The stunt
Two ramps and a row of kegs between them. Clear it clean and one more keg goes in. It's the New Year's party, and the count is the whole show.
The work
Ramp building. Jumps at two kegs, then three. The first time it goes wrong, on camera.
The night
A brewery lot, a crowd behind barriers, the count on a board, and the speed at the lip on the big screen before every attempt.
Solve the Jump
How fast at the lip to clear ten kegs?
A jump between two ramps of the same height is a projectile. The distance depends on the takeoff speed and the ramp angle, and nothing else.
Worked example: a half-barrel keg is about 16 inches wide, so ten kegs is about 13.3 feet. Off a 20° ramp, that takes about 17.6 mph. An eleventh keg takes 18.5. Real ramps add a margin, which is the part students have to argue about.
The physicsDistance = speed² × sin(2 × ramp angle) ÷ g
What gets measured
- Speed at the lip
- Time in the air and distance cleared
- Landing force in g
What has to be true first
- A brewery says yes. Until then it stays "a St. Louis brewery"
- The ramps are built and tested at low counts first
- The count only goes up after a clean landing