If you're going 650 Mph in an airplane and hit a bump (air pocket), the plane can bounce 5-10 feet. So the acceleration is spread over a long time / distance.
If you're going 650 Mph in a hyperloop and hit a bump, you have millimeters of room. So any minor bump is going to be a gigantic slam.
I've ridden TGVs in Europe. At 250 Km/h (~150 Mph), it's bumpy enough that I have a hard time doing anything other than stare out the window.
The hyperloop will be 4x faster than that. If it does work, I'd probably want a padded interior, and a face mask with attached vacuum aspirator for vomit...
> I've ridden TGVs in Europe. At 250 Km/h (~150 Mph), it's bumpy enough that I have a hard time doing anything other than stare out the window.
This is the total opposite of my experience, I've ridden the TGV many times in France and I'm always amazed how smooth the ride is, without looking outside I wouldn't even notice I'm moving. It's actually a weird feeling to look outside as you see the landscape moving so fast.
Same experience for me- I took the Eurostar from London to Paris (and back) last summer and couldn't tell you if we were moving or stopped, if I closed my eyes.
Which South? If it is via the Atlantic-side line, only the 200 km near Paris are a high-speed line, the rest is a classical line (on which the TGV rides).
I expect it's "really bumpy" on the non-high-speed tracks, the train would be extremely rigid all around and thus not absorb bumps from low-quality/low-speed tracks making imperfections much more noticeable. My experience seems to have been mostly on proper tracks/at speed, the ride is as smooth as can be in a wheeled vehicle.
I don't know what train you've ridden, but Spain's Ave goes 300 km/h and you don't even notice you're moving. And it definitely doesn't bump at all. You cannot notice constant speed but only speed changes (acceleration = force).
> I've ridden TGVs in Europe. At 250 Km/h (~150 Mph), it's bumpy enough that I have a hard time doing anything other than stare out the window.
Uh? The only problem you may feel is the pressure in your ears when you are in a tunnel. But the ride feels much less bumpy than a regular train on a classical line.
> So the acceleration is spread over a long time / distance
That's not how acceleration works. Maybe you mean force?
Hyperloop cars are heavy enough that a small air pocket wouldn't be able to produce enough force to accelerate it substantially.
If you're going 650 Mph in an airplane and hit a bump (air pocket), the plane can bounce 5-10 feet. So the acceleration is spread over a long time / distance.
If you're going 650 Mph in a hyperloop and hit a bump, you have millimeters of room. So any minor bump is going to be a gigantic slam.
I've ridden TGVs in Europe. At 250 Km/h (~150 Mph), it's bumpy enough that I have a hard time doing anything other than stare out the window.
The hyperloop will be 4x faster than that. If it does work, I'd probably want a padded interior, and a face mask with attached vacuum aspirator for vomit...