What will happen if you drop a skittle off the Empire State Building?

Question

Can it kill some one?

Will they be seriously injured?

Or if you drop a telvision?

Answer 1

Because of the low terminal velocity, you might break some skin, depending on the updrafts around the Empire State and how the skittle tumbles while it falls.

The Straight Dope did the calculations for a penny :

"Given that the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall and ignoring such factors as wind resistance for the moment, a penny dropped from the top would hit the ground in approximately 8.8 seconds, having reach a speed of roughly 280 feet per second."

"This is not particularly fast. A low-powered .22 or .25 caliber handgun bullet, to which a penny is vaguely comparable in terms of mass, typically has a muzzle velocity of 800 to 1,100 FPS, with maybe 75 foot-pounds of energy."

"On top of this we must consider that the penny would probably tumble while falling, and that the Empire State Building, like all tall buildings, is surrounded by strong updrafts. As a result the penny's descent would be substantially slowed."

"Thus while you might conceivably inflict a fractured skull on some hapless New Yorker (or, more likely, some cretinous tourist from Towson), the penny would not "go through just like that." I bet it wouldn't even penetrate the skin. Not that I intend to find out."

"Would a penny dropped from the Empire State Building kill someone on the ground?" : http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_225.html

And MythBusters tested it in Episode 4 of their first season, and came to same conclusion.

"A penny's terminal velocity is too low for it to penetrate human skin - let alone penetrate concrete or asphalt - even when fired from a rifle."

"MythBusters (season 1) : "Penny Drop, Deadly Microwaves, Radio Tooth Fillings" " : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(season_1)#Penny_Drop

ABC News asked University of Virginia physics professor Louis Bloomfield, who wrote about the "penny myth" :

"Bloomfield has heard about the myth so often he tackles it in his latest book, "How Everything Works." "

" "They're thinking of a world without air ... but air resistance is a big deal for little things. It slows down leaves, it slows down raindrops and it slows down pennies." "

" "The penny is heavier [than a raindrop] but it flutters as it comes down. It's very unstable in the air." "

" "Pennies, they're not aerodynamically stable ... they catch a lot of wind ... basically they're safe," "

"At our request, Bloomfield concocted another test. He filled a large weather balloon with helium and attached a penny dispenser to it that spits out pennies one at a time. He launched the balloon hundreds of feet into the air and then a remote control device released the pennies and he ran around trying to catch them."

"He didn't actually catch any of the pennies, but was hit by several of them, one time on the chin. "It was like getting hit by a bug ... it was noticeable, but nothing more. I was just disappointed I hadn't caught the thing," he said. "I didn't catch it because I'm a bad catcher and it was a windy day, but basically these things are just fluttering down." "

"But his balloon only went up a couple hundred feet -- the Empire State Building is over a thousand feet tall! "Even though we didn't go as high as the Empire State Building, it doesn't matter. The penny will hit full speed after 50 feet or so, and it just coasts," he replied."

"The pennies "reach terminal velocity and no matter how high we put the balloon, they never picked up any more speed." Terminal velocity is the maximum speed a falling object reaches and is determined by the object's weight and air resistance. Because a penny is lightweight and not aerodynamic, air resistance slows it down so much that its terminal velocity is quite slow."

"But not so for many other objects, Bloomfield warns. "Even if they're relatively small, if they're aerodynamically streamlined -- like a ball point pen -- they'll reach the point at which they're going a couple hundred miles an hour, and that's dangerous," he said."

"Can a Penny Dropped From a Building Kill a Pedestrian Below?" : http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3131332&page=1

Answer 2

a) Can it kill some one?

A falling skittle can't kill someone. It can only accelerate up to a certain speed before wind resistance creates a drag equal to the force of gravity.

b)Will they be seriously injured?

They're skittles. Skittles feel no pain. The candy coating will be dinged pretty good if they land on a hard surface.

c) Or if you drop a telvision?

You drop a television from the top of the Empire State Building, someone is almost sure to be injured. A TV has a higher mass to area ratio than a skittle and has a lot more mass to crush bodily parts. Even if the TV doesn't land on someone, the pieces will scatter, with the shards of broken glass being the most dangerous.

Answer 3

If the Empire State building were in a vacuum, then yes, it could. But it's not.

Instead it's in air. And though it doesn't seem like it, air slows things down. A lot.

It might be easier if you imagine a slightly denser medium... do you think that when you drop a skittle into the ocean that it can crush the skull of a fish three miles down? Of course not. It would just slowly waft down and become lunch for that fish. And not a very healthy one.

So too it is with things dropped off the Empire State building. Again, if you imagine dropping something with a LOT of surface area that the air can work against - like a piece of paper - it's easy to see that higher isn't necessarily going to mean faster at the end.

And since the amount of surface compared to weight has a lot to do with size, most small things can fall quite a ways without hurting themselves much (which is how squirrels can fall out of trees and walk away). Even humans reach 'terminal velocity' after only about three seconds of falling... any more falling than that doesn't increase speed at all (or parachutes wouldn't work well!). Truly large things, however, CAN go faster so that height might make a difference.

But since you don't have to drop an elephant very far to crush someone anyway, maybe it's a moot point.

Answer 4

If you dropped a skittle of the Empire State Building, it would accelerate towards the ground until it hit its terminal velocity. At that point it would keep falling at the terminal velocity till it hit the ground. If it hit a person on the head, that person would probably feel a pretty good sting, but that is it. The skittle would never get to a high enough speed to do any real damage.

A television dropped from 10 feet can kill a person. So dropping it from the Empire State Building would definately give it enough speed and momentum to kill someone below.

Answer 5

The skittle gathers lots of momentum and could kill someone by literally crashing into their skull. It's like when you drop a penny off the Empire State building (same thing happens with the momentum).

A television would definitely do a lot more damage as it could kill someone with only a few feet above (let alone stories high!)

Answer 6

a penny and a skittle would neither kill nor maim someone. The tv...would probably kill from 20 ft. let alone from that height. Also it would not gather enough momentum to crass through the skull. A penny would definatly sting the a skittle would probably be crushed by your head rather than it going into it. The skittle and penny only reach about 64 mph I believe.

Answer 7

Terminal Velocity Penny

Answer 8

It will fall. I've heard that dropping a penny off the Empire State Building will kill someone. I imagine a skittle would do the same thing.

And if you don't know what would happen if you let a TV fall that far on someone's head.....

Answer 9

Neither a Skittle nor a penny could build up enough velocity to kill anyone. A television, however, could kill someone for sure.

Answer 10

LOL a sandwcih coming up a 2m wide crater is a collection of bull! i dont imagine bread, cheese, lettuce, or a piece of ham might want to finally end up flaming because they're all very gentle and smooth.all that could happen is they could disintegrate and scatter on the floor under.