Question

Colonel John P. Stapp, USAF, participated in studying whether a jet pilot could survive emergency ejection. On March 19, 1954, he rode a rocket-propelled sled that moved down a track at a speed of 632 mi/h. He and the sled were safely brought to rest in 1.40 s.

a) Determine the negative acceleration he experienced (in m/s²).

b) Determine the distance he traveled during this negative acceleration (in m).

d) What If? Col. Stapp was able to walk away from this experiment. If the human body can survive a negative acceleration five times that experienced by Col. Stapp, what minimum stopping time (in s) would this correspond to in the 1954 experiment?

Answer 1