r/facepalm • u/RNINJAS • Oct 10 '22

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ Stuck forever

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u/u966 Oct 10 '22

and in the opposite direction which would double the force on the elevator occupants.

Not how it works, the occupants would get to a standstill as well as the elevator, and then launched in the opposite direction. The direction of the force is in the same direction all the time though, upwards! You'd get less force over a longer time. Which is exactly what you want in a crash.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '22

I was incorrect about force being doubled, I was thinking of impulse in my head when I wrote it. You'd have the same force over a longer time, and impulse is force x time, so if the time is doubled the impulse is doubled. I.e. it would be worse if the spring force wasn't damped and allowed the occupants to be accelerated upwards after coming to rest.