What would happen to a person if the fell from 30,000 feet?

Answer 1

Contrary to what people believe, they would not continue to accelerate downwards. They'd achieve a terminal velocity due to aerodynamics of the body and the friction of the air on the body. However, when the person's body hits the ground, lots of bones would break, the body would bounce, and almost 100% certainty that the person would die. People have survived from falling at incredible heights, but that's extremely rare.

Answer 2

The same as if they fell from a 1,000 feet. They quickly accelerate to the "terminal velocity" which depends on the attitude of the person falling. For a person spread out in the skydiver pose the speed is about 124MPH . At such a high altitude the speed will be a bit faster because of the thin atmosphere but they will slow to 124MPH by the time they reach the ground. Hopefully they would have some oxygen because above 10,000 there is not enough to breath.

Answer 3

Excellent question. Here are the facts. A human body generally reaches terminal velocity (120 mph) if falling from a height of 1,000 feet or more. This means that any additional height is generally inconsequential, except for heights near the outer atmosphere. Three men are on record as having fallen from approximately 20,000 feet with inoperable parachutes during Worlf War II. They survived, due in large part to landing in high snowbanks. A stewardess fell from 10,000 feet in 1972 when the plane exploded and remained strapped in her seat which was attached to a portion of the tail section of the plane. A skydiver fell from 16,000 feet earlier this year and landed on a blackberry bush, breaking his ankle and puncturing a lung, but resistence from his parachute created air drag and slowed him down. At 30,000 feet lack of oxygen and shock from hypothermic chill is a more pressing concern.

Answer 4

the quick answer........you would die, the averave human body falls at a rate of approx. 120 MPH. although the higher the altitute the faster you fall, at thirty thousand feet you would probably would reach a speed of close to 300+ MPH and slow down to 120 MPH as you reached approx. 15000 feet AGL(above ground level). basic rule of thumb below about 20000 feet AGL, the human body falls at a rate of 1000 feet in about 5.4 seconds. so if you do the math, you would hit the ground in approx. 1 minute 8 seconds or so. although you would probably die from the lack of oxygen before you ever hit the ground. also it is like -20 degrees F. at that altitude. enjoy.

Answer 5

People have survived free-falls from this height.

There was actually a film that premiered at Sundance in 2000 that showed exactly what would happen. The filmmaker is Rolf Gibbs.

Answer 6

A sky diver in Germany fell 33000 feet, his chute failed to open, but he lived. On the other hand I would think in most cases you would become a human pancake.

Answer 7

Welll- put it like this- they won't never, ever have to worry about falling 30,000 feet again.

Answer 8

He would hit the earth and bounce around 10 feet in the air then land and be dead.

Answer 9

Just like George Bush's approval ratings.

Answer 10

Well, it would make a heck of a wet spot on the pavement.

M