I never felt safe riding on two narrow strips of iron at any speed.

There is no way I could be persuaded to get on this beast. 354 MPH on the rails....


http://youtube.com/watch?v=B8C-pDbUcBo

 

Hmm.

I wonder how much that short train weighed. They could well have set a kinetic energy record of some kind. (Not momentum, though. Loaded coal trains, aircraft carriers, and so on are probably better candidates there.)

My point (and this reinforces the previous comment) is that this isn't only fast, it represents a remarkable amount of moving mass -- talk about a train wreck waiting to happen! HPH

 

No. Kinetic energy is MV^2. We aerospace types have the market cornered on the "V" term....

 

I loved traveling in Europe by train; even if slower. That one is a tad fast. They had fun with it last night on Leno showing his side kick waiting to take a picture of it coming out of tunnel #1 while standing on track #2 which of course was the tunnel it came out of!

 

Our newscasters said "Watch this, but you'd better be quick," and I almost missed it while staring directly at the TV. Too fast for the kid here. I liked the New York to DC in 35 minutes part though which put that speed in perspective. Wow!

 

Yo Mike, since you can make it so simple even a cavewoman can understand whatever it is, how about you (and the Doc) trying to explain kinetic energy as it reates to weight and speed to this cavewoman when you get a chance especially as it relates to this fast train. I love this stuff, even if I can't always relate. I just love it when you techies talk shop. Signed: a cavewoman.

Our Tomcatt was so very good at breaking it down for us layfolk.

 

Right, but the really big planes don't go much faster than twice this; do they weigh four times less? (That's why I wondered.) Maybe the Shuttle, just before shedding its big tank (although to they to through Mach 1 with that tank?). And the really fast planes are pretty light compared to trains (but maybe not a factor of sixteen).

This is certainly the most KE on wheels, I bet. HPH

 

F=MA.


Force equals mass times acceleration.


That's one helluva lot of Force.

 

Who cares about wheels? If it doesn't have wings it's just another ground machine.

For Granny:

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. It is equal to the mass times the velocity squared. So if you double the mass, you double the kinetic energy. But if you double the velocity, you quadruple the kinetic energy.

Rollercoasters are a great example of the relationship between kinetic energy and potential (gravity) energy. When the cars are way high up on the top of the towers, they move slowly but they have a lot of potential energy. As they drop down the hill, the potential energy turns into kinetic energy. Since their mass doesn't change, their velocity has to go up. As you whip through the bottom of the hill you have all sorts of kinetic energy and you are moving very fast. When you go back up a hill, you trade that kinetic energy back into potential energy again and you slow down once more.

 

^ Once again you come through with an example I can understand. That, to me, is the sign of a great teacher. Ever thought about teaching? You'd get my vote. Thanks for the indulgence once again.

PS: So, what kind of engine was powering that train?