophile abuser in a matter of minutes, breaking the unsound barrier on the way. His reputation was entirely destroyed on landing.
