The Physics of Kirk’s Star Trek Car Jump

Posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta

Remember the moment from the movie trailer for JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek when young James T Kirk grabbed onto the ledge after jumping out of car as it plunged off the cliff? Well the geniuses over at Popular Science have figured out if Kirk’s jump would be possible in real life.

The car is traveling about 32 meters per second off the cliff. Kirk is moving at an estimated speed of 28 m/s towards the cliff edge. Of course, the Popular Science article uses all sorts of complicated equations to figure this out (some of which are seen in the photo above). The conclusion is that James T. Kirk would have to exert a force of almost 900 pounds with his fingers to stop from being flung over the precipice. This would probably be impossible for most humans, but of course — not for Captain Kirk. You can read the whole physics calculation over on PopSci.com.

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  • Eric R.
    So let me get this straight, some of the world's best minds wasted time in figuring out an equation from a scene that didn't really happen?!? Of all the problems in the world and all the unknowns yet to be discovered, these assholes actually took time to do this? 'sigh', that's how we got Bush for two terms cause people in America are stupid.
  • What do you mean? It did happen! We all saw it, especially the geeks who had a collective hard-on by watching it over and over in 1080p resolution on their LCARS-themed desktops.
  • Eric R.
    lol, now that's funny!
  • TheMarquis
    In all seriousness, this probably didn't take very long to figure out.
  • Really? I thought all Lazy Liberal Douche Scientists didn't vote for bush? I am just confused by your logic, because aren't scientists and scholars against EVERYTHING that man stands for? Thank jeebus I am in the middle, because you are one funny guy.
  • Eric R.
    You actually think those guys voted? These guys had nothing else better to do in their lives except coming up with meaningless equations like the one above. On election day these guys were at home masterbating, listening to to either Prince in Concert or watching Ann of Green Gables while trying to figure out the flaw in their 'equations' as to why they were dateless and why their palms were hairy than their chests.
  • you're so fucking stupid.
  • Jordan
    that was pretty funny. :)
  • Wow you know so much about them???...lol
  • yeah, no doubt Eric R. is exactly the kind of loser he was talking about.
  • sounds like someone speaking from personal (intimate?) experience.
  • dave curtis
    yeah, and thats why we'll have have to hear that at every turn from whiners like you, cause you can't just loosen up and have a little fun. You gotta find a way to ruin every corner of life with politics. That's stupid!!!
  • That's because Kirk is gangsta.
  • Can they work out the exact percentage of money this will make compared to how much it is going to suck?
  • I love Popular Science.
  • of course it's possible. They ALREADY performed the stunt, for god's sake
  • TheMarquis
    I think they mean that it would be possible without wires and harnesses, etc. Unless you were being sarcastic, which in that case.....yah! Sarcasm!
  • of course
  • Rick
    FFS, so we'll see this on MovieMistakes.com or something I'm sure. Over-Analysis FTL... Just enjoy the movie.
  • One other thing that was not taken into account in the calculation : how heavy were Kirk's balls.
  • I was going to make a "Kirk's balls exert that much force" joke, but you beat me to it. Bravo.
  • dopiestghost
    Nerds. This is why no one likes Star Trek fans and JJ Abrams decided to make a movie for everyone else. Good call, JJ. To appease these guys you'd have to spend your time calculating the science of a fictional future instead of actually writing a script.
  • you must not know any trekkies personally.
  • Wow, people can't break the realm of reality for 10 seconds ...not even in a science fiction movie trailer
  • I couldn't even get past Algebra 1 in High School!
  • i forget what episode it's from but isn't capt. kirks middle name BADASS.
  • only if badass is spelled with a T.
  • anon
    So, it's THEBADASS then?
  • No James (say it with me) "Tiberius" Kirk.
  • TheMarquis
    wow. algebra 1 was really easy. I took it in 8th grade.
  • Well it's not that I couldn't pass it, It's just that It bored me to death!
  • I failed it cos I'm stupid in math
  • Failed it 'cause I'm stupid in general. If only I had someone like TheMarquis to look up to when I was in high school.
  • This is awesome. I wish I could watch a trailer to a movie and be able to equate if the stunts are physically possible or not!
    Kirk can do it.
  • I was gonna try this one day...guess that would be a bad idea....
  • ShaggyJay
    You are all missing a valuable point pertaining to how we can anticipate how this movie will be recieved: Those that wonder about this kind of thing and actually figure it out will hate the movie, and those that don't care a bit about how many psi Kirk's fingers might be capable of will like it. What will this do for the Star Trek franchise?
  • and yet, scientific and fan alike, everyone still wants a lightsaber.
    I figure the saga will continue regardless.
  • Jamie
    If you look carefully at the movie clip, you'll notice that young Kirk's shoes are similar to the artificial gravity boots worn by the rogue federation officers in Star Trek VI.

    Thus, there are two additional factors at play. Kirk knew he was never truly in any danger (he doesn't believe in the no-win scenario even at this young age.)

    Second, while we do not know the setting of the artificial gravity boots, even at a minimal state the boots would have greatly retarded his progress towards the cliff.

    As you can see, Kirk was completely in command of the situation.

    ;)
  • I think it's pretty cool that they did this. If anyone wants to criticize then please post your favorite hobby so we can tell you what we think of what you do on your spare time.

    All the calculations are just for the jump and not for the drag after he landed?

    I'm no physicist but wouldn't you just calculate how fast the car was sliding off the cliff (not before the slide), and then Kirk jump would have to had cancelled out the velocity of the car and exibit enough to propel him 4-5 feet away from the cliff?

    Well now that I think about it he didn't cancel out the velocity because he still continued to slide off.

    I hate Math but love these kinds of problems.
  • yeah.. inertia and shit
  • Thats pretty nerdy, but hey..

    loyal fans gotta represent their hood.

    as for me.. STAR WARS FOR LIFE YALL!!! BOOM!!

    im done.
  • Another example of the stupidity of this movie.
  • nope.. no
  • Star Trek has never been good with REAL science.
  • But they have been decent with providing a diagram for science to work toward.
  • Not really, like at all.
  • TooToo
    Talk about being a nerd...
  • danny
    wow. I thought he just jumped.
  • Adam87
    I thought he jumped too. I had no idea he was exerting such pressure. I'll chalk that up to the fact that I'm not a scientist or mathematician, and leave it at that.

    Anyway, I think it's an interesting piece of trivia, but I'm not making judgments about this movie based on the plausibility of things that are happening in a science fiction universe.

    Good stuff, JJ- you've got people thinking. Keep it up.
  • Its stuff like this that continues to give Star Trek a bad name. Are you fucking kidding me?
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