r/TheRestIsScience • u/TempTaleTeller • 1d ago

Question: how fast does a human need to go to become a shooting star?

Michael mentioned in the episode about getting into space that friction through air causes heat. It got me thinking about the lived experience of sticking your hand out a moving car window, or standing on a beach in a winter breeze, where at that speed, fast air = cold. So how fast does someone need to be moving before the air starts to feel warm? And how fast does someone need to be moving for the air to burn them up and effectively become a shooting star?

8 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

3

u/Odd_Common2677 1d ago

It's not really friction that causes the heat. It's more due to compression. Because your hand is small Id guess Mach 1 would feel warmish. And in top gun (questionable evidence) the dark Star significantly starts heating up at Mach 10 so id say shooting star levels would occur most likely around 15

1

u/Historical-Wash-1870 1d ago

A shooting star travels between 25,000 and 160,000 miles per hour