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To: Hawk44; All
What is the physics of a flying dog?

In order for the dog to fly say 15 feet across water, how much must the dog be accelerated?

In order for the dog to be accelerated, how much must the 18 ton Swift boat be accelerated?

How much damage to the Swift boat from a mine, strong enough to toss a dog off the boat, through the air, across water and onto another boat? When was the damage report filed and repairs done( remember PCF-3 almost sinking?)

Certainly such a freakish event would of been well remembered in unit lore, let alone on both Kerry's boat and the receiving boat.
53 posted on 08/25/2004 5:28:40 PM PDT by Leisler (Kerry, release your Department of Defense SF 180)
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To: Leisler
In order for the dog to fly say 15 feet across water, how much must the dog be accelerated?

For an object launched at a 45 degree angle (ignoring air friction) to travel 9.8 meters, its initial velocity must be 14.7m/s; its vertical velocity on landing would be 9.8m/s, and its peak height would be 4.9 meters. Could a dog survive a 4.9m fall onto a hard surface without injury?

In order for the dog to be accelerated, how much must the 18 ton Swift boat be accelerated?

Ah, well this is where things get even more fun. If the dog and swift boat were rigid, for the dog to fly 9.8 meters and reach a peak height of 4.9 meters, the swift boat would also have to reach a comparable height. I think if the boat were blown that far out of the water, someone would have noticed it.

To be sure, it's possible for mechanical waves to travel through a structure without it moving significantly; the common "Newton's cradle" toys demonstrate this pretty well. Additionally, the legs of a startled dog may add some extra kinetic energy to the animal, causing it to fly further in response to a mechanical wave than would otherwise be the case. On the other hand, neither of these scenarios would allow a dog to get 'catapuleted' from one boat to another unless the boats were extremely close together (close enough that the dog could jump by itself) without the boat or other occupants being severely disrupted.

If the story were that the dog were knocked overboard by the mine and swam to another boat, that would be somewhat plausible perhaps, but the 'catapulting' story is absolutely sheer nonsense.

60 posted on 08/26/2004 12:12:36 AM PDT by supercat (If Kerry becomes President, nothing bad will happen for which he won't have an excuse.)
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