🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <jkondis.800548784@orion.oac.uci.edu> jkondis@orion.oac.uci.edu (John Kondis) writes:
>vschmid@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca () writes:

>>drizzt (drizzt@cml.com) wrote:

>>:I'm more concerned with Superman being able to 
>>: push off of the ground with a pair of Nike airs without falling down...

>>Assuming Superman would control his upward movement, then the speed that 
>>Superman could run at and keep contact with the Earth would be escape 
>>velocity (which, if memory serves, is approximately 25,000 miles per 
>>hour).

>I don't think this is correct.  He would "lift off" before hitting  
>escape velocity.  I think it is (0.707)*(escape velocity), or the orbital 
>velocity.

I agree with John.  Grazing orbit speed is about 18,000 mph, at which speed 
Ol' Supe would push himself into a higher orbit if he tried to accelerate with 
another shove.  (I am reminded of the first time I considered this, as a young 
child, when I read a "Flash" story involving running at lightspeed.  The hero 
circumnavigated the Earth almost seven times per second.  But, even then, I 
realized that he'd fly off like a, well, beam of light, at that speed.)
--
Stevens R. Miller              http://www.interport.net/~lex/