Can you save yourself from a falling elevator death?

Question

Okay this is a real question, and i'm sure everyones heard this in their lifetime. Say you are riding an open elevator or platform lift, and everything is normal. All of a sudden it malfunctions and despite all safety devices, and interlocks begins plunging at rediculous speed taking you to your impending death. What if , say you waited until you got near the bottom and timed a jump perfectly and fell at most 5-10 feet. Now if my hypothesis is correct, you should still be alive and escape maybe with a few broken limbs. What do you think? Please, i am calling on all scientists, physicists, doctors ETC. This has been bothering me and needs answering.

Answer 1

You would die regardless even if you could time the floor touching impact instant perfectly, and had superman's leg muscles to apply a force to accelerate your body upwards to the same counter speed of the falling elevator car instantly.

The only way to improve the chance of survival is to dissipate the acquired kinetic energy, from the difference of falling heights, gradually into something. However, the up springing of your leg muscles does nothing in that direction.

By a superman's up jumping you would extend your life for only a short moment; because as the elevator car stops on the ground, your body would be moving upwards at a speed as fast as the last terminal speed of the falling, and you would crash your head first into the car's ceiling. Suppose further that the car box is of very extended height so you won't hit the ceiling, then gravity would quickly accelerate your body back down and smash it on the floor.

Answer 2

You will be falling at the same speed as the elevator whether you are touching the floor or not.

Answer 3

Theoretically, this is supposed to be possible. However, you would have absolutely no idea when you were going to hit the bottom of the shaft, so in practice it would be impossible to time your jump correctly except by sheer luck.

Answer 4

if the elevator is in perfect freefall, you won't be able to jump, you might not even be touching the floor.

if it is less than freefall your still traveling at lets say 100mph or so, your tiny jump at the end lifts you at say 10mph off the floor....your still hitting the earth at ninety....

SPLAT