Driving off a cliff and not dying

[RedRooster]

Theorhetically...

If you were to drive off a cliff, say something standard like 500 feet high, and it had an infinite amount of perfectly smooth landing area in every direction, what is the minimum speed that you could drive off the cliff in which you'd land on your wheels with minimal damage and keep driving?

Assuming the vehicle wouldn't tumble or roll and would keep a perfectly level attitude as long as you had enough speed. It would be the weight of a regular car with indestructable wheels.

 

[amdhunter]

42mph

 

[BoomerD]

Are you going to put "wings" on this car to help control the "flight?"

Without them, odds are, the car won't "fly" straight, and will probably end up in "engine down" position.
Even if you COULD keep the automobile level during the trip, unless you could control the speed at which it hit the ground, the suspension would take tremendous damage. (you only specified indestructible wheels) Since they're a separate component from the wheels, the tires themselves probably wouldn't survive the impact either.

 

[Regs]

55 stay a live.

 

[BoomerD]

55 stay a live.

"I can't drive fifty-fi-i-i-ive!"
Sammy Hagar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=darLAkiyzHs

 

[HAL9000]

88mph

 

[Regs]

"I can't drive fifty-fi-i-i-ive!"
Sammy Hagar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=darLAkiyzHs

Every time - Back to the Future pops into my head.

Music videos were such cultural icons back in those days.

 

[Jaepheth]

Physics 101 (Or Mechanics 201)

Horizontal velocity at time of drop in no way effects vertical acceleration and catastrophic deceleration. It only changes the position your car will pancake at when it slams into the ground.

EDIT: Even if the car didn't flatten out, any passengers would be decelerating from the car's terminal velocity to 0 (or even a positive/negative[depending on coordinates] velocity if the car bounces) in a very short time. Probably to lethal effect.

 

[wischeez]

Must also have an indestructible spine

 

[Gunslinger08]

Physics 101 (Or Mechanics 201)

Horizontal velocity at time of drop in no way effects vertical acceleration and catastrophic deceleration. It only changes the position your car will pancake at when it slams into the ground.

Came here to post this. The only reason speed would affect it is lift. I don't think a car is going to generate much/any lift, so you're dead regardless of how fast you're going.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

you are gonna accelerate to the ground ant 9.8m/s^2 no matter how fast you are traveling horizontally. i dont see it happening

 

[NikolaeVarius]

you are gonna accelerate to the ground ant 9.8m/s^2 no matter how fast you are traveling horizontally. i dont see it happening

If you're in a vacuum.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Gravity is not affected by horizontal movement. Assuming aerodynamic neutrality and perfect flatness, the car will hit the ground with the same force whether it's going 1MPH or 10,000.

If it's on a globe in a vacuum then you could hit the ground feather-soft if you just launch at near orbital velocity.

Going with aerodynamics, with just a car's normal lift, you're gonna die. The drag is too high. While you may be able to launch at flight speeds your speed is going to drop fast. Unless you have some means of propulsion you're gonna turn into a rock long before you can gently come to Earth.

 

[RedRooster]

I was thinking more along the lines of orbital speed++. Obviously, that'd be impossible to attain with the weight limitations, but I was just spitballing numbers.
Since you fall vertically at the same speed, I guess this idea is out. I was thinking if you could start wrapping yourself around the curvature of the earth that at some point you'd just barely touch down nice and lightly even though you'd be going 100K mph horizontally.
My dream is shattered.

 

[randay]

the minimum speed is infinity

 

[DominionSeraph]

I was thinking more along the lines of orbital speed++. Obviously, that'd be impossible to attain with the weight limitations, but I was just spitballing numbers.
Since you fall vertically at the same speed, I guess this idea is out. I was thinking if you could start wrapping yourself around the curvature of the earth that at some point you'd just barely touch down nice and lightly even though you'd be going 100K mph horizontally.
My dream is shattered.

Huh? That is "orbit" -- falling at the same rate the curved surface drops away.

 

[MotF Bane]

Physics 101 (Or Mechanics 201)

Horizontal velocity at time of drop in no way effects vertical acceleration and catastrophic deceleration. It only changes the position your car will pancake at when it slams into the ground.

EDIT: Even if the car didn't flatten out, any passengers would be decelerating from the car's terminal velocity to 0 (or even a positive/negative[depending on coordinates] velocity if the car bounces) in a very short time. Probably to lethal effect.

We're done here.