By Subramanian A, Palakkad, Kerala.

When a female customer urgently tried to get out the banking hall to
remove the keys of her scooter which she had forgotten to have it while
on parking, she hit on the entrance glass door. Upon collision, the glass
door gave way and pieces fell on her. This caused her death. Reports said
that had the thickness of the glass been more, the mishap could have been
averted. In this document, I am trying to investigate the impact in the light
of Newtonian physics as a case of inelastic collision between two objects

“Our world
and the
Natural laws
of Sciences”

.
 Our world of Newtonian Physics.
From Book 154 . Serial No 4069 dated from 17th June 202 to 20 th June 2020

Let me begin with the following incident which happened yesterday in a bank premise of
Kerala.

A female customer, after entering the banking hall suddenly remembered that
she had forgotten to remove the keys from her scooter. She became so panicky and
upset and immediately rushed outside to collect the keys. She missed the glass door
on the entrance in her rushing blood and mental velocity and got collided with it.
The glass gave way and the broken pieces fell upon her. She removed them and
stood in a corner for a minute or so. The Armed Guard rushed in, the onlookers
consoled her and enquired and help was extended. She was made to sit comfortably
on a chair. A few minutes eclipsed and she began to collapse. She was rushed to a
hospital but later on succumbed to death.

While the papers reported about this tragedy, they pointed out the thickness
of the glass used and mentioned that had the thickness been sufficient enough, the
tragedy could have been averted. I am not sure whether any case has been filed
against the bank for such lapses. It is only common that we often find fault with
material circumstances for our own enormous mental velocities and turbulent
thoughts to make a wreck of ourselves. It could be born out of our ignorance of the
behavior of this Newtonian world and the laws of sciences at the moment due to
those mental volcanic eruptions.

This much said as being introductory; now let me present my views. Could the
tragedy been averted if the glass door had enough thickness is the present concern.
As a physics graduate, I wish to reframe the incident as an inelastic collision between
two objects. Just imagine the tragedy purely from the angle of certain physical laws
of nature as discovered and enunciated by scientists like Newton, Galileo, Faraday,
Maxwell, Einstein and others.

Let us consider the woman’s mental surges creating a drive of acceleration

culminating in a dash towards the entrance. At that point, one may even beat Ussain
Bolt, the sprinter of all times! I am not joking. You may have seen in films various
characters jumping from their critical ICU bed and dashing out of the hospitals upon
hearing some urgent news. See, when the blood would gush at enormous velocities,
body will spontaneously react at lightning speeds. No mountain can really stop
people in those frenzied moments. This is the reality.

So, just imagine the lady trying to rush out of the banking hall to grab the
vehicle keys. Let us assume that her weight is around 55 Kg. Let us also assume that
she is dashing at a speed of , say, 3m/sec. Let us also consider that the dimensions of
the door are 2.25m x 1.2m x 4 mm.
 The density of glass is 2.5 gm/cc; ie. 2.5 kg/m2/1 mm thickness. So, the weight
of the glass door is 27 Kg in our case study.

Energy lost in perfectly inelastic collision is given by the following formula

e = m1 m2 (U1 – U2)2 /2 (m1 +m2) Joules as per the equation
where m1 and m2 are the masses of the colliding bodies and U1 and U2
their velocities.
Substituting the values, we get

1 x 55 x 27 (3-0)2/ 2(55+27) = 81.49 Joules.

Now, what is one Joule in simple terms? 1 Joule is the work done equivalent to
lifting an apple (around 1 Newton) through air by one meter. So, 81.49 Joules is
equivalent to the work done – energy spent on lifting an apple by 81.49 M.

An impact of more than 10 Joules is hazardous and greater than 50 Joules is

lethal, according to experts.

In the light of the above, we can see the quantum of impact the lady had to
bear upon hitting the glass door. In this particular instance, the broken glass pieces
also added salt to injury.

Now, we may naturally tend to argue that if the thickness of the glass door was
more than the current value, the mishap could have been averted. In that case, the
energy lost in that inelastic collision would be more. The glass need not break but
where will the force of impact finally dissipate or disappear? Somewhere it should
get absorbed. In inelastic collisions – between hard surfaces – either the surface has
to break or get deformed for such distribution of the impacted force or the recoil
should happen. These are the only possibilities.

Just think of a sprinter like Bolt running at his racing speed and getting hit
against a hard surface like the China Wall. His body will have to bear the impact of
the inelastic collision. The recoil would be the only result. Nothing would happen to
the rocky wall. Upon hitting the wall, though his legs will apply a brake, the upper
parts will still be in forward motion for a while. The portion of the head will receive
maximum impact and the hazards of the recoil too. At such incredible speeds we can
naturally expect his death, mainly out of the head injuries. The spongy nature of
human flesh is nowhere within limits to absorb the recoiling impact.

Damages to body, deformation of objects/surfaces is on account of the force –

the impact-getting dissipated. To overcome such damages and deformations, perfect
elasticity is required among the colliding objects. Objects should exhibit perfect
flexibility for the absorption of the impacted force. Otherwise, damages of various
magnitudes can be expected.

This is the general physical law of Nature related to collision. According to

various laws proven and discovered and not yet discovered, the cosmos functions.
This world obeys certain natural laws related to heat, light, mechanics, electricity
and magnetism, sound, mathematics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, botany,
economics etc. If we fail to live not in concurrence with these laws, we are sure to be
caught somewhere in the cobweb.

This doesn’t mean that one should be knowledgeable like Newton, Galileo or
Einstein while dealing with our daily experiences of the material world around us.
Our experiences have already taught us about many things – how to cope up with the
intricacies of the material world around us. To know that, one need not have studied
the Law of Gravitation before trying to commit suicide. Just jump from the top floor
of The Empire State building and the rest the gravitation will automatically take care
of! Another example is that who taught the legendary Hanuman the laws of
projectile physics to jump across the sea from the shores of Rameswaram to land
exactly at the entrance gate of the fort of Sri Lanka? If the Specific Impulse was a bit
different, Hanuman could have made a crash landing upon the roof top of the palace
of Ravana or even flew past Sri Lanka to reach the South Pole! Who knows?

And to blame the law of gravitation for one faltering step from the top of
Mount Everest has no meaning either. The mountaineer already has this knowledge
from his life long experience. This is called inductive knowledge.

To touch a live electric wire can be lethal. To know about it, do we require the
knowledge of Faraday? Daily experience has already taught us about this reality.
Despite this, if your crooked brain compels you to climb over a train roof top for a
Selfie, natural laws related to the high tension line will do the rest. It will complete
your story in a flash, in lightning speed.

Natural laws won’t pay any attention to your whims and fancies, short
comings arising out of mental velocities and ignorance. And natural laws show no
discrimination to anybody – be he rich or poor, scholar or a fool.

What does this suggest? We have to be prudent at every step. We have to be

watchful of our surroundings. There is no point in crying after a mishap. Everybody
must take notice of this, be they are individuals or Public Bodies. If a cable man cuts
a cable and lets it hanging from a post, he should be aware of the fact that such freely
hanging cable wires would obey certain natural laws – that, they might swing about
the air, swirl and could twist around any passerby’s body causing injuries or even
death. After the mishap, can any compensation be enough for life?

Likewise, if there is an unmarked rumbling strip on the road, the authorities

must know that the wheels of those passing vehicles could be caught there unaware.
At speeds beyond the threshold levels, the rumbling strip would display its natural
laws upon the wheels. Where will the vehicle be thrown arriving at a speed of
 and hitting the strip at can only be a wild guess beyond a physics question.
If the stars are okay, the driver may survive! That is all.

So, whether it is public or any local bodies, everybody must be aware of the
laws of nature. Wherever a layman can supplement while moving around, he must
do it – either mend it or inform the authorities or bring it to the notice of some
responsible person/bodies. This is called the public awareness or social awareness.
This is otherwise called civic sense as well. Remember, by acting with such a sense of
awareness, you are not only saving your life but the lives of others as well.

Do we but discharge our public duties with such diligence? It is a big question.
While moving around, I often volunteer for many careless lapses made by others.
There is no point in passing on the bucks for man made errors. Otherwise, natural
laws will always retaliate.

By forgetting the mechanics of the world, by overlooking the properties of

matter, by neglecting the possible outcome of an event, if we indulge in an act out of
our rashness, mental surges and physical velocities, we are sure to pay price for it.
More than the cost of our life, what remains more valuable?

So, let us try to maintain our mental velocities to formidable limits to avert
great personal losses. Blaming the tool for our inefficacy to handle it is only childish.
Yet, we may often blame our tools. Even in the case of a clear suicide, we would
rather dig out the material circumstances having led to the act and fix people for
being responsible for it. We might dig too much to the point of only considering the
external circumstances by rather completely overlooking the receptive/adaptive
nature of the person who committed suicide.

It is only reality that the present world exhibits enormous mental surges and
succumbs to volcanic eruptions caused by irrational thoughts. When the mind is
under the sway of emotional waves, wisdom is lost to that degree in those moments.
When the mental velocities are measurable and determinable, the degree of wisdom
is not, at that point. To that extent, we will lose sight of the properties of the world
and suffer. All of us are to be aware of this. In other words, the fire which runs a
locomotive can set a city down to ashes per chance we threw a cigarette into a heap
of waste. Fire has the same property throughout the universe.

Act with enough caution. Move along in the world with enough prudence. At
best, we can avoid troubles arising out of our mental velocities, surges, foolish
thoughts and ignorance. If my friend is capable of walking along a rope over the
Niagara Falls, well, let him achieve the feat, but, beware of the law of gravitation
before you may also try out your luck. This law won’t show any discrimination, lend
any privilege to anybody.

I hope the reader has got my point in the right spirit to his heart and thought
and action.

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