Re: "Kilowatt-gram"

[xgt@juno.com (George S. Tylinski)]

On Mon, 29 Jun 1998 11:39:53 -0700 Schmitt@aerovironment.com (Schmitt,
Frank) writes:
>What, pray tell, does one measure in kilowatt-grams? Specific inverse 
>power?
>
>As near as I can tell, this can be reduced to a thousand 
>Newton-squared
>seconds. Would any of the physicists out there care to comment?
>
>-Frank
>
>

Hi - I'm not a physicist in the traditional sense, but I happen to be
familiar with the "kilowatt-gram" from my work in the design of circus
stunt apparatus. It's really quite simple and intuitive, and you use it
all the time once you see how it's applied.

It's basically used as a figure of merit that characterizes the degree of
facial distortion when subjected to extreme acceleration. You multiply
the following three variables:

Cheek volume, m^3
Dynamic viscosity of the tissue within the cheek, kg/(m*s)
Surface tension of the surrounding skin (N/m)

The result is in the units of kW*gm. Exceeding the critical value (which
depends on the individual) results in a RYFO event... Rips Your Face Off.

I shall contact the Physicians for Social Responsibility and suggest that
this parameter be named "The Berube Number" in honor of our EV racing
pioneer. Perhaps Bill Dube can work it from another angle at NIST.

See you in Woodburn, Dennis!


Regards,

George Tylinski

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