rvapedant t1_j9cpab1 wrote on February 20, 2023 at 11:23 PM

> 2000 pounds of metal is going to obliterate you and your bike, and ruin or end your life.

Many recent cars or pickup trucks are like 4000-6000 pounds. Even an early Miata was more than 2000 pounds!

Actually not posting to be pedantic for once, only clarifying to help people realize how bad that impact could be :-(

Charlesinrichmond t1_j9czaez wrote on February 21, 2023 at 12:37 AM

it really doesn't matter if it's 2k, 4k, or 6k. All are more than enough to squish.

chihuahua001 t1_j9d7l73 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 1:40 AM

F=ma

Charlesinrichmond t1_j9fq76m wrote on February 21, 2023 at 4:27 PM

so if there is no acceleration, at steady speed, then a car exerts no force (true) and no damage (False) on what it hits?

I think F=mv^2/2 is rather more relevant here, with the exponent being exponentially more important.

And it still doesn't matter. 2k squishes just fine. You can't get more dead than dead

TheLombardyKroger t1_j9th5qk wrote on February 24, 2023 at 1:16 PM

An object travelling at a constant speed and direction may have no acceleration in its own reference frame, true. But it can absolutely accelerate another object in another reference frame.

I don’t know what “F=mv2/2” is but maybe you mean the equation for kinetic energy? KE = 1/2 mv^2

At any rate (ba-dum-tss), getting hit by cars sucks no matter how accurate the mass measurement is. The slower the better.

Charlesinrichmond t1_j9ugl9k wrote on February 24, 2023 at 5:20 PM

yes. Kinetic energy. And the speed matters is what I was saying. I know of people killed by bicycles