How many G's does a skydiver experience in freefall?

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DaveC426913 said:
Electric Motorbike Does 0 to 60 in Under One Second!
http://gas2.org/2009/04/27/electric-motorbike-does-0-to-60-in-under-one-second/

"...All this gives the driver a G-force three times more than that faced by a skydiver during freefall!"

Isn't that ... zero?

Depends... if you mean when he's in free fall, then yes it's 0. If you mean when he hits the ground because his parachute failed to deploy... well, the g-force of that sudden deceleration is pretty hefty :)
 
For sky-divers the term "free-fall" includes descending through the air at constant speed, and the force felt is 1 G of aerodynamic drag, opposing gravity.
 
A.T. said:
At the begin it's zero. Then 1g for a while. Maybe they mean when you open the parachute.

Perhaps they meant that, but they said "during freefall". (EDIT: However, this is the only answer that makes any sense.)

workmad3 said:
Depends... if you mean when he's in free fall, then yes it's 0. If you mean when he hits the ground because his parachute failed to deploy... well, the g-force of that sudden deceleration is pretty hefty :)

And a force 3 times greater than that means this is one dangerous motorbike!

mathman said:
Free fall under the influence of gravity means the force is 1g.

By that logic, an astronaut orbiting the Earth experiences slightly less than 1g, yet we refer to that as a 0g situation.
 
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