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Mythbusters did a version of this with a watermelon, or a ball.
Their version was entertaining, but this is a lot more dramatic.
Jamie wanted to do it this way, with himself being the projectile, but they wouldn’t let him
Hynie man always was a mad scientist type of guy
The full video (linked in another comment) references the myth busters video in the first 20 seconds.
In case anyone else has an attention span, here is the full video.
Im really annoyed that they didnt post the link to the original in the post and even slapped a false watermark on it. And even some people in the comments misattributed it.
What in the world would that feel like? Pretty fast acceleration, and then you're just standing still? Must be disorienting.
If you've ever jumped off a trailer, yes. Very weird.
Small note: when you're doing the jumping yourself its even weirder because you're used to landing with momentum. Your brain is expecting to have to land and arrest your momentum but then you're already stopped. It's such a weird feeling. lol
Yeah, exactly, still feels the same as accelerating to some speed (and then stop accelerating further), but afterwards you see that the ground around you isn't moving.
About the same as seating backwards in a car/bus/train/plane/bicycle/horse/(space)ship/running backwards/etc - ppl say it's disorienting bcs you are "pushed back in the seat & then you aren't moving anymore".
Like sitting in a car backwards when it brakes hard, and then the bottom falls out.
I imagine it might feel similar to running fast on a treadmill and then coming to a complete stop.
The same as braking to a stop in the same distance. That’s pretty much what’s happening here.
Very weird. It'd be hard to ignore the reflex to curl up and instead put your feet down.
He's actually rapidly decelerating. It's like slamming on the brakes and coming to a stop, but backwards.
He is facing backwards so if you are differentiating between acceleration & deceleration then he was accelerated bcs he was facing the same way we the vector.
Which way he's facing makes no difference. Relative to the ground, by which we are measuring his speed and on which he comes to rest, he is decelerating. Just as a seat belt presses against your waste and chest to decelerate you when braking hard, the chair he's sitting in is doing the same, but against his entire back.
I will however agree relative to the moving vehicle he is accelerating in the opposite direction of motion, but that not the frame of reference by which we've documented his moving velocity.
Acceleration is a vector with magnitude and direction.
The question is what it would FEEL like, not the technical physics.
Exactly.
Otherwise he might not have been accelerating at all compared to a meteor on the other side of the galaxy (by pure chance).
FINALLY. An alternate to slowing to a stop.
Now install this on busses everywhere, and we'll speed the whole process up significantly.
Huge improvement to the tuck and roll.
I want this on public transit.
Train that stops at stations ❌
Train that stops passengers at stations ✅
I demand a more accurate system - I want to be yeeted directly through the window of my destination.
Public ~~transit~~ trebuchet
I thought that would happen but I was puckering anyway that shit gave me anxiety. I was like "wait just bare road and a helmet? What if something goes wrong?"
Bare road and a helmet, if something goes wrong you've got yourself a controlled environment similar to a motorcycle riding experience without the danger of the weight of a motorcycle landing on you I guess. No cars behind you to run you over. Safe, not exactly.. but definitely a thrill seeking experience
Thats a good take on it. Its not explictly clear what gear he has on under the red jacket, but it looks like it might be a motercycle suit. These are full body and tend to be armored with kevlar and other material in order to blunt abrasion/collision damage.
With one of those suits, what looks like a good helmet and no bike to roll on top of you, you would likely survive a 30-60 mph "crash" off the end of the truck mostly unscathed.
I like the comment on the source: This means the end of bus stops!
Not sure I'd want to be launched off a bus or train.
Hmmm... Now I'd like to see them do it the other way, launch him onto the truck!
The two nerdy cannonballs on that lad ...
... are prob of just average size bcs the boio understood the physics/risks.
Actually, the demonstration would have been even more radical (as the kids say) if they fired a cannonball at him too. If they matched the acceleration & the engineering accordingly, he wouldn't get hit.
SO satisfying
Where physics and math meet knees.
The guy laughing makes this way better
Now can we try that while driving in a circle?
So long as the ejection velocity vector is equal and opposite the tangential velocity vector, the result is the same.
Wildly different outcome ⚰️
What exactly would happen?
They'd just be flung out by the perceived centripetal force (actually the outward swing of the backend of the vehicle's flatbed there).
Although the more I think about it, maybe not? As long as the catapult sends the cargo/"human" at the same speed as the very tip of the end of the flatbed, maybe it would be fine?
Disclaimer: imagining this with a fever isn't helping.
💀
There’s no practical difference between accelerating the other way and braking, so yeah, that’s what I would expect.
This has to be one of the coolest things any human has had the privilege of doing.
On purpose?
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
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