Calculate G Force from 40 lbs Dropped 8 Feet

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scott35
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Hey everyone I have a question that I'm wondering if it can be answered, I'm not into physics and don't know how to calculate it out. my question is if 40 lbs fell from a height of 8 feet how many G forces would be created on impact. the reason I'm asking is due to a real life scenario. thanks.
 
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It depends on the braking distance at the floor. For uniform accelerations (which is basically the minimal-G-scenario), the product of acceleration and corresponding distance is the same for the free fall and the impact. Then you just have to add 1 to the G-value due to gravity during the deceleration process.
 
G-forces at the floor are due to the interaction of the falling body and the floor. If both are very stiff (hard), then your accelerometer will indicate many g's ... a disk drive falling off of your desk onto a concrete floor may hit 50 g's of acceleration, while it may be only a few if it hits a pillow.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force