Talk:3152: Skateboard

Maybe Randall took inspiration for this comic from the recent Red Bull stunt with Brazilian skater Sandro Dias, who dropped from the side of a building from a height of 70 meters (that's little over 229 ft) on 25 September 2025. 2804:214:4102:575A:D862:C9B6:9505:D740 01:25, 9 October 2025 (UTC)vinnycordeiro

@vinnycordeiro, I thought of that too. [1] He was able to start in momentary free fall and make a controlled skating descent down the curve of the building (on a smooth skating ramp that had been built to exactly follow the building contour, not directly on the building's normal external surface). Although doing more than twice that height and starting at terminal velocity instead of rest would be extra-impressive. Still, Sandro Dias's achievement shows that a champion skateboarder can keep control of a skateboard with staggeringly large amounts of kinetic energy! Schoen (talk) 03:14, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

Perhaps the “wrong parachute pack” thing is just a common trope, but I was immediately reminded of the example in the Henry Stickmin Collection, where Henry survives the initial fall without a parachute just fine, but is immediately killed by the contents of the backpack falling out and onto his head. KelOfTheStars! (talk) 01:55, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

Parachute packs are secured with shoulder AND leg straps, so it's indeed very difficult to mistake them for ordinary backpacks. 194.119.24.136 08:39, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

Wait, so "gee forces" isn't some kind of weird obscure pun? - 24.177.125.170 08:51, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

I wondered that too, but couldn't find any connection, other than that there is a TeamGee that makes electric skateboards, but it doesn't seem to be particularly notable (or even well thought of). 82.13.184.33 09:41, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

Has anyone done the math to see if the duration of the free fall would realistically be around 90 seconds as in the alt text? I want to believe Randall has, but the only way to know is to double-check... 81.1.2.155 09:06, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

OK this is me again, I just found an online calculator and for an 80-kg object, 90s corresponds to a fall of 5000 m, which is apparently a reasonable skydiving altitude. Of course he doesn't call just as he jumps so take 10 more seconds, that's 6000m. 81.1.2.155 09:13, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

But he would only realize his mistake at the moment of opening his parachute, which is typically around 1000-1200 m, leaving only 20-25 seconds before impact. 194.119.24.133 11:10, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

I think it's a reference to the new skate. game that's in early access because you commonly do insane stuff off building or while skydiving in the game.

Terminal velocity in a flat orientation is something like 200 km/hr, or 55 m/s. The 600 ft halfpipe presumably describes the radius, so that's 180 m. Then, acceleration in a circular path is a = v^2/r, so making that turn would be 55^2 / 180 = 17 m/s^2. With 1 g = 10 m/s^2, that's under 2 g. A 300 ft, or 90 m ramp, would be about 3.5 g. Add 1 g when you're at the bottom of the ramp and your rotational acceleration is aligned with gravity, so 4.5 g on a 300 ft ramp. That is indeed at the 4-5 g's where sustained exposure will cause blackout. Note, it will take about 17 s to travel around a 90 m ramp. If Cueball can manage to land lying flat on the board, humans are much more tolerant of transverse g forces, up to 11 g's for 3 minutes, per https://www.goflightmedicine.com/post/pulling-gs-the-effects-of-g-forces-on-the-human-body But that would also probably prevent doing tricks.163.116.146.119 14:27, 9 October 2025 (UTC)