i dont see how thats possible
Ok, I don't go to MIT, but i've seen lots of these kind of problems in my studies. This also proves that I have waaaaay too much time on my hands, and I'm a giant nerd, but I'm ok with that.
Rather than make lots of assumptions and predict how far that truck could have flown, i'd rather look at how far it actually went, and work backwards to find out how fast he would have to been moving to clear the gorge. Based on the picture, it looks like the final resting place is approx 10 feet below the level where he left the road. Using the equation D=(1/2)a*t^2, you can find that it would take .78 seconds to fall 10 feet, which he did. Therefore, .78 seconds is also the time it took to travel the horizontal distance, which he did. Judging by the distance between the wood posts, and the number of them, I'm guessing the horizontal distance was about 50 feet. In order for his truck to travel 50 feet in .78 seconds, he would have been moving 64 feet per second, which is 43 mph. Seems slow doesn't it? I bet he was doing a lot more than that, and the collision with the concrete block slowed him down a good 20 or 30 mph. This is a very simplified calculation, but my result shows that you wouldn't have to be moving very fast to clear that gorge. The question is how did he get backwards? He must have hit it backwards, indicating that he spun out on sand on the road or something.
Ok, I don't go to MIT, but i've seen lots of these kind of problems in my studies. This also proves that I have waaaaay too much time on my hands, and I'm a giant nerd, but I'm ok with that.
Rather than make lots of assumptions and predict how far that truck could have flown, i'd rather look at how far it actually went, and work backwards to find out how fast he would have to been moving to clear the gorge. Based on the picture, it looks like the final resting place is approx 10 feet below the level where he left the road. Using the equation D=(1/2)a*t^2, you can find that it would take .78 seconds to fall 10 feet, which he did. Therefore, .78 seconds is also the time it took to travel the horizontal distance, which he did. Judging by the distance between the wood posts, and the number of them, I'm guessing the horizontal distance was about 50 feet. In order for his truck to travel 50 feet in .78 seconds, he would have been moving 64 feet per second, which is 43 mph. Seems slow doesn't it? I bet he was doing a lot more than that, and the collision with the concrete block slowed him down a good 20 or 30 mph. This is a very simplified calculation, but my result shows that you wouldn't have to be moving very fast to clear that gorge. The question is how did he get backwards? He must have hit it backwards, indicating that he spun out on sand on the road or something.
That is one sitiation where he would have died had he been going SLOWER!
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