Quote:
Originally Posted by srmmmm
Looks impressive and I think the principle is sound, but a baseball size piece of ice falling from 50-70,000 feet is traveling more than 80 mph, and I've seen softball sized hail in Oklahoma City go right through a composition roof with 1/2" plywood decking. I think the air space needed for an SUV under that fabric would wind up being an airbag the size of a semi.
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Assuming we can agree that the larger the object the higher the terminal velocity, the terminal velocity of a softball sized hail stone is approximately 70 mph and it achieves this speed within 1850 feet. Meaning, falling from a higher height makes no difference. A baseball sized hail stone has a terminal velocity of approximately 61 mph and it achieves this speed within 1450 feet.
The density of a hail stone is tested to be approx .60 grams per cubic centimeter. The drag coefficient is tested to be approx. .65.
We've been at this for 6 years. Math has been a huge part of the design and testing since the beginning. In fact, the testing is the only reason we went to market. It did things and continues to do things we never thought it would.
https://youtu.be/PY1IFcU9rZk