476

This experiment spectacularly showed how relative speed works.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] albbi@piefed.ca 32 points 1 month ago

What in the world would that feel like? Pretty fast acceleration, and then you're just standing still? Must be disorienting.

[-] Mac@mander.xyz 22 points 1 month ago

If you've ever jumped off a trailer, yes. Very weird.
Small note: when you're doing the jumping yourself its even weirder because you're used to landing with momentum. Your brain is expecting to have to land and arrest your momentum but then you're already stopped. It's such a weird feeling. lol

[-] mech@feddit.org 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Like sitting in a car backwards when it brakes hard, and then the bottom falls out.

[-] Evil_Shrubbery 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, exactly, still feels the same as accelerating to some speed (and then stop accelerating further), but afterwards you see that the ground around you isn't moving.

About the same as seating backwards in a car/bus/train/plane/bicycle/horse/(space)ship/running backwards/etc - ppl say it's disorienting bcs you are "pushed back in the seat & then you aren't moving anymore".

[-] iamthetot@piefed.ca 4 points 1 month ago

I imagine it might feel similar to running fast on a treadmill and then coming to a complete stop.

[-] rimu@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

Very weird. It'd be hard to ignore the reflex to curl up and instead put your feet down.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The same as braking to a stop in the same distance. That’s pretty much what’s happening here.

[-] ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

He's actually rapidly decelerating. It's like slamming on the brakes and coming to a stop, but backwards.

[-] Evil_Shrubbery 2 points 1 month ago

He is facing backwards so if you are differentiating between acceleration & deceleration then he was accelerated bcs he was facing the same way we the vector.

[-] ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Which way he's facing makes no difference. Relative to the ground, by which we are measuring his speed and on which he comes to rest, he is decelerating. Just as a seat belt presses against your waste and chest to decelerate you when braking hard, the chair he's sitting in is doing the same, but against his entire back.

I will however agree relative to the moving vehicle he is accelerating in the opposite direction of motion, but that not the frame of reference by which we've documented his moving velocity.

[-] BanMe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

The question is what it would FEEL like, not the technical physics.

[-] Evil_Shrubbery 1 points 1 month ago

Exactly.
Otherwise he might not have been accelerating at all compared to a meteor on the other side of the galaxy (by pure chance).

[-] Evil_Shrubbery 2 points 1 month ago

Acceleration is a vector with magnitude and direction.

this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
476 points (98.8% liked)

Crazy Fucking Videos

8649 readers
1 users here now

Dive into the World of Insane Videos!

Rules

  1. No hate speech of any kind.
  2. Content warnings are required in post titles where applicable. Example: [CW: Injury]
  3. Use your best judgement and mark NSFW posts as such.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS