Car Crash

Some factors to note: The G-force of a car crash is depending on stopping distance. This would be how many feet the car gets squashed, and how much the object that got run into, moves, or gets crunched. The following table would apply. Stopping "s" distance and amount of G-force experienced: If a car going 122 MPH hits a brick wall, and crunches the front of the car. Lets assume as a worst case the wall doesn't move, and the squash of the car distance summed with the amount of squash of the air bag to be 5 ft, then, the body on an average would feel 100 G-force. Actually I think it would start lower, and build up to more than this. This would be due to, harder to squash the last 1 ft, as compared to the first 1 ft.

Air bags work because they distribute the G-force over a greater percentage of the body. If no air bag a small area of the body must take a large G-force, and bones get broken. Note well: The amount of squash of the air bag as compared to the squash of the car is minimal. Air bags to protect a body during a pole shift would take some thought. Using only one bag would not be recommended. If you knew the direction of the jolt and it was the same each time then you could position your air bag between you and the jolt, and this might work. But, sense the jolt my be vertical, or horizontal you would roll off if one bag were used. Many smaller bags tied together may work if each bag can be made strong enough. The thickness of the bag is yet to be determined. Stunt men jump off building, and land on very large air bags.

It seems to me years ago I ran into a study by either the car industry, or the insurance companies that estimated body survival rate of car crashes with the two variables stopping distance and speed. Right now I am thinking it would be better to let our survival quarters slide around as it needs. Once the horizontal G-force is greater than friction then it will break loose and slide. The only problem with this is you don't want the wind blowing you around, also. Reason - you could end up anywhere, and you might hit something real hard, going say 300 miles/hr. I am going to, for now, assume the 500 ft jolt criteria apples to everything until I hear differently. This would be independent of whether the object is loose to be dashed around, or fastened to bed rock. I am also going to assume 500 ft jolt is the correct number to design our survival quarters to. As vehicle speed increases from 0 to 40 mph, the rate of injury in an accident increases by 50% and doubles again from 40 to 60 mph. Safety belts, when worn, reduce the number of deaths by 45%, and serious injury by 50%.

Offered by Mike.

So you're saying (below) that if the wall moves 100 feet, rather than being a brick wall, as they say, that the G force of the crunch is less. Well, in earthquakes, if you are laying in a trench 3" wide and the earth lurches this way and that, then you are moving with the earth and only fly a few inches during the stop, and the wall of the trench is moving with you as you stop. Also, you do not have that far to "fall" before hitting the wall. However, if you were a TV (or person) sitting on a picnic bench in a field, and the earthquake happened and moved the bench and TV (and person) rapidly in a direction and then stopped, even though the bench was slowing down somewhat gradually during the stoppage, the TV (or person) would go flying off into the air, in the direction of motion, and get dashed, perhaps against a tree or rock moving back toward the person at that time.

This is what brings buildings down during the swaying of earthquakes, one building coming back while another of a different height (vibration frequency) is still moving forward. They crash into each other!

Offered by Nancy.

Earth sheltered or earth bermed dwellings essentially move with the quake. The stuff inside may move a little bit. The real problem with movements of dwellings in earthquakes is the moment of movement between the ground, the first floor above the ground and the floors above. Each one will tend to move with a different inertia. However in a quake which produces waves in the ground will of course completely disrupt any building.

Offered by Eric.