a pneumatic nail gun with muzzle speed of 37m/s fires a 5.0cm nail directly into a hard wood that stops the nail just when it is full embedded in the wood. Assuming the nail's deceleration to be constant, what is its magnitude?

Question

a pneumatic nail gun with muzzle speed of 37m/s fires a 5.0cm nail directly into a hard wood that stops the nail just when it is full embedded in the wood.  Assuming the nail's deceleration to be constant, what is its magnitude?

drwls · Answer

Average velocity during penetration = 37/2 = 18.5 m/s Penetration time = 0.05m/18.5 m/s = 2.70*10^-3 s Deceleration rate magnitude = 37/2.7*10^-3 = 13,690 m/s^2 That's a lot of g's (about 1400)