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#232285 - 09/16/11 02:03 PM What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator?
Andy Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 09/13/07
Posts: 378
Loc: SE PA
According to this article the defunct UARS satellite will be falling back to earth in the next week or so, possibly raining down 300 pound chunks of space debris over North America. Granted the chance of it actually hitting me in particular is pretty tiny (1 in 20 trillion) I may still keep track of its impending return to earth here.

Does you house insurance cover stuffing falling from space?

(Where did I put my hard hat?)
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#232302 - 09/16/11 04:38 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: Andy]
Blast Offline
INTERCEPTOR
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 07/15/02
Posts: 3760
Loc: TX
Didn't Taco Bell put a big target in the area where a piece of space junk was supposed to fall several years ago? If the debris hit the target they'd give everyone free tacos.

fake edit: ah, it was the remains of the Mir space station.
-Blast
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#232306 - 09/16/11 05:42 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: Andy]
LesSnyder Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 07/11/10
Posts: 1680
Loc: New Port Richey, Fla
Ok... for the practical shooters out there, it will make major power factor... how do you determine the ballistic coefficient of a refrigerator?

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#232308 - 09/16/11 06:23 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: LesSnyder]
7point82 Offline
Addict

Registered: 11/24/05
Posts: 478
Loc: Orange Beach, AL
Originally Posted By: LesSnyder
Ok... for the practical shooters out there, it will make major power factor... how do you determine the ballistic coefficient of a refrigerator?


Considering the largest chunk that is supposed to survive the plunge is projected to be about 300 pounds; a velocity of 1 fps would be sufficent to make major so I'm not sure the BC needs to be considered. wink
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#232313 - 09/16/11 07:31 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: 7point82]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA

If it's anything like a meteor, here's what the American Meteor Society says about the speed:

"Due to atmospheric drag, most meteorites, ranging from a few kilograms up to about 8 tons (7,000 kg), will lose all of their cosmic velocity while still several miles up. At that point, called the retardation point, the meteorite begins to accelerate again, under the influence of the Earth’s gravity, at the familiar 9.8 meters per second squared. The meteorite then quickly reaches its terminal velocity of 200 to 400 miles per hour (90 to 180 meters per second). The terminal velocity occurs at the point where the acceleration due to gravity is exactly offset by the deceleration due to atmospheric drag."

That's 32 feet per second, squared.

I wonder how much of a crater that would make?

Sue

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#232320 - 09/16/11 09:02 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: Susan]
bsmith Offline
day hiker
Addict

Registered: 02/15/07
Posts: 589
Loc: ventura county, ca
Originally Posted By: Susan
I wonder how much of a crater that would make?

Sue

after the shuttle 'columbia' broke apart during reentry i don't recall any untoward incidents that occurred on the ground.
ymmv
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#232333 - 09/16/11 10:57 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: Andy]
haertig Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/13/05
Posts: 2322
Loc: Colorado
What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator?

African, or European?

( You have to be nerdy enough to remember all the lines in Monty Python And The Holy Grail to even have a remote chance of getting that one... )

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#232336 - 09/16/11 11:14 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: haertig]
Jeanette_Isabelle Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 11/13/06
Posts: 2946
Loc: Nacogdoches, Texas
Originally Posted By: haertig
What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator?

African, or European?

( You have to be nerdy enough to remember all the lines in Monty Python And The Holy Grail to even have a remote chance of getting that one... )

Please. What geek hasn't memorized that movie?

Now, if you would please excuse me, I need to perform a low-level format on an SCSI hard drive.

Jeanette Isabelle
_________________________
I'm not sure whose twisted idea it was to put hundreds of adolescents in underfunded schools run by people whose dreams were crushed years ago, but I admire the sadism. -- Wednesday Adams, Wednesday

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#232337 - 09/16/11 11:26 PM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: Andy]
JBMat Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/03/09
Posts: 745
Loc: NC
As long as we are quoting the Holy Grail...

If you should see a falling refrigerator, or satellite -

RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!!!

And I can only hope my homeowners would pay for the damages created by falling space debris.

We are the Knights who say "Ni"

Now fetch us a shubbery.

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#232349 - 09/17/11 05:46 AM Re: What's the terminal velocity of a refrigerator? [Re: LesSnyder]
Richlacal Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/11/10
Posts: 778
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
If it were/is a fridge from the 50's-60's they had/have round tops,which would indicate an ojive of sorts,therefore ballistics coefficient would pertain if it were traveling top down first,lol!

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