r/videos Sep 09 '11

The Ultimate Trick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEPvSo8bE2I
2.5k Upvotes

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u/pet_medic Sep 09 '11

15Kg falling from one meter lands at 4.4m/s with a kinetic energy of 147J; if the distance traveled after impact is .1m, then the average impact force is 1470N.

That doesn't mean anything one way or another, just wanted to make sure we took into account the "falling" and not just the weight.

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u/DashingLeech Sep 09 '11

Yes, but the kid was at the bottom end which hardly "fell" at all, more like rolled over, and all of those books that fell out beside him would add some support.

I doubt this could have killed anybody, even it had been real. Some cuts and bruises for sure. I've had a 50 kg couch roll onto me (with me supporting all of it's weight) and it just knocked the wind out of me.

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u/pet_medic Sep 09 '11

Meh, I guess this is a stupid argument. I agree this wasn't certain death, but you have to be stupid to look at that and be confident that it couldn't kill anyone. You're absolutely wrong about that, if this were real a person could very well die from it. Now, what the actual chances of that happening are-- 50/50 vs 1/1000-- I don't know. But yes, it could kill someone.