Orders of magnitude (acceleration)

This page lists examples of the acceleration occurring in various situations. They are grouped by orders of magnitude.

Factor [m/s2]	Multiple	Reference frame	Value	[g]	Item
10−∞	0 m/s2	inertial	0 m/s2	0 g	The gyro rotors in Gravity Probe B and the free-floating proof masses in the TRIAD I navigation satellite[1]
		inertial	≈ 0 m/s2	≈ 0 g	Weightless parabola in a reduced-gravity aircraft
10−14	10 fm/s2	lab	5×10−14 m/s2	5×10−15 g	Smallest acceleration in a scientific experiment[2]
10−3	1 mm/s2	Solar system	5.93×10−3 m/s2	6.04×10−4 g	Acceleration of Earth toward the sun due to sun's gravitational attraction
10−1	1 dm/s2	lab	0.25 m/s2	0.026 g	Train acceleration for SJ X2[citation needed]
100	1 m/s2	inertial	1.62 m/s2	0.1654 g	Standing on the Moon at its equator[citation needed]
		lab	4.3 m/s2	0.44 g	Car acceleration 0–100 km/h in 6.4 s with a Saab 9-5 Hirsch[citation needed]
		inertial	9.80665 m/s2	1 g	Standard gravity, the gravity acceleration on Earth at sea level standard[3]
101	1 dam/s2	inertial	11.2 m/s2	1.14 g	Saturn V Moon rocket just after launch[citation needed]
		inertial	15.2 m/s2	1.55 g	Bugatti Veyron from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.4 s (the net acceleration vector including gravitational acceleration is directed 40 degrees from horizontal[citation needed])
		inertial	29 m/s2	3 g	Space Shuttle, maximum during launch and reentry[citation needed]
		inertial	29 m/s2	3 g	Sustainable for > 25 seconds, for a human[3]
		inertial	34 – 49 m/s2	3.5 – 5 g	High-G roller coasters[4]: 340
		lab?	41 m/s2	4.2 g	Top Fuel drag racing world record of 4.4 s over 1/4 mile[citation needed]
		inertial	49 m/s2	5 g	Causes disorientation, dizziness and fainting in humans[3]
		lab?	49+ m/s2	5+ g	Formula One car, maximum under heavy braking[citation needed]
		inertial?	51 m/s2	5.2 g	Luge, maximum expected at the Whistler Sliding Centre[citation needed]
		lab	49 – 59 m/s2	5 – 6 g	Formula One car, peak lateral in turns[5]
		inertial	59 m/s2	6 g	Parachutist peak during normal opening of parachute[6]
		inertial	+69 / -49 m/s2	+7 / -5 g	Standard, full aerobatics certified glider[citation needed]
		inertial	70.6 m/s2	7.19 g	Apollo 16 on reentry[7]
		inertial	79 m/s2	8 g	F-16 aircraft pulling out of dive[citation needed]
		inertial	88 m/s2	9 g	Maximum for a fit, trained person with G-suit to keep consciousness, avoiding G-LOC[citation needed]
		inertial	88 – 118 m/s2	9 – 12 g	Typical maximum turn acceleration in an aerobatic plane or fighter jet[8]
102	1 hm/s2	inertial	147 m/s2	15 g	Explosive seat ejection from aircraft[citation needed]
			177 m/s2	18 g	Physical damage in humans like broken capillaries[3]
			209 m/s2	21.3 g	Peak acceleration experienced by cosmonauts during the Soyuz 18a abort[9]
			333 m/s2	34 g	Peak deceleration of the Stardust Sample Return Capsule on reentry to Earth[10]
			454 m/s2	46.2 g	Maximum acceleration a human has survived on a rocket sled[3]
			> 491 m/s2	> 50 g	Death or serious injury likely[citation needed]
			982 m/s2	100 g	Sprint missile[11]
			982 m/s2	100 g	Automobile crash (100 km/h into wall)[12]
			> 982 m/s2	> 100 g	Brief human exposure survived in crash[13]
			982 m/s2	100 g	Deadly limit for most humans[citation needed]
103	1 km/s2	inertial ≈ lab	1540 m/s2	157 g	Peak acceleration of fastest rocket sled run[14]
			1964 m/s2	200 g	3.5" hard disc non-operating shock tolerance for 2 ms, weight 0.6 kg[15]
			2098 m/s2	214 g	Highest recorded amount of g-force exposed and survived by a human (Peak deceleration experienced by Kenny Bräck in a crash at the 2003 Chevy 500)[16][17]
			2256 m/s2	230 g	Peak acceleration experience by the Galileo probe during descent into Jupiter's atmosphere[18]
			2490 m/s2	254 g	Peak deceleration experienced by Jules Bianchi in crash of Marussia MR03, 2014 Japanese Grand Prix[19]
			2946 m/s2	300 g	Soccer ball struck by foot[citation needed]
			3200 m/s2	320 g	A jumping human flea[20]
			3800 m/s2	380 g	A jumping click beetle[21]
			4944 m/s2	504 g	Clothes on washing machine, during dry spinning (46 cm drum / 1400 rpm)
104	10 km/s2		11 768 m/s2	1200 g	Deceleration of the head of a woodpecker[22]
			17 680 m/s2	1800 g	Space gun with a barrel length of 1 km and a muzzle velocity of 6 km/s, as proposed by Quicklaunch (assuming constant acceleration)
			29460 m/s2	3000 g	Baseball struck by bat[12]
			~33 000 m/s2	3400 g	Standard requirement for decelerative crashworthiness in certified flight recorders (such as a Boeing 737 'black box')
			>49 100 m/s2	>5000 g	Shock capability of mechanical wrist watches[23]
			84 450 m/s2	8600 g	Current Formula One engines, maximum piston acceleration (up to 10,000 g before rev limits)[24]
105	100 km/s2		102 000 m/s2	10 400 g	A mantis shrimp punch[25]
			152 210 m/s2	15 500 g	Rating of electronics built into military artillery shells[26]
			196 400 m/s2	20 000 g	Spore acceleration of the Pilobolus fungi[27]
			304 420 m/s2	31 000 g	9×19mm Parabellum handgun bullet (average along the length of the barrel)[citation needed][28]
106	1 Mm/s2		1 000 000 m/s2	100 000 g	Closing jaws of a trap-jaw ant[29]
			1 865 800 m/s2	190 000 g	9×19mm Parabellum handgun bullet, peak[citation needed][30]
			3 800 000 m/s2	390 000 g	Surface gravity of white dwarf Sirius B[31]
			3 900 000 m/s2	slightly below 400 000 g	Ultracentrifuge[32]
107	10 Mm/s2		53 000 000 m/s2	5 400 000 g	Jellyfish stinger[33]
109	1 Gm/s2		1×109 m/s2	~100 000 000 g	The record peak acceleration of a projectile in a coilgun, a 2 gram projectile accelerated in 1 cm from rest to 5 km/sec.[34]
1012	1 Tm/s2		1×1012 to 1×1013 m/s2	1×1011 to 1×1012 g	Surface gravity of a neutron star[35]
			2.1×1013 m/s2	2.1×1012 g	Protons in the Large Hadron Collider[36]
1021	1 Zm/s2		9.149×1021 m/s2	9.33×1020 g	Classical (Bohr model) acceleration of an electron around a 1H nucleus.
			1.76×1023 m/s2	1.79×1022 g	Electrons in a 1 TV/m wakefield accelerator[37]
1051	1 QZm/s2		5.5608×1051 m/s2	5.5719×1050 g	Coherent Planck unit of acceleration

See also

• G-force
• Gravitational acceleration
• Mechanical shock
• Standard gravity
• International System of Units (SI)
• SI prefix

References

1. Stanford University: Gravity Probe B, Payload & Spacecraft, and NASA: Investigation of Drag-Free Control Technology for Earth Science Constellation Missions. The TRIAD 1 satellite was a later, more advanced navigation satellite that was part of the U.S. Navy’s Transit, or NAVSAT system.
2. Gundlach, J. H; Schlamminger, S; Spitzer, C. D; Choi, K. -Y; Woodahl, B. A; Coy, J. J; Fischbach, E (2007). "Laboratory Test of Newton's Second Law for Small Accelerations". Physical Review Letters. 98 (15): 150801. Bibcode:2007PhRvL..98o0801G. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.150801. PMID 17501332.
3. csel.eng.ohio-state.edu - High Acceleration and the Human Body, Martin Voshell, November 28, 2004 Archived August 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
4. George Bibel. Beyond the Black Box: the Forensics of Airplane Crashes. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-8018-8631-7.
5. 6 g has been recorded in the 130R turn at Suzuka circuit, Japan. Many turns have 5 g peak values, like turn 8 at Istanbul or Eau Rouge at Spa
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. NASA: SP-368 Biomedical Results of Apollo, Chapter 5: Environmental Factors, Table 2: Apollo Manned Space Flight Reentry G Levels
8. "Maxed out: How many gs can you pull?". New Scientist. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
9. Hall, Rex; David Shayler (2003). Soyuz, A Universal Spacecraft. Springer Praxis. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-85233-657-8.
10. ReVelle, D. O.; Edwards, W. N. (2007). "Stardust—An artificial, low-velocity "meteor" fall and recovery: 15 January 2006". Meteoritics and Planetary Science. 42 (2): 271. Bibcode:2007M&PS...42..271R. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb00232.x.
11. Sprint
12. tomshardware.co.uk - Hard Drive Shock Tolerance - Hard-Disks - Storage Archived 2012-06-17 at the Wayback Machine, Physics, by O'hanian, 1989, 2007-01-03
13. “Several Indy car drivers have withstood impacts in excess of 100 G without serious injuries.” Dennis F. Shanahan, M.D., M.P.H.: ”Human Tolerance and Crash Survivability ^{[dead link]}, citing Society of Automotive Engineers. Indy racecar crash analysis. Automotive Engineering International, June 1999, 87–90. And National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Recording Automotive Crash Event Data Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
14. "Holloman Air Force Base - Fact Sheet (Printable) : 846 TS HYPERSONIC UPGRADE PROGRAM". Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
15. wdc.com - Legacy Product Specifications : WD600BB Archived 2011-02-27 at the Wayback Machine, read 2012-01-11
16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2013-07-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
17. Feel the G's: The Science of Gravity and G-Forces - by Suzanne Slade (page 37)
18. Woodfill, Jerry. "What Did Galileo Find at Jupipter?". er.jsc.nasa.gov. NASA. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
19. "Formula 1 - Bianchi crash impact was 254g". uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. 23 July 2015. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015.
20. Evans, M. E. G (2009). "The jump of the click beetle (Coleoptera, Elateridae)—a preliminary study". Journal of Zoology. 167 (3): 319–336. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1972.tb03115.x.
21. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
22. S-H Yoon; S Park (17 January 2011). "A mechanical analysis of woodpecker drumming and its application to shock-absorbing systems" (PDF). Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. 6 (1): 12. Bibcode:2011BiBi....6a6003Y. doi:10.1088/1748-3182/6/1/016003. PMID 21245520. S2CID 2510221. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
23. Omega , Ball Watch Technology
24. Cosworth V8 engine
25. S. N. Patek, W. L. Korff & R. L. Caldwell (2004). "Deadly strike mechanism of a mantis shrimp" (PDF). Nature. 428 (6985): 819–820. Bibcode:2004Natur.428..819P. doi:10.1038/428819a. PMID 15103366. S2CID 4324997.^{[permanent dead link]}
26. "L-3 Communication's IEC Awarded Contract with Raytheon for Common Air Launched Navigation System". Archived from the original on 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
27. bu.edu - Rockets in Horse Poop, 2010-12-10
28. Assuming an 8.04 gram bullet, a muzzle velocity of 350 metres per second (1,100 ft/s), and a 102 mm barrel.
29. Patek SN, Baio JE, Fisher BL, Suarez AV (22 August 2006). "Multifunctionality and mechanical origins: Ballistic jaw propulsion in trap-jaw ants". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (34): 12787–12792. Bibcode:2006PNAS..10312787P. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604290103. PMC 1568925. PMID 16924120.
30. Assuming an 8.04 gram bullet, a peak pressure of 240 MPa (35,000 psi) and 440 N of friction.
31. Holberg, J. B.; Barstow, M. A.; Bruhweiler, F. C.; Cruise, A. M.; Penny, A. J. (1998). "Sirius B: A New, More Accurate View". The Astrophysical Journal. 497 (2): 935–942. Bibcode:1998ApJ...497..935H. doi:10.1086/305489.
32. Berkeley Physics Course, vol. 1, Mechanics, fig. 4.1 (authors Kittel-Knight-Ruderman, 1973 edition)
33. Tibballs, J; Yanagihara, A. A; Turner, H. C; Winkel, K (2011). "Immunological and Toxinological Responses to Jellyfish Stings". Inflammation & Allergy - Drug Targets. 10 (5): 438–446. doi:10.2174/187152811797200650. PMC 3773479. PMID 21824077.
34. K. McKinney and P. Mongeau, "Multiple stage pulsed induction acceleration," in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 239-242, March 1984, doi: 10.1109/TMAG.1984.1063089.
35. Haensel, Paweł; Potekhin, Alexander Y.; Yakovlev, Dmitry G. (2007). Neutron Stars. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-33543-8.
36. Calculated from their speed and radius, approximating the LHC as a circle.
37. Rosenzweig, J. B; Andonian, G; Bucksbaum, P; Ferrario, M; Full, S; Fukusawa, A; Hemsing, E; Hidding, B; Hogan, M; Krejcik, P; Muggli, P; Marcus, G; Marinelli, A; Musumeci, P; O'Shea, B; Pellegrini, C; Schiller, D; Travish, G (2011). "Teravolt-per-meter beam and plasma fields from low-charge femtosecond electron beams". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A. 653 (1): 98. arXiv:1002.1976. Bibcode:2011NIMPA.653...98R. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2011.01.073. S2CID 118384500.