Getting Hit by a train - Corrected

[Anonymous]

Sorry - tried using bullet points on the first one and failed...
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There have been several posts recently about train vs. car or train vs. pedestrian accidents. I just did some simple math (the kind I do best) and found this interesting. If you have a young (or careless) driver in your home, this might be interesting to share.

A loaded coal train weighs 14,000 tons or 28 MILLION Pounds
My Saturn L300 Sedan weighs 3,000 pounds w/ me in it
That means that the train weighs 9,333 times more than me and my car.

Now, stay with me here.....

My car weighs about 9,300 times more than a Quarter Pounder (w/ cheese..in the bun.)

So, if a train hit me in my car, it would be capable of imparting similar damage as me hitting a Quarter Pounder with my car. If I hit a Quarter Pounder, I'd hardly even notice, if at all.

It would never cause me to stop and it would be obliterated. The only difference is, if a train crew hits me, they go through a lot of pain and guilt over the matter.

Take your kid out, buy a Quarter Pounder, have them watch you run it over, show them the mess that results and then explain the math.

Whew - applied physics is interesting stuff!

[heavyd]

Hey, I heard once that a heavy freight train moving at full speed has the same amount of kenetic energy as a small nuclear bomb!