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Old 02-04-2007, 10:43 PM
crosvs crosvs is offline
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Exclamation to physics nerds: false advertising in falling LEXUS ad?!

So i know this may sound ridiculous, but i couldn't help but be curious to do the math and see if it works.

So LEXUS had this ad where they dropped a new IS350 from 4,000 feet, and at the same instant, another IS350 punched it from a standstill, 4,000 feet away from where the falling IS350 would land.

The claim? That an IS350 could cover 4,000 feet across the ground faster than one could fall from the sky.

So it's been probably seven or so years since I've done elementary newtonian physics lol but it seems to me that this is an outrageous claim:

I calculate that the IS350 would take only 15.78 seconds to fall from 4,000 feet: 15.78 seconds would be a respectable 1/4-mile time, there is NO WAY it could travel 4,000 feet.

I just used:

PE = KE
mgh = 1/2mv^2
2gh = v^2

g = 9.81 m/s^2
h = 4,000 feet = 1219 m

v = 155 m/s

then, (vf - vi) / t = 9.8 m/s^2 --> t = 15.81 s

What's LEXUS trying to pull?!
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MARC/CROSVS | UCLA Bruin, B.A. Econ, Aug 2004 | J.D., Thomas Jefferson School of Law, May 2008 -- MEMBER: California State Bar, December 4, 2008

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