(Ninja Eater @ Aug. 19 2004,10:27)
(banditoo @ Aug. 18 2004,04:54)
(Ninja Eater @ Aug. 18 2004,20:06) i thought I was fast until I saw a documentry on a sky dive who broke the spped of sound. 110,000 feet from a ballon about 15 years ago. Incredible..
It's been a long time since Psychics class but how is it possible a sky diver can break the speed of sound ? I thought the maximum falling velocity, (terminal velocity), of any object falling via gravity was a couple hundred miles and hour ?
Max velocity is not the same in air that is 1/100th as thick.
U.S. Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger. Although he did not break the speed of sound, he came close — nine-tenths the speed of sound at his altitude — a colossal 614 mph (990 km/hr). He dove 4.5 times faster than most skydivers who start at much lower altitudes where the air is thicker. He could do this by falling through almost no air: 1.5% of the density at sea level.
On Aug. 16, 1960, Kittinger set the world's record (which remains unbroken) for the longest (19.5 miles) and fastest (4 minutes and 36 seconds) skydive. He reported his experience in National Geographic.
His epic dive started from a helium balloon that he floated to an altitude of 102,800 feet (31,330 m). This high, the sky is black and the Sun intense.
Incredible but so ae som of the othr facts psted in this thread...