if i weigh 89 lbs is it possible i can leap off a 10 story building and land on my feet if my legs are strong.

Question

enough to leg press a total of 3000 pounds?

Answer 1

If you think it will work I think you should do it. maybe you'll win a darwin award. That sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Answer 2

Well, let's see:

If we neglect air resistance, which will slow you down some, then you will need to find your velocity when you reach the ground:

where
g=32.2 ft/s^2 (gravity)
v= velocity
x= distance of fall (10 stories x about 13 feet per story = 130 ft)
t= time of your fall

start with finding how long you would fall:

solve
x = 1/2 g * t^2 for t, or t = sqrt(2x/g) [I get 2.84 seconds]

Then, knowing t, find your velocity when you reach the ground.

v = g * t. [I get 91.5 ft/s or 62 mph]


Now, you will have to stop your body with your legs before your butt hits the ground, say in about 2 feet. Given that:

F = m * a

and

x = (avg v) * t, or = (v-0)/2 * t since you are going from V to stop (=0) with your legs,

or to remove t, substitute t=v/a, which gives:
x = v * v / 2a.

find a, for x= 2 feet and v = the speed you found above.
a = (v^2) / 2x [I get 2093 ft/sec^2]

from F=ma,

F = 89 lbs * a
which is the force (strength) that your legs will need. If F exceeds 3000 lbs, you're DOA. [I get 186277 lbs. You're dead!]

At least, I think that's right. ;)

Answer 3

If you weighed 89 pounds, jumped off of a 10 story building, and could somehow control your fall in such a way as to land errect and on your feet when you hit the ground, you would be traveling at about 145 miles per hour at the instant of impact. My best guess is that your legs would telescope upwards into your ears, and you would have to postpone most all of your meetings and conferences for the rest of the day. Your secretary would probably have to hold all of your calls, and you can tell that IRS auditor to pound sand just before jumping.

As for that reported proficiency in presses with your legs, consider teaching a freind how to do that really quickly. You might have about 1 1/2 seconds to do that.

Pray there is no serious up - draft on the day you elect to try this out. It would be rather painful to blow out your nasal pasages enroute to the pavement below. Needless to say, in order to protect one's self from other unnecessary pre-impact disorders it would be strongly recommended that you dress with two (instead of one) pair of tight fitting jockey shorts because of the previously mentioned dire effects of an up - draft enroute.

Wouldn't it be more entertaining to learn pole vaulting, or global bathtub sailing?

Answer 4

Your upper torso is heavier than the lower... ie: your raised center of gravity will cause you to flip in mid air. Another problem is that while you can leg press over one ton, the acceleration of your mass x gravity may be greater than the amount you claim to leg press. If you weigh 89#'s and leg press 3000, you must have freakishly strong legs. So if you don't flip and land on your head or shatter your legs, it will be a miracle.

In short, no you can't. Don't even try.

Answer 5

I think your question goes beyond just physics. If you're muscles were able to tolerate all of the force that comes from all of the potential energy you'd be losing that's one thing. But upon landing the most likely scenario is that the force will be transmitted up your leg bones and completed fracture the bone and dislocate the joint. You'd also probably have so much momentum that your face would hit the floor and you'd damage your skull and your facial bones.

Thats why for science projects they usually let you do an egg drop contest. It's a good example of how hard it is to protect something from a fall of that magnitude.

Answer 6

You'd fall just as fast as a 3000 pound man that can leg press 89 pounds, and probably die.

Answer 7

No I don't think it's possible. Even if your legs don't break, the impact will be so big that you upper body will get crushed, either by the strong legs or the ground.

Answer 8

You might land on your feet, but you'll break your legs-- and probably a lot more.

Or... just don't go all the way to the 10th floor to jump.

Answer 9

your weight doesn't matter. all objects fall at an equal rate. you'll break your legs, if you land on your feet. how strong your legs are is irrelevant, your legs would instantly break.

Answer 10

Well Gaaaaawwwwwwwly....yes if the building is not very tall,say about six feet.