• Question: How can you cancel out the jolt of a quick start?

    Asked by Mason The Amazing :) to Andrew, Hina, Ian, Kathryn, Leah-Nani, Xu on 14 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Kathryn Burrows

      Kathryn Burrows answered on 14 Jun 2018:

      Apply an equal jolt in the opposite direction? Or a several smaller corrective jolts.

    • Photo: Leah-Nani Alconcel

      Leah-Nani Alconcel answered on 15 Jun 2018:

      Damping! This is what the shock absorbers in your car’s suspension do, to give you a smooth ride.

    • Photo: Andrew Margetts-Kelly

      Andrew Margetts-Kelly answered on 19 Jun 2018:

      The thing that we experience in a quick start that hurts (the jolt) is actually called the “jerk”. It’s how quickly you get quicker at getting quick :).
      —
      Humans can mostly survive an infinite “jerk” as long as the “impulse” (this is the total increase in speed) is limited to about 30 mph. (This is why you have a good chance of surviving a car crash at 30 mph).
      —
      You cannot cancel it out but you can spread it over a longer time; to do this you need a way to damp it, like springs or bungees for example.

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