Man to break sound barrier

[TheGuru]

A parachutist hopes to become the first man to break the sound barrier by jumping from a balloon 25 miles high.

Michel Fournier, 63, a retired Army officer, will plunge at up to 1,000mph, breaking the record for the highest balloon jump into the bargain.

He will defy temperatures of -100C, solar radiation and oxygen deprivation, reports the Daily Mirror.

A modified space suit will protect him from the sonic boom.
He said: "It really is a leap into the unknown. Nobody knows much about the effect on the human body of passing the sound barrier."

Fournier, a former para who served in Algeria, was one of three candidates who took part in a French Army plan to jump 125,000 feet in the 80s.

This guy is mad

[smartsez]

Suicidal more like! Isnt the terminal velocity for a human being between 120-200mph depending on the falling position? He'd surely black out if he was travelling any faster! Plus, hows he planning on landing? he'd have to slow back down to about 100mph to open his parachute without ripping his limbs off??!!!!!

[Waldo]

This sounds like someone actively trying to get to the top of the Darwin Awards!

[TheGuru]

Originally Posted by Waldo

This sounds like someone actively trying to get to the top of the Darwin Awards!

Thats very true

On a scientific note:

A skydiver reaches terminal velocity when the force of air resistance pushing up against the skydiver is equal to the force of gravity pushing her downward. At this point, the skydiver is no longer accelerating, but falling at a constant speed. The terminal velocity for skydivers varies according to weight and physical position, but it's usually a very healthy 120 miles an hour.

So how is he going to break the sound barrier which is about 761 mph, or 1100 feet/second

He can eat all the beanz he wants but I cant see how he will be able to reach that speed without a rocket or something similiar!

[smartsez]

The terminal velocity of 120mph is the average when in the skydiving position (i.e. horizontal with arms & legs stretched out) that speed can easily be doubled by legs together & arms down your sides and diving head first as there's much less of a surface area to be caught by wind resistance. But, this isnt anywhere near what this guy wants to achieve, and as i said before, he would have to slow himself back down considerably before it would be safe to open a parachute without harming himself! The idiots just gonna kill himself!!!

[Mike]

Darwin Awards candidate

Its a good point how is he going to get that extra speed?

Maybe he expects to do it at major altitude where there is less friction from the atmosphere

Mike...

[smartsez]

dunno! either way, if he reaches that speed, he's gonna hit the ground at that speed too!