Gordon’s Hit At Pocono Registered 64 G’s
Sunday, June 18th, 2006 1:13pm EDT
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
[thumb:167:r:s=1:l=x]We’ve heard the reports on the data about the hit that Jeff Gordon took last week as he plowed the wall at Pocono. In response to that, a couple questions have came across the desks of the Thunder Lounge in regards to what that data really means.
The logic behind it is actually pretty simple. Using this information and scenario, we will explain it a little better, and give you a comparative example that should help you out in the future.
The hit was recorded at a whopping 64G’s. The term G’s meaning G-Forces. To put it into perspective, it is the amount of gravitational force exerted on an object, and 1G is equivalent to the standard force that is exerted on you just standing around, or doing normal things. This gravitational force is basically what creates weight. While many factors are a part of it, density and whatnot, it’s the gravitational constant that makes a pound weigh a pound.
As an example, if you weigh 150 pounds at 1G, at 2G’s you would weigh 300 pounds.
So, Jeff’s hit registered a whopping 64G’s. In other words, he weighed 9,920 pounds at the height of the impact. According to his profile on the Hendrick Motorsports site, Jeff’s on the scales at 155 pounds, which when multiplied by 64 times the force of gravity gives us the end result.
In further perspective, astronauts launching on the space shuttle experience a force of about 2.5G’s - 3G’s. Astronauts launching off for an Apollo mission experienced about 5G’s.
Another example you may relate to is being on a roller coaster. G-forces on a typical roller coaster average about 3G’s at their max positive G’s, although there are some super coasters that get a little higher.
Hopefully that will help you out a bit if you were one of the curious people about what that data really means. Granted this is a very basic example, but it should help you out on the road to being able to interpret such stats in a real world scenario.
Thanks to Frank and JJ for writing in.
Filed Under: Features, Nascar, Nextel Cup, The Water Cooler
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Yer so smart…
Clance McClannahan said this on June 19th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Aw shucks Clance, thanks.
Luke said this on June 19th, 2006 at 12:06 pm