God lord, I leave this thread for a few hours and Ken has to step in.
Please gentlemen, break it up.
Both of you have very valid points, but you are arguing from different sides of the fence.
Highplains,
I am a physics and EE major and know nothing of pylon racing. However, I do know the speeds that our models can achieve, and If you are describing the course correctly, these models could very easily be pulling 40g's. I don't dispute your claims, I converted to SI units and ran the number myself this morning when I got to work. If indeed they are taking a 50ft turn at 190 mph, they can hit 40g's easily.
However, your force calculation in the last post isn't quite right. F=ma says that your force is equal to mass*acceleration. Your mass is 5lbs, your acceleration is 40g, not 40, hence your equation is 5lb*40*32ft/s^2, which equals to 6400 poundals. If you wish to use pounds force as your force measurement you need to have your mass in slugs.
SI is your friend. English sucks.
Charlie,
You also have good points, and had I not run these numbers myself I would not have believed them. I do not fly pylon, and I do not fly speed planes, I haven't even been flying long at all so I don't know what kind of speeds they do, but the math does work out to 40g's at 190mph in a 50ft turn.
I do not dispute the sources you site, but from the little I looked though them they seem to be based on human limits. Humans are weak, and a well built plane is far stronger. Most modern military aircraft (ie, fighters) can take forces much higher then the physical limitations of the human body, but very few humans can live through a 10g turn and be coherent enough to keep the plane in the air.
Guys, thanks so much for the.. lively.. discussion. As far as I can tell, you are both right, so lets drop the argument and figure out if this accelerometer is worth building?
Thanks for the help Ken, much appreciated, but please don't lock the thread
.