Child killed in accident at minor league game

[HanSenSE]

This is just too sad. And bizarre.

5-year-old dies after bounce house flies into air, crashes onto baseball field with children inside – NBC4 Washington

 

[Neutral Corner]

If you pay attention, accidents such as this are fairly common. One of my UAB buddies teaches meteorology, and bounce houses are something of a hobby horse for him. He hates the things. A thunderstorm or the gust front of an incoming storm line blowing in, with strong straight line winds, simply pulls them off the ground and into the air. At some point the wind fails and gravity takes over.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I was a bounce house P1 as a kid and the defiance of gravity applies inside and out. They weigh nothing and a decent wind will knock them down. That's why they're more of a fall festival staple, but that's changing with the climate.

 

[playthrough]

But the story said it was staked into the ground? Though I'm sure the lawsuits are coming no matter what. Awful.

 

[Scout]

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/wind-load

If a 50 mph gust hits your bouncy, it needs 650 pounds of weight connectivity to the ground to stay in place.

I think I’m figuring that correctly.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Been a long time thinking of physics because I'm bad at math.

Assuming wind has mass (and it does), then you have to figure in the square of the velocity of wind to calculate force. Wind is a lateral force, so you have to calculate the "normal force" (supplied by the ground as a balance to zero out the formulas in the instance of gravity but not here) to counteract the wind. A bounce house has little normal force in either case.

 

[User 1019]

Been a long time thinking of physics because I'm bad at math.

Assuming wind has mass (and it does), then you have to figure in the square of the velocity of wind to calculate force. Wind is a lateral force, so you have to calculate the "normal force" (supplied by the ground as a balance to zero out the formulas in the instance of gravity but not here) to counteract the wind. A bounce house has little normal force in either case.

This made my head hurt

 

[dixiehack]

This made my head hurt

Unless you got a bunch of husky kids inside, that sucker’s going airborne like a parasail.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Two or three four year olds and the thing sails like a frisbee in a strong wind.

 

[Scout]

70 mph wind burst, 120 sq ft of wall facing the wind and you need an NFL offensive and defensive line in it.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

That's an awful story all around.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

Unless you got a bunch of husky kids inside, that sucker’s going airborne like a parasail.

Hey I had to shop the husky section at Sears, cut it out ... :cool:

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Hey I had to shop the husky section at Sears, cut it out ... :cool:

TOUGHSKINS FOREVER!

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

(literally forever ... pretty sure that my jeans from 50 years ago still exist in the back of some kid's closet)

 

[swingline]

Do they not have auger stakes to hold these things down? If not, they should.

 

[swingline]

TOUGHSKINS FOREVER!

The shame of triple-ply knees in your damn jeans. Thanks, Mom!

 

[Slacker]

Lane Bryant, though, cut right to the chase ...

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

That clip art is anything but "chubby" for a modern girl. Everyone was skinnier in the 40s and 50s. The morbidly obese ones dropped dead in middle age.

Lane Bryant is still a thing though.

 

[User 149557]

You also tend to eat less when you’re smoking three packs a day.