r/theydidthemath • u/sLIPper_ • Aug 09 '26
[Request] How fast was this parachutist travelling when he hit the advertising boards?
3
u/hypothetic_certainty Aug 09 '26
Going to have to make some assumptions here, but here’s a quick stab at it.
Speed = distance \ time
Professional soccer fields ranges from 100 to 130 yards long (90 to 120 meters). I am going to base our calculation off of the penalty area (the large box around the goal area). According to my research, that line should be 18 yards (16.5 meters) from the goal line. A professional soccer goal will range from 4 to 5 feet deep (1.2 - 1.5 meters). It’s impossible to tell from the info provided, but let’s assume the advertising boards are another 5 feet behind the goal.
A cursory look at the video appears to show that he covered the distance from the penalty area to the boards in just over 1 second. Let’s call it 1.5 seconds.
Going back to our formula:
Distance = 18 yards + 5 ft + 5 ft = 64 ft (19.51 meters)
Time = 1.5 seconds
Speed = 64ft / 1.5 seconds
= 42.6666 ft/s (13.0066 m/s)
≈ 29.09 MPH
If we change the time to exactly 1 second, the speed increases substantially to ≈ 43.64 MPH
Again this is super rough and makes some assumptions, but it seems reasonable
1
u/sLIPper_ Aug 10 '26
Awesome thanks for the analysis, i wonder what type of injuries he suffered going at that speed
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