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Post by Lokifan on Mar 21, 2017 5:46:10 GMT
This week's myths:
Two of our heroes are trapped in a cable car gondola that is dangling from a broken wire.
1. Can you lift a 4 pound power drill with a methane filled balloon about 10-20 feet in diameter (call it 3-6 meters)?
2. Can you shoot an approximately 1 inch steel cable with a sniper rifle to cut said cable?
3. Can you hold onto, let alone climb, a lithium grease coated cable?
4. Can you run an electrical charge down said cable so that it forces anyone holding onto it to contract their hand muscles and increase their grip on the cable?
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Post by silverdragon on Mar 21, 2017 7:26:44 GMT
1} no. Weather balloon type balloons have a maximum weight, and its well below that of a battery drill?... not sure what, but 4lbs is quite heavy ... anyone remember back how many balloons to lift one small child?. I have had a quick check, and in helium, 1 square meter would lift about 250 grams, so "Rough" estimates on a 3meter round balloon even if we say 3 square meters, thats only 750 gram, which I can without translation see is going to be well below 4lbs?.. This site is what I am basing my rough maths on... www.doityourselfgadgets.com/2012/05/weather-ballon-kit.html anyone who knows better may have exacts, but even I can see immediately there will be a problem, not counting methane having a lower lifting ability than helium?. 2] no. One inch thick will resist a sniper bullet at anything but point-blank range, think one inch thick armour plating, and then think that the steel cable will be high grade steel being its a lift cable in the first place, so, no, no chance it will do anything but bounce off. Unless it splits the bullet as well. 3] not without specialist climbing equipment. 4] anything that will improve your grip that much will disable your ability to let go to change your hold, and anything that strong is a shock liable to damage your system, if not do a complete restart to the system. Plus, if you cant grip with your own muscle power, you cant grip whatever else you do, even electrical shock will only tighten up to your maximum own grip, it will not exceed what your own body has been trained to do?.. I would have though a pair of leather gloves or a box of chalk would have been more useful, or even a de-grease of the cable, but "shocking" the climber?.. thats not just BS, that Horse-Cr@p?.. However, saying that, electrifying the cable and burning off the grease may have a discussion-able point?..
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Post by the light works on Mar 21, 2017 14:00:49 GMT
1} no. Weather balloon type balloons have a maximum weight, and its well below that of a battery drill?... not sure what, but 4lbs is quite heavy ... anyone remember back how many balloons to lift one small child?. I have had a quick check, and in helium, 1 square meter would lift about 250 grams, so "Rough" estimates on a 3meter round balloon even if we say 3 square meters, thats only 750 gram, which I can without translation see is going to be well below 4lbs?.. This site is what I am basing my rough maths on... www.doityourselfgadgets.com/2012/05/weather-ballon-kit.html anyone who knows better may have exacts, but even I can see immediately there will be a problem, not counting methane having a lower lifting ability than helium?. 2] no. One inch thick will resist a sniper bullet at anything but point-blank range, think one inch thick armour plating, and then think that the steel cable will be high grade steel being its a lift cable in the first place, so, no, no chance it will do anything but bounce off. Unless it splits the bullet as well. 3] not without specialist climbing equipment. 4] anything that will improve your grip that much will disable your ability to let go to change your hold, and anything that strong is a shock liable to damage your system, if not do a complete restart to the system. Plus, if you cant grip with your own muscle power, you cant grip whatever else you do, even electrical shock will only tighten up to your maximum own grip, it will not exceed what your own body has been trained to do?.. I would have though a pair of leather gloves or a box of chalk would have been more useful, or even a de-grease of the cable, but "shocking" the climber?.. thats not just BS, that Horse-Cr@p?.. However, saying that, electrifying the cable and burning off the grease may have a discussion-able point?.. methane is lighter than air, but at only .6 times the weight of air, it is significantly less so than helium at less than .1 times the weight of air, if anyone wants to do the maths. what caliber is the rifle? under optimum conditions, a .50 caliber rifle will cut no more than half of the cable. horizontally? if you have a lot of strength training in your hands. vertically? is it that same 1" cable? it's not going to work well even without the grease. charge the cable with DC, and it will lock down the muscles it passes through. mind you, that is still limited by the strength of the muscle fibers, and the length of the ground wire you screwed to their foot.
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Post by Lokifan on Mar 21, 2017 15:29:11 GMT
1) The balloon was a hurriedly heat sealed plastic tarp from all appearances. Just the weight of the tarp seemed heavy enough to stop it.
2) It looked like a .50 caliber, from a rather large number of yards away (enough to need an impressive telescopic gunsite). The cable was under tension (the weight of the large gondola), so that might have helped, but I still doubt it.
3) The coating was thin, and the climbers used their own bodies to help lock themselves onto the cable and climb (it was a plot point). Still, but the end, they were sliding slowly down the cable, and in my experience, greased cables are completely unclimbable. You might be able to slide down an elevator cable, but climb one? Doubtful.
4) That was the big snapping point for me. Just energizing the cable would do nothing if you didn't have a ground somewhere on it, but it was just dangling. They'd never notice it. In the show, however, they got second degree burns from the 16 to 19 mA flowing through the cable (20 would be instantly fatal, doncha know...).
I get the idea that the writers are the same kind of people whose scientific background consists of posting "I <effing> LOVE SCIENCE" on Facebook.
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Post by the light works on Mar 21, 2017 16:15:59 GMT
1) The balloon was a hurriedly heat sealed plastic tarp from all appearances. Just the weight of the tarp seemed heavy enough to stop it. 2) It looked like a .50 caliber, from a rather large number of yards away (enough to need an impressive telescopic gunsite). The cable was under tension (the weight of the large gondola), so that might have helped, but I still doubt it. 3) The coating was thin, and the climbers used their own bodies to help lock themselves onto the cable and climb (it was a plot point). Still, but the end, they were sliding slowly down the cable, and in my experience, greased cables are completely unclimbable. You might be able to slide down an elevator cable, but climb one? Doubtful. 4) That was the big snapping point for me. Just energizing the cable would do nothing if you didn't have a ground somewhere on it, but it was just dangling. They'd never notice it. In the show, however, they got second degree burns from the 16 to 19 mA flowing through the cable (20 would be instantly fatal, doncha know...). I get the idea that the writers are the same kind of people whose scientific background consists of posting "I <effing> LOVE SCIENCE" on Facebook. 1: I know a metal coffee can filled with methane can't lift its own weight. 2: the weight of a gondola is not enough tension to stop the cable from deflecting; ergo not optimum conditions. (optimum conditions = a wire cutting attachment on the barrel of the rifle locking the cable into place) 3: I'm thinking as much of the diameter of the cable as the grease. you can't really lock in very well to a 1 inch diameter anything. we like to use mechanical devices on our rescue lines for that reason. of course, they COULD have made prusiks from something in the gondola, but that would be too real. half a milliamp has the potential to be more or less instantly fatal.
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Post by silverdragon on Mar 22, 2017 7:09:17 GMT
Read this and went and checked. I have in my boot an ex-lift cable. Handy huh?.. I will explain... It was a cut-off from when they replaced the lifts in the flats I used to live in some 25 yrs ago?.. the cable was cut to length and they had 20ft too much, so I "acquired" it by means of "What you doing with that if its for the bin I can make use", I have put two large towing eyes and clamps on the ends, by use of a pipe bender and a lot of swearing, its now my emergency tow-rope, its in perfect condition, and its lightly greased to keep the rust off in a HM grease, so possibly more grip than lithium. Only just enough to keep the rust away, so not overly tacky to the touch. It has served mew well, and it has been used to tow a 7.5ton wagon, empty, gently out of the way when the bugger decided it wasnt for starting and was blocking the bay I wanted, so its properly strong... I suspect a 10 ton breaking strain. Its about an inch thick.
If this is not similar in any way to the cable used in this show, I am trying a proof of concept, maybe other wires will react different.
When I got home this morning with this thread in mind, I decided to try some amateur myth busting, I have had rope training and can climb, or rather, 30 yrs ago, I could climb?.. aint done any for a while.... erm... anyways, I strung it up from a hook on my porch, and attempted to "climb"... or at least hang off it and suspend my own weight to proof of concept the ability to climb... With either hand or leather gloves, not a snowballs chance in hell. I tried twisting it around my arm in my old boiler suit that is happy to be greasy, and still cant get enough friction to suspend my own weight, even with that cotton boiler suit getting some grip. I can suspend, twisting it around my arm, but immediately start to slide down, if I were to climb, it would be three foot up and two-and-a-half foot of slide back.?..and not for long either. The problem is, it wont "twist" easily, I cant make bends in it to get it through any kind of carabiner descender to "S" shape it to increase friction, and even hand over hand climbing requires a little movement in ropes to get a grip. Either with or without the grease, I cant see many possibilities of a non professional climber being able to climb such a cable without "professional" climbing gear, and even then, with the professionals, even if they had self-stopping descenders, you cant bend the wire to get a grip.
Yes I could abseil down such a "rope", but even then, I wouldnt trust it enough to not plan landing in a heap.
Hope this helps.
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Post by silverdragon on Mar 22, 2017 7:12:09 GMT
1: I know a metal coffee can filled with methane can't lift its own weight. That speaks so much of experience, it sort of draws you in to ask, how do you know that?.. and then immediately, knowing what methane is, sort of doubt you want to know the answer..... "Marsh gas" I hope?.. not recycled cabbage?..
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Post by the light works on Mar 22, 2017 14:29:54 GMT
1: I know a metal coffee can filled with methane can't lift its own weight. That speaks so much of experience, it sort of draws you in to ask, how do you know that?.. and then immediately, knowing what methane is, sort of doubt you want to know the answer..... "Marsh gas" I hope?.. not recycled cabbage?.. Monday night's drill was on natural gas safety, which is 96% methane, 3.75% another hydrocarbon, and .25% artificial rotten egg flavoring. the gas company has a new trick where they fill a coffee can with gas, and light it at a nail hole in the top. it burns quite merrily, until the gas inside gets to the correct mixture to make a gentle "whump"
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Post by the light works on Mar 22, 2017 14:41:13 GMT
Read this and went and checked. I have in my boot an ex-lift cable. Handy huh?.. I will explain... It was a cut-off from when they replaced the lifts in the flats I used to live in some 25 yrs ago?.. the cable was cut to length and they had 20ft too much, so I "acquired" it by means of "What you doing with that if its for the bin I can make use", I have put two large towing eyes and clamps on the ends, by use of a pipe bender and a lot of swearing, its now my emergency tow-rope, its in perfect condition, and its lightly greased to keep the rust off in a HM grease, so possibly more grip than lithium. Only just enough to keep the rust away, so not overly tacky to the touch. It has served mew well, and it has been used to tow a 7.5ton wagon, empty, gently out of the way when the bugger decided it wasnt for starting and was blocking the bay I wanted, so its properly strong... I suspect a 10 ton breaking strain. Its about an inch thick. If this is not similar in any way to the cable used in this show, I am trying a proof of concept, maybe other wires will react different. When I got home this morning with this thread in mind, I decided to try some amateur myth busting, I have had rope training and can climb, or rather, 30 yrs ago, I could climb?.. aint done any for a while.... erm... anyways, I strung it up from a hook on my porch, and attempted to "climb"... or at least hang off it and suspend my own weight to proof of concept the ability to climb... With either hand or leather gloves, not a snowballs chance in hell. I tried twisting it around my arm in my old boiler suit that is happy to be greasy, and still cant get enough friction to suspend my own weight, even with that cotton boiler suit getting some grip. I can suspend, twisting it around my arm, but immediately start to slide down, if I were to climb, it would be three foot up and two-and-a-half foot of slide back.?..and not for long either. The problem is, it wont "twist" easily, I cant make bends in it to get it through any kind of carabiner descender to "S" shape it to increase friction, and even hand over hand climbing requires a little movement in ropes to get a grip. Either with or without the grease, I cant see many possibilities of a non professional climber being able to climb such a cable without "professional" climbing gear, and even then, with the professionals, even if they had self-stopping descenders, you cant bend the wire to get a grip. Yes I could abseil down such a "rope", but even then, I wouldnt trust it enough to not plan landing in a heap. Hope this helps. people have successfully traversed gondola cables, but they were part of an intact system, and not hanging straight down. most notably, a high wire walker attempted one up a mountain and came to a stop once the grade exceeded the friction of his slippers. I'm not sure I would even trust climbing ascenders to get a reliable grip on steel cable. though you have a point about the grease on a cable car or lift cable not being intended to make it more slippery - it is to protect it from the elements.
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Post by the light works on Mar 23, 2017 3:13:29 GMT
a few more: wind turbines are accessed by gondola. ski lift gondolas are not subject to wind shear. if a gondola comes loose on the cable, it will break the cable. a forstner bit will drill through "more wear resistant than steel" graphene. making a winch with a triangular arrangement of bars approximately twice the diameter of the cable will have the following properties: the cable will wind snugly around the winch. if the winch stops turning, the force of the cable will break the anchor point (the center axle)but would not if the winch was turning.
a person can pull armored cable out of the fitting without causing a short circuit.
edit: the "winch cable" was a gym class climbing rope, judging by the comparative size of the "cable" to the hands of the actresses.
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Post by silverdragon on Mar 23, 2017 6:46:39 GMT
a few more: wind turbines are accessed by gondola. Huh?.. ok, small ones maybe a cherry picker at the back end once they "wedge" it to a stop, but the wind turbines on the hills above here have internal stairways/ladders?...Since when?. I will have to come back to this, because there is a lot that just dont make sense in the above?.
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Post by the light works on Mar 23, 2017 14:04:23 GMT
a few more: wind turbines are accessed by gondola. Huh?.. ok, small ones maybe a cherry picker at the back end once they "wedge" it to a stop, but the wind turbines on the hills above here have internal stairways/ladders?...Since when?.I will have to come back to this, because there is a lot that just dont make sense in the above?. This is why I refer to the show as an unintentional comedy.
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Post by Cybermortis on Mar 29, 2017 23:31:11 GMT
Standard .50 Caliber AP rounds are rated as being able to penetrate 24mm of armor plating. As the rating is typically face hardened steel such a round *might* be capable of putting a hole in an inch thick steel cable. However the top of the line .50 Caliber AP round is made from Depleted Uranium (So military only) which is rated at 35mm penetration. That would in theory be enough to put a hole in the cable. If not something that would be easy to get hold of at short notice.
Depending on the load on the cable you might not need to cut it fully to cause it to fail.
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Post by the light works on Mar 30, 2017 1:15:48 GMT
Standard .50 Caliber AP rounds are rated as being able to penetrate 24mm of armor plating. As the rating is typically face hardened steel such a round *might* be capable of putting a hole in an inch thick steel cable. However the top of the line .50 Caliber AP round is made from Depleted Uranium (So military only) which is rated at 35mm penetration. That would in theory be enough to put a hole in the cable. If not something that would be easy to get hold of at short notice. Depending on the load on the cable you might not need to cut it fully to cause it to fail. the cable was rated for a vectored load in a span that looked to be at least a hundred yards. that same load was dropped from the cable, while it was hanging vertically. I'd throw an off-the-top estimate of the loading at the time the cable was shot apart at somewhere around 1/100 of the rated load. the first table I found listed 1" simple stainless steel cable at just short of 45 tons breaking strength. Portland's aerial tram cars, which are significantly larger than the cars on the show, weigh about 12 tons. (they are listed to carry 78 passengers)
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Post by Lokifan on Apr 11, 2017 6:31:08 GMT
So, we've got a new episode! (Spoilers ahead)
Our heroes recovered an asteroid or meteor (running joke) that is in a space capsule that was falling uncontrolled from orbit. They did this by using a robotic helicopter with the engines turned off that intercepted and captured the capsule with a robotic arm. They then restarted the helicopter engines and landed the capsule safely at a "Hechian" military base.
Once the asteroid (meteor) was examined, the team found that it contained "DNA fragments" from space. They need to sterilize it so such fragments don't get loose and destroy all life on Earth (potentially). They had to figure out a way to sterilize it without alerting the hostile "Hechian" military that didn't believe they were trying to help.
To sterilize the asteroid (meteor), they enter the room next to the conference room where the capsule was to be opened. Once inside, they use a standard stud finder to locate the capsule on the other side of the wall, and cut through to it. They shoved a homemade blowtorch through the hole and into the capsule. They incinerate the asteroid at 3000 degrees, saving the day.
Okay, here's my quickie fact check:
Actually, I don't have too much wrong with the helicopter sequence. It's outrageous to think a helicopter with stopped rotors would be in any way stable (unless autorotating), or could withstand the stress of capturing the capsule, or could even be piloted remotely with that level of precision, but I suppose it might happen if all these things lined up. I don't know enough about terminal velocities of capsule and helicopter to say, but it's fishy to me.
In the real world, I'd doubt the DNA fragments would be very scary--the reason bugs are dangerous here is that they've evolved with us, and as such are a threat because they "know" us. Alien fragments would likely be less dangerous than a glass of water. But, as a scientific discovery of extraterrestrial life, they'd be priceless. Burning them would be an obscene crime against knowledge. But, that's the plot, anyhow...
The reason the "Hechian" military was upset was because the rock had a large chunk of palladium in it, and heating it would oxidize it from a useful element into palladium oxide, a useless waste. Okay, there's a myth to bust.
The room they were in was a wind tunnel with sheet metal walls. They located the capsule using a normal stud finder, and cut through the wall using a pizza cutter (after it had been weakened by being scored with a chemically coated brick). Sorry, I didn't get the exact contribution by the brick; I was distracted during that portion. Can a stud finder work through sheet metal? None that I've ever seen...
Once they cut through the wall, they lit the blowtorch and burnt the rock. It turned to ashes. Another myth: What kind of rock would turn into a pile of ashes in a few minutes?
That's all I remember.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 11, 2017 9:14:40 GMT
Let me start there with the question at what height did they start the intercept?.. Because Camp Four on Everest is beyond reach of any rescue helicopter because of ceiling heights, and even if they did get a chopper up to camp three, they definitely do not stop the engines, because the engines risk not being able to restart in that kind of atmosphere, being they use "Turbo" type air intakes to get enough air inside, which dont work unless they are running... catch 22 on restarting a high altitude engine?.. It wont work unless the turbo spins up,, which wont spin up unless the engine is running?.. Therefore, engines off in a helicopter is automatic auto-rotate {Gyrocopter style} to get any chance of restarting, and even if you can, the control of the craft is all together [buggered] if you dont have a engine running, as ALL of the manoeuvrability of any helicopter at all depends on the balance of main rotor and tail rotor. Imagine rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time, do that, and then try to balance a pea on a football shaped jelly with your feet whilst repeating your 14 times table backwards. If you can do all that, you are free to try flying a chopper at ceiling height..... For information, camp four on Everest is 26,000 ft, camp three, the highest usual rescue point is 23,000 ft, approx. quick information taken from www.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_height_in_feet_of_all_the_camps_on_mt_EverestThere is an interesting program running at the moment on the teevee called Everest Rescue, which is about halfway through the series on Discovery at the moment... www.discovery.com/tv-shows/everest-rescue/Discovery Channel, with full episodes, which is well worth a watch, I am watching the series at the moment, its fascinating. But it does give you good information over the balance of weight, fuel, oxygen requirements for Pilots, weight they can carry, where they can land, how high they can go, and how hight they can rescue people from. They are using good average choppers... I am sure there are some "Heavy lift" choppers that can go higher.... those with extra lifting blades that can manage the thin air... But to my knowledge, there is not one chopper that can manage to fly Over Mt Everest, 28,000ft, let alone stop at that height, or engine off at that height, and be able to restart on its way down. Which as I may have pointed out, is a "fall", an uncontrollable fall. Onwards to catching up on a meteorite. In a space capsule. Frefalling from Orbit. Unless that capsule is a bloody slow one?... Most of them are hitting the earth, those that make it through the atmosphere, at many times the speed of sound. Even if its a slow one around the speed of sound, what chance any chopper on earth at all managing to get that speed?. Space capsules heat up a hell of a lot when coming down, they have heat shields to deal with that, and they dont slow down "Much" during descent, unless it deploys a parachute?.. or untill it deploys parachute?.. and by the sound of it, this one had no control. Freefall, the aerodynamics of a chopper, are limited to the top speed it can fly at anyway... thats why they spend so long in the wind tunnel designing the chopper, to get as much maximum speed out of it as they can, FLYING it powered, not unpowered with no control? Thus saying, I expect the freefall speed of a chopper to be below its powered speed.?.. am I wrong on that suspicion?.. So we have the weight of a free-falling capsule and a heavy lift chopper that has any ability to accelerate to speed, then slow its descent at all with that extra weight, plus gravitational forces, its going to weigh in at much more than its rotors are designed for. Then you have to catch, stabilise, "bring under control" that capsule, and restart the engines before you make a damp thud somewhere on a deserted piece of land "outback" of Siberia. There is a reason why they dont use choppers to catch falling objects... to my knowledge, this is "impossible" at this stage of our technology here on earth. Anyone have anything on this?... And sure as hell, if it can be proved possible, I wanna know, and I wanna be there to watch it happen?.. so if this gets made possible at any point in the future, give me a dig, wake me up, I am still going to be just as intrigued.
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Post by the light works on Apr 11, 2017 14:31:30 GMT
the one tidbit that Silver missed on. get yourself a nice tall skyscraper. take Jamie's little pop gun and fire a can of pop straight down at a speed in excess of terminal velocity - because remember, the reason the spacecraft is heating up on reentry is because it is being decelerated from ABOVE terminal velocity.
now try to drop something off a midlevel balcony at the right time to match speeds with the can of pop.
now, as for restarting the helicopter - assuming we are talking about a gas engine of any variety, and not a multirotor electric drone - what altitude did they catch it at, and how long did it take to restart, while they were going at what velocity?
as for the alien DNA being dangerous - maybe, maybe not. that is still only at the theoretical stage in science - we don;t know whether alien DNA will be human compatible or not.
stud finder: there are new radar versions that can see through the surface, but the common ones use ultrasound to measure the thickness of the CONTIGUOUS structure. any air gap between the rock and the surface will only read the surface. (I have the app for the radar version, I just don't have an extra thousand dollars to buy the attachment.)
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Post by Lokifan on Apr 11, 2017 14:56:05 GMT
I vaguely remember that the capsule's terminal velocity was 175 mph, and that the helicopter's terminal velocity was the same. So, matching speed was theoretically possible, with proper timing.
The helicopter looked to me like a military Huey (Bell UH-1 Iroquois) but with 4 main blades. They didn't mention the exact type in the show. My guess is a generic CGI construct.
I'd guess that both were in freefall about 30 seconds. So, the math says that in 30 seconds, at 175 mph, an object would fall about 7700 feet. That's well within the ceiling of a UH1 (about 19,000 feet). It was also obviously lighter without the crew.
Deceleration? I have no idea how to calculate that.
Oh, I forgot--they had trouble restarting the engine, and the helicopter/satellite was in danger of crashing into the Hechian capital city, unless our heroes saved the day...which, of course, they did, but it took longer. How long, I don't know.
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Post by the light works on Apr 11, 2017 15:11:49 GMT
I vaguely remember that the capsule's terminal velocity was 175 mph, and that the helicopter's terminal velocity was the same. So, matching speed was theoretically possible, with proper timing. The helicopter looked to me like a military Huey (Bell UH-1 Iroquois) but with 4 main blades. They didn't mention the exact type in the show. My guess is a generic CGI construct. I'd guess that both were in freefall about 30 seconds. So, the math says that in 30 seconds, at 175 mph, an object would fall about 7700 feet. That's well within the ceiling of a UH1 (about 19,000 feet). It was also obviously lighter without the crew. Deceleration? I have no idea how to calculate that. Oh, I forgot--they had trouble restarting the engine, and the helicopter/satellite was in danger of crashing into the Hechian capital city, unless our heroes saved the day...which, of course, they did, but it took longer. How long, I don't know. so: the only reference I found was youtube. we must assume the startup in it was a bit more leisurely than absolutely necessary. maybe a minute, thirty, minimum before the throttles can go to flight position? I finally found on quora, somebody said a helicopter that is prepped for rapid takeoff can get wheels up in 60-90 seconds.
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 12, 2017 8:30:38 GMT
I vaguely remember that the capsule's terminal velocity was 175 mph, and that the helicopter's terminal velocity was the same. So, matching speed was theoretically possible, with proper timing. so how would they "Match" speeds if the helicopter is not able to exceed that terminal velocity to "Catch up", or speed up once the capsule approached... and 175mph for me is the speed of a capsule AFTER initial deployment of a chute, it would be going many times that speed to break through our atmosphere. 175mph is about stall speed of a light aircraft taking off... Cessna speeds...not a free-fall as a capsule that just came from space On calculating speed of reactions inclusive here, starting at 19,000 ft ceiling of huey you suggest, and having it at terminal velocity as the capsule approaches, manover into some kind of parallel path, match exact velocity, extend "robot arm", then "catch" the capsule, restart the engine, change from nose down dive to usual attitude, or how else did they get past the rotors without clobbering them, And now "Brake" the capsule and the aircraft, bring under control, and start "flying" All whilst doing this by "Remote control", and having lag between communications, and I didnt even go anywhere near effective range of the remote control's radio range here, You may have noted the exact time I suggest they ran out of air space there?.. 19,000ft is a long long way, unless you are trying to throw the air-brakes on from free-fall at the time. At 500mph, commercial airliners start slowing down over London to land at Manchester Airport, and thats 3 hrs by road, but only 30 mins by air, to landing. Thats "Gentle" de-acceleration, its not like the pilot wants to slam the brakes so hard he ends up with all the passengers in his lap?.. I also suggest that the "standard" rotors on that aircraft would snap off under the strain of trying to brake just the aircraft in that situation. Let lone a "Capsule" as well. If that is anything like the capsule that the Apollo landings used as well, it takes a HUGE heavy lift aircraft to lift one of them off the ocean after landings?.. did anyone have a weight of the capsule?.. this may be the deal breaker. If its one that needs say a flying banana Chinook, or sikorsky sky-crane to lift, "Busted"?.. The weight of the capsule, even if its a half ton soaking wet, would be many many many tons under de-acceleration of whats needed to not go splut?.. g-forces off the scale type braking there.
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