# What is the terminal velocity of a sperm whale? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891 "2008-09-10T03:04:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![borofergie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borofergie/32/8075_2.png) [@borofergie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borofergie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/41 "2021-06-04T09:07:23Z")
178 m/s which is about 400 mph or Mach 0.5: > **[Towel Day: The Aerodynamics of Freefalling Sperm Whale - Simcenter](https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/simcenter/towel-day-the-aerodynamics-of-freefalling-sperm-whale/)** > > To celebrate Towel Day I recreated the final moments of the Magrathean Sperm Whale from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as it plummets to its death using Simcenter STAR-CCM+ ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/42 "2021-06-04T10:58:45Z")
> “Many have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that, we should know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.” This is c & p from Wikipedia. It makes perfect sense apart from that strange comma after “thought that”. After much thought, I see it’s not so strange after all. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/43 "2021-06-04T11:26:07Z")
Perhaps if we knew exactly why **bob\_2** had thought that, we should know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/44 "2021-06-04T12:20:41Z")
> [@Influential\_Panda](#): > > African or European? This was my first thought on reading the title too. 😃 Great minds think alike, fools seldom differ. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/45 "2021-06-04T20:49:59Z")
I missed this thread the first time around. Thank you, borofergie! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/46 "2021-06-05T05:10:09Z")
The price of the book referenced in post #4 is now sitting at ~ USD $200. Sadly, still outside my budget. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/47 "2021-06-05T08:54:54Z")
So no one started with ‘assume a spherical sperm whale’? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891/48 "2021-06-05T12:31:19Z")
Given the date of the OP, I can’t help but wonder if it was the precursor for what ultimately became Sharknado? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-terminal-velocity-of-a-sperm-whale/462891.md?page=2)