> > I have a sphere, falling from 20 feet, and assuming a vacuum. Assuming Earth surface gravity and zero initial velocity, then it will take about 1.118 seconds to fall and be traveling at just under 36 ft/sec when it hits. > What deceleration do I need to I need to design to? > A thumbnail analysis suggests over 2000Gs, but that seems way > excessive. Insufficient information to compute answer. Deceleration depends on what distance is used to stop the object -- direct impact on concrete floor, distance will be very close to 0 while if contained in a frangible cardboard box, it has several inches in which to disipage the energy as cardboard deforms. Lee -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist