APOD: Falling to Earth (2014 Feb 10)

[APOD Robot]

Falling to Earth

Explanation: What would it be like to fall to Earth from really high up? A new record for the highest jump was accomplished in 2012 by Felix Baumgartner. Surpassing the previous record of 31.3 kilometer plummet, Baumgartner, in a commercial venture, jumped off a floating balloon platform 39.0 kilometers above New Mexico, USA and had his entire fall recorded on video. Baumgartner wore a pressurized suit able to provide breathable air and warmth while up in the balloon and during his fall. Free falling 36.4 km before deploying his parachute, Baumgartner surpassed 1,000 km per hour and the sound barrier during the descent. The above video records his four minutes and 19 seconds of free fall in real time. The stunt included a somewhat unexpected but potentially dangerous spin that occurred during the second minute which could have knocked out or disoriented Baumgartner. After an enthralling plummet, Baumgartner's parachutes deployed and he landed safely.

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[Nitpicker]

A cool and dangerous stunt. But where does one draw the line between pressurised suit and small craft/capsule? This suit provided appropriate protection for the altitude of the freefall. I assume that a higher altitude would require a suit offering more protection. I can't help thinking that astronauts re-entering the atmosphere from orbit, much higher, faster and hotter, are no less brave.

[Ann]

I can't help thinking of the movie Gravity.

Ann

[torichelli]

Cool product placement.

[Guest]

Shameful product whoring on a vanity project.
This stunt summed up the tragic trajectory of humanity's reach for the stars. 45 years ago mankind took a small step/giant leap up to the moon. Now we cheer some egocentric adrenalin-junkie as he plummets back to Earth. Brought to you by Redbull, the beverage for short-term, hyperactive me-monkies.

[SN1987A]

Today's APOD is a huge disappointment. Shameful product placement! Are you running out of ideas for good APODs " I could suggest plenty of them

[Labrat]

TYPO: "heat generated by the friction if his fall" should be "heat generated by the friction of his fall"

[ClimbMateConned]

TYPO: "heat generated by the friction if his fall" should be "heat generated by the friction of his fall"

It shouldn't be friction at all. The heat is generated by the compression of the air in front of a falling object.

[geckzilla]

So what you guys are saying is you're not fans of Red Bull? *hides the Red Bull truck* Yup, nothing to see here...we totally weren't going to give away free drinks...

[Boomer12k]

Saw this back when it happened....AMAZING.....

Oh, the Gravity of it all....

Breaking the Sound Barrier, without a PLANE.....Amazing...

:---[===] *

[neufer]

Free falling 36.4 km before deploying his parachute, Baumgartner surpassed 1,000 km per hour and the sound barrier during the descent.

If a Baumgartner (i.e., a tree gardener) breaks the sound barrier during his solo descent does he make a noise

[Boomer12k]

Free falling 36.4 km before deploying his parachute, Baumgartner surpassed 1,000 km per hour and the sound barrier during the descent.

If a Baumgartner (i.e., a tree gardener) breaks the sound barrier during his solo descent does he make a noise

Yes...it is called a Sonic Boom....Hello???

:---[===] *

[Yoduh99]

It's not APODs fault the event and subsequent official videos were almost entirely sponsored and produced by Red Bull...

[Robert Boyle]

The heat is generated by the compression of the air in front of a falling object.

Is it, indeed? Please explain in a few words how does that work.

Thanks.

[geckzilla]

The heat is generated by the compression of the air in front of a falling object.

Is it, indeed? Please explain in a few words how does that work.

Thanks.

Luckily for us, Randall Munroe did this a while back in a whimsical and entertaining way.
https://what-if.xkcd.com/28/

If you want to be very clear, the air compression didn't heat him up all that much. Probably just entering the warmer layers of air while baking a bit in direct sunlight is what required climate control.

[CMatisse]

How did Felix stop the violent spinning?

[Psnarf]

Umm...scratch that one from my bucket list!

[Chris Peterson]

The heat is generated by the compression of the air in front of a falling object.

Is it, indeed? Please explain in a few words how does that work.

Nothing moving through the atmosphere is heated by friction. There is a heating process with some analogs to friction, but it's a collisional process that only applies when the moving body is small compared with the mean path between collisions. That means for small particles (<1 cm) at high altitudes (>50 km). Larger bodies simply compress the air in front of them, producing what can be very high ram pressures (megapascals). As always when you compress a gas, you increase its temperature.

In this case, the pressures were low and not much heat was generated. He reached a maximum velocity of only around 350 m/s. You need to be moving more than ten times faster to generate enough heat to start melting and ablating typical refractive materials. An astronaut trying to do this from an orbit would enter at over 8000 m/s, and would burn up with any current technology we have. Jumping from a balloon, which is stationary with respect to the ground, is a trivial problem compared with jumping from low-Earth orbit.

[neufer]

How did Felix stop the violent spinning?

He used his tail

<<Felix the Cat's expressive tail, which could be a shovel one moment, an exclamation mark or pencil the next, serves to emphasize that anything can happen in his world. Aldous Huxley wrote that the Felix shorts proved that "What the cinema can do better than literature or the spoken drama is to be fantastic.">>

[neufer]

The heat is generated by the compression of the air in front of a falling object.

Is it, indeed? Please explain in a few words how does that work.

• Are you really Robert Boyle

[RJN]

Luckily for us, Randall Munroe did this a while back in a whimsical and entertaining way.
https://what-if.xkcd.com/28/

If you want to be very clear, the air compression didn't heat him up all that much. Probably just entering the warmer layers of air while baking a bit in direct sunlight is what required climate control.

Cool! (sic) Thanks! I just updated the text and included the link.

- RJN

[orin stepanek]

A very interesting freefall; I would not try! What a carnival ride that would be for thrill seekers!

[neufer]

A very interesting freefall;

Not exactly a freefall...I'm pretty sure Red Bull paid Felix.

[orin stepanek]

A very interesting freefall;

Not exactly a freefall...I'm pretty sure Red Bull paid Felix.

Ya think? Paid him to take a dive!

[Anthony Barreiro]

How did Felix stop the violent spinning?

Enquiring minds want to know. And no, Art, a Felix the Cat comic book cover with exegesis by Aldous Huxley is not an adequate physical explanation.