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Old 30th May 2013, 11:33
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hvogt
 
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Not the technical type myself, but I seem to remember kinetic energy is half the mass times the square of the speed.

In your example, the airbus would have a kinetic energy of

E_kin_Airbus = 0.5 * 51 t * 119 kn ≈ 0.5 * 51000 kg * (61 m/s)^2 ≈ 96 MJ

The Boeing's kinetic energy is

E_kin_Boeing = 0.5 * 60 t * 142 kn ≈ 0.5 * 60000 kg * (73 m/s)^2 ≈ 160 MJ

By my reckoning, the Boeing's kinetic energy is 67 percent higher than the Airbus':

E_kin_Boeing / E_kin_Airbus = 160 MJ / 96 MJ ≈ 1.666

(Glad you just corrected your post, eckhard)
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