- #1
davewe
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I'm hoping someone can indulge me here. I'm a writer and wannabe novelist working on a satirical thriller.
I have a character who's a young physicist and a VERY smart one. At the beginning of the story he's driving with his grandfather, a wild old coot. The grandfather is driving his Porsche at 90mph and takes a dramatic curve on a guardrailed road overlooking a precipitous drop. He does not use his brakes. It's a game for the old guy.
Our young physicist freaks out. Using a physics formula (momentum?) I want him to be able to tell the grandfather that with the weight of the car, wheelbase length, at a certain speed, the car would have gone off the cliff. Could this be done? IOW, I want him to say "Considering that momentum is mass times velocity, and considering this Porsche is 3120 lbs. with a width of 71" and a wheelbase of 92.5", at 92 mph we would have inevitably gone off the cliff." Is it possible to determine this and what might a formula be?
Thanks for any info you can provide.
Dave
I have a character who's a young physicist and a VERY smart one. At the beginning of the story he's driving with his grandfather, a wild old coot. The grandfather is driving his Porsche at 90mph and takes a dramatic curve on a guardrailed road overlooking a precipitous drop. He does not use his brakes. It's a game for the old guy.
Our young physicist freaks out. Using a physics formula (momentum?) I want him to be able to tell the grandfather that with the weight of the car, wheelbase length, at a certain speed, the car would have gone off the cliff. Could this be done? IOW, I want him to say "Considering that momentum is mass times velocity, and considering this Porsche is 3120 lbs. with a width of 71" and a wheelbase of 92.5", at 92 mph we would have inevitably gone off the cliff." Is it possible to determine this and what might a formula be?
Thanks for any info you can provide.
Dave