Can you jump up when you are falling?

Question

If i was standing on a platform that was falling and jumped up before it hit the ground. could i escape the impact?
Obviousley i would sill land on the smashed platform but would it be at the origional speed of the platform before i jumped?

Answer 1

YES you could jump.
Say you were falling at 100mph like in an elevator. If you jumped up when the elevator was about 1 foot from the ground which is almost imposible to do. Then how ever the speed you are traviling upward is subracted from the falling speed.

>If you jumped to early then you would hit about 100mph
>If you jumped to late the you would hit the ground a tad bit slower say about 1-3 mph slower or not at all because all the bones in your legs would be broken or you would be dead.
>But if you jumped at the right time you would hit at about 80-90 mph.

One important note is that If you were falling at a fast enough speed your feet might come off the elevator floor because of the negitive Gs and you would be floating around in the elevator unless you held on to the wall or floor of the elevator.

You would need a jet ejection seat to not be injured or killed.

Answer 2

Yes, you can, in a manner of speaking.

Both you and the platform will be in freefall. Depending upon how long you have been falling, the speed of your descent could be incredibly fast. Even while falling, you can still push yourself away from the platform itself, and thus your rate of descent would be slightly less than that of the platform.

Most people's initial jumping velocity is only a few feet per second. I don't have exact numbers, unfortunately, but I would guess about 6 ft/s. But considering that being in freefall for only, say 5 seconds, your velocity is already 160 ft/s, then lowering this velocity to 154 ft/s... won't save you from splattering.

Answer 3

Yes. If you time it properly and jump and land while going up then the impact will be less. This is used in aircraft crash landing very often. Before the crash landing the pilot pull the nose up which reduces the impact of the aircraft to some extent reducing the damage. There he uses his kinetic energy as a break. In the elevator when jumping while falling you use the leg muscles energy to reduce the impact. This is the theory. How practical it will be in real situations ? Highly doubtful

Answer 4

I used to wonder the same thing. Like if you're in an elevator and it's falling, can you jump right before you hit the bottom?

Sounds like it might be possible, but Nope! The gravity is pulling you too fast to the ground and you can't get enough force on the platform to push back upward. It's not possible.

Answer 5

The only way to escape this highly unlikely scenario is to climb out of the top of the lift whilst it is falling and take your trousers off and tie knots in the end of the trouser legs, then put your hands in the pockets and get as good a grip as you can, then holding them over your head allow the rushing upwards air to fill them. they will then act as a parachute and lift you off slightly, slowing your velocity enough to possibly survive. bearing in mind terminal velocity is finite it all depends how quick you are. This also works for jumping out of an aircraft, but it is quite difficult to hang onto your trousers and tie knots in them during free-fall. also if you land on anything but water you stand a good chance of breaking something. even on water the chances of breaking something are quite high unless you can break the surface tension just before impact. this can be done by throwing an object like a mobile phone downwards so it hits the water just before you do.

Answer 6

You would land with the same force you would have had you been standing on the platform, only a little later.

Answer 7

Only if you are falling very slowly (like on a platform) and the strength of your jump is greater than your fall. Otherwise you are only decreasing the rate at which you fall.

Answer 8

I would ask you to figure your weight and the earth's pull of gravity vs what you are "pushing-off" from (air, I assume!! :) ) and the strength of your legs muscles considering age, tiredness, years of weight training etc.and if there is an opposite force on the platform other than downward gravity. So what answer do YOU come up with???? I say, you're dead meat!! :) JLM,

Answer 9

No, same as: can you fall when you are going up? or If a car traveling at 100mph hits a concrete wall, and you jumped to the rear seat before impact, you would still be traveling at 100mph.

Answer 10

You would push of the platform causing it to accelerate slightly and you to decelerate slightly. I don't you can jump with enough force to make a noticeable difference.