g-force (also G-force, g-load) is a measurement of an object's acceleration expressed in

gs. It is proportional to the reaction force that an object experiences as a result of this
acceleration—or, more correctly, as a result of the net effect of this acceleration and the
acceleration imparted by natural gravity. G-force is not, however, an absolute
measurement of force and the term is considered a misnomer by some; see "Connection
with force", below.

The g (pronounced /ˈdʒiː/) is a non-SI unit equal to the nominal acceleration of gravity
on Earth at sea level (standard gravity), which is defined as 9.80665 m/s2 (32.174 ft/s2).
The symbol g is properly written both lowercase and italic to distinguish it from the
symbol G, the gravitational constant and g, the symbol for gram, a unit of mass, which is
not italicized.

The unit g is sometimes written as "gee", and g-forces are informally referred to as "gees"
(as in expressions such as "pulling ten gees").[1]

Connection with force

Although actually a measurement of acceleration, the term g-force is, as its name implies,
popularly imagined to refer to the force that an accelerating object "feels". These so-
called "g-forces" are experienced, for example, by fighter jet pilots or riders on a roller
coaster, and are inertial forces caused by changes in speed and direction. For example, on
a roller coaster high positive g is experienced when the car's path curves upwards, where
riders feel as if they weigh more than usual. This is often reversed when the car's path
curves downwards, and lower than normal g is felt, causing the riders to feel lighter or
even weightless.

The relationship between force and acceleration stems from Newton's second law, F =
ma, where F is force, m is mass and a is acceleration. This equation shows that the larger
an object's mass, the larger the force it experiences under the same acceleration. Thus,
objects with different masses experiencing numerically identical "g-forces" will in fact be
subject to forces of quite different magnitude. For this reason, g-force cannot be
considered to measure force in absolute terms. However, the interpretation of g-force as a
force can be partially rescued by noting that its numerical value is the ratio of the force
"felt" by an object under the given acceleration to the force that the same object "feels"
when resting stationary on the Earth's surface. For example, a person experiencing a g-
force of 3 g feels three times as heavy as normal.

Because of the potential for confusion about whether g-force measures acceleration or
force, the term is considered by some to be a misnomer. Scientific usage prefers explicit
reference to either acceleration or force, and use of the appropriate units (in the SI
system, metres per second squared for acceleration, and newtons for force).

[edit] Calculating g-forces

While accelerations are often calculated relative to the Earth, g-force measures an object's
acceleration in an inertial reference frame. Thus, if one is given an object's acceleration
relative to the Earth, one must subtract off the acceleration of the Earth's reference frame
relative to free-fall. The latter amount is, for objects at or near the Earth's surface,
approximately 1 g.

As acceleration is a vector quantity, this subtraction must be vector subtraction. However,

if all the accelerations are in parallel directions, one can substitute scalar subtraction.
Thus, in a simplified scenario where accelerations are assumed to act only upwards
(positive) or downwards (negative), calculating g-force simply amounts to subtracting the
acceleration (relative to the Earth) due to Earth's gravity (1 g in the downwards direction)
from the object's acceleration relative to Earth. Since we are taking downward
acceleration as negative, this is equivalent to adding 1 g. So, for example:

 An object at rest with respect to the Earth experiences a g-force of 0 g + 1 g, or

just 1 g ("normal weight").

 An object in free fall (accelerating downwards at 1 g relative to the Earth)

experiences a g-force of −1 g + 1 g = 0 g ("weightless")

 An object accelerating upwards at 1 g relative to the Earth experiences a g-force

of 1 g + 1 g = 2 g ("twice normal weight")

 An object accelerating downwards at 2 g relative to the Earth experiences a g-

force of −2 g + 1 g = −1 g ("negative g").

More generally, an object's acceleration may act in any direction (not just vertically), so
in a fuller treatment the vector calculation must be used.

In cases when the magnitude of the acceleration is relatively large compared to 1 g,

and/or is more-or-less horizontal, the effect of the Earth's gravity is sometimes ignored in
everyday treatments. For example, if a person in a car accident decelerates from 30 m/s to
rest in 0.2 seconds, then their deceleration is 150 m/s2, so one might say that they
experience a g-force of about 150/9.8 g, or about 15.3 g. Strictly speaking, due to the
vector addition of the gravitational acceleration, the true g-force has a slightly larger
magnitude and is pointing slightly downwards (intuitively this is because the person is
already experiencing 1 g just by sitting in the car).

The g-force experienced when cornering can be calculated from the radial acceleration
formula, a = v2/r, where a is acceleration, v is velocity and r is the corner's radius of
curvature. For example, a racing car driver travelling at 50 m/s around a corner with
radius of curvature 80 m undergoes an acceleration of 502/80 m/s2, or 31.25 m/s2. This
equates to a g-force of about 31.25/9.8 g, or about 3.19 g (again, for the purposes of this
example, ignoring the additional g-force due to Earth's gravity).

[edit] Examples of use

 In the aerospace industry the g is a convenient unit for specifying the maximum
load factor which aircraft and spacecraft must be capable of withstanding. Light
aircraft of the kind used in pilot training (utility category) must be capable of
sustaining load factor of 4.4g (43 m/s², 141.5 ft/s²) with the undercarriage
retracted.FAR §23.337 Airliners and other transport aircraft must be capable of 2.5g.FAR
§25.337
Military aircraft and pilots (especially fighter pilots) with G-suits can
withstand more than 9g.
 In the automotive industry the g is mainly used in relation to cornering forces and
impact analysis.
 Roller coasters and other theme park rides often use g in the statistics of extreme
rides.
 Very short-term accelerations, measured in milliseconds, are usually referred to as
shocks and are often measured in g s. The shock that a device or component is
required to withstand may be specified in g. For example, mechanical wrist-
watches might withstand 7 g, aerospace rated relays might withstand 50 g, and
GPS/IMU units for military artillery shells need to withstand 15,500g to survive
the acceleration on firing.[2]

[edit] Human tolerance to g-force

Human tolerances depend on the magnitude of the g-force, the length of time it is
applied, the direction it acts, the location of application, and the posture of the body. It is
estimated that the human body will sustain 30-40 "G's" while bungee jumping.

The human body is flexible and deformable, particularly the softer tissues. A hard slap on
the face may impose hundreds of g locally but not produce any real damage; a constant
16 g for a minute, however, may be deadly. When vibration is experienced, relatively low
peak g levels can be severely damaging if they are at the resonance frequency of organs
and connective tissues.

To some degree, g-tolerance can be trainable, and there is also considerable variation in
innate ability between individuals. In addition, some illnesses, particularly cardiovascular
problems, reduce g-tolerance.

[edit] Vertical axis g-force

Aircraft, in particular, exert g-force along the axis aligned with the spine. This causes
significant variation in blood pressure along the length of the subject's body, which limits
the maximum g-forces that can be tolerated.
In aircraft, g-forces are often towards the feet, which forces blood away from the head;
this causes problems with the eyes and brain in particular. As g-forces increase
brownout/greyout can occur, where the vision loses hue. If g-force is increased further
tunnel vision will appear, and then at still higher g, loss of vision, while consciousness is
maintained. This is termed "blacking out". Beyond this point loss of consciousness will
occur, sometimes known as "g-loc" ("loc" stands for "loss of consciousness"). While
tolerance varies, a typical person can handle about 5 g (49m/s²) before g-loc'ing, but
through the combination of special g-suits and efforts to strain muscles—both of which
act to force blood back into the brain—modern pilots can typically handle 9 g (88 m/s²)
sustained (for a period of time) or more (see High-G training).

Resistance to "negative" or upward g's, which drive blood to the head, is much lower.
This limit is typically in the −2 to −3 g (−20 m/s² to −30 m/s²) range. The subject's vision
turns red, referred to as a red out. This is probably because capillaries in the eyes swell or
burst under the increased blood pressure.

Humans can survive up to about 20 to 35 g instantaneously (for a very short period of

time). Any exposure to around 100 g or more, even if momentary, is likely to be lethal,
although the record is 179.8 g.[3] It has also been said that the height of a person can be
shortened if high g-force is sustained for a continuous amount of time.[citation needed]

[edit] Horizontal axis g-force

The human body is considerably better at surviving g-forces that are perpendicular to the
spine. In general when the acceleration is forwards, so that the g-force pushes the body
backwards (colloquially known as "eyeballs in"[4]) a much higher tolerance is shown than
when the acceleration is backwards, and the g-force is pushing the body forwards
("eyeballs out") since blood vessels in the retina appear more sensitive in the latter
direction.

Early experiments showed that untrained humans were able to tolerate 17 g eyeballs-in
(compared to 12 g eyeballs-out) for several minutes without loss of consciousness or
apparent long-term harm.[5]

[edit] NASA g-tolerance data

From NASA SP-3006:

Time +Gx ("eyeballs -Gx ("eyeballs +Gz (blood -Gz (blood towards
(min) in") out") towards feet) head)

.01 (<1
35 28 18 8
sec)
.03 (2
28 22 14 7
sec)

.1 20 17 11 5

.3 15 12 9 4.5

1 11 9 7 3.3

3 9 8 6 2.5

10 6 5 4.5 2

30 4.5 4 3.5 1.8

[edit] Human g-force experience

 Amusement park rides such as roller coasters typically do not expose the
occupants to much more than about 3 g for more than around three seconds at the
most. Some notable exceptions are G-Force at Drayton Manor Theme Park in
England, Oblivion at Alton Towers in England, Speed at Oakwood Theme Park in
Wales, Jetline at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Titan in Texas, Dragon
(Adventureland) at Adventureland (Iowa) in Altoona, Iowa which all have a
maximum of 4.5 g for up to 1.3 seconds. The Superman Escape at Warner Bros.
Movie World, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia imparts 4.2 positive g and 1
negative g, traveling from 0–100 km/h (0–60 mph)) in two seconds. SheiKra in
Tampa pulls 4 g.[6] The record for the highest g-force on a roller coaster belongs to
Mindbender at Galaxyland Amusement Park, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, at 5.2
g.[citation needed] The highest g on a thrill ride can be experienced on Detonator at
Thorpe Park, England, which reaches 5.5 g at the end of the drop by firing riders
downwards pneumatically. Fuji-Q Highland, an amusement park in Fujiyoshida,
Yamanashi, Japan, used to operate a shuttle coaster named Moonsault Scramble
that subjected riders to 6.2 g in the track's high speed pretzel element. The current
record for max g is Tower of Terror at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg, Gauteng
South Africa, with a max of 6.3.
 A sky-diver in a stable free-fall experiences 1 g (full weight) after reaching
terminal velocity.
 Paraglider pilots can experience 6 g or more in spiral dives.
  A SCUBA diver or swimmer experiences 1 g (full weight), but buoyancy largely
cancels the weight of his body. However, density differences do create forces. The
lungs are significantly buoyant.
 Astronauts in Earth orbit experience 0 g ("weightlessness"). They are still strongly
attracted by the Earth's gravity—acceleration due to gravity at an orbital height of
600 km (372 mi) is about 83% of that at sea level. However, as they are in free
fall they do not feel any acceleration.
 Passengers on planes on a parabolic trajectory experience 0 g (as in the "Vomit
Comet").
 Aerobatic and fighter pilots may experience a brownout/greyout between 6 and 9
g characterized by temporary loss of colour vision, tunnel vision, or an inability to
interpret verbal commands. This may proceed to total loss of consciousness,
known as g-LOC. They also experience a "red-out" at negative g. These effects
are mostly caused by blood pressure differences between the heart and the brain.
 NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Jeff Gordon experienced the third-highest ranked g-
force crash recorded by NASCAR at the 2006 Pennsylvania 500 race at Pocono
Raceway, measuring an unprecedented 64 g.[citation needed] Gordon reported that at the
time, it was the hardest hit he ever took in a car.[citation needed]
 Pilots in the Red Bull Air Race commonly exceed 10 g for seconds during turns,
occasionally surpassing 12 g.[citation needed]
 In 2008, astronauts aboard a Soyuz capsule were subjected to 10 g when they
returned to Earth on too steep a trajectory.[7]
 Formula One drivers usually experience 5 g while braking, 2 g while accelerating,
and 4 to 6 g while cornering.[citation needed] Every Formula One car has an ADR
(Accident Data Recovery) device installed, which records speed and g-force.

[edit] Everyday g-forces

 3.5 g during a cough.[8][9]

 2.9 g during a sneeze.[8][9]

[edit] Highest g-forces survived by humans

[edit] Voluntary

Colonel John Stapp in 1954 sustained 46.2 g in a rocket sled, while conducting research
on the effects of human deceleration.[10][11]

[edit] Involuntary

Formula One racing car driver David Purley survived an estimated 179.8 g in 1977 when
he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to rest over a distance of 66 cm (26 inches)
after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall.[3]

Indy Car driver Kenny Bräck crashed on lap 188 of the 2003 race at Texas Motor
Speedway. Bräck and Tomas Scheckter touched wheels, sending Bräck into the air at
200+ mph, hitting a steel support beam for the catch fencing. According to Bräck's site
his car recorded 214 g.[12]

According to the FIA, Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber experienced 75 g during his 2007
Canadian Grand Prix crash.[13]