Okay, this has always been bothering me, because whoever I ask I get mixed responses.
Lets suppose you're in an elevator thats free falling from a the
(x) floor. Right before impact, if you were able to jump and get yourself suspended in air, will you avoid getting hurt? Or would you take damage once you land again?
I'm no physics expert nor have I ever really taken a course in physics (-.-) but someone told me about how the velocity at which the elevator is falling is proportional to yours and in order to actually get yourself suspended in air you have to jump at that same velocity or greater. My question here is, is that true?
2007-07-20 15:15:40 · 7 answers · asked by Alex Z 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
After an elevator has been in freefall for 3 seconds, it might be traveling at 65 miles per hour. To negate your downward velocity (reduce it to zero), you would have to be able to jump upward at 65 mph.
No human has anywhere near this capability. The initial vertical velocity of a human jumping (relative to the ground) is about 2 or 3 miles per hour. So, instead of hitting the floor of the elevator (which is now resting in splinters on the bottom of the shaft) at a fatal 65 mph, you'd hit it at a fatal 62 or 63 mph.
2007-07-20 15:40:20 · answer #1 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If the elevator was going past a few floors and it was accelerating as it went you might be able to open a hatch (if one existed) and with the leap of a leapard stop ,only for an instant, your free fall... However since your dropping rather rapidly after say 3 seconds better make that the leap of your life time ...lets sorta do the math now....no more than 20fps^ this is no free fall in a vaccuum...lots of friction so in 1 second a leap of twenty feet high would be nice...to stop you that is ...it only gets worse.....my answer is you would take the damage either way ..... Good luck on the ride up from the E!!!
2007-07-20 15:38:00 · answer #2 · answered by Edesigner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You would indeed take all the damage when you land again, one split of a second after the rest of the elevator...
If you could jump at the same speed the elevator is falling, you would indeed be unharmed. It's interesting to notice that actually that speed would propulse you up to where the elevator was in the first place. And then you would fall again.
2007-07-20 15:21:16 · answer #3 · answered by Kilohn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes you would have to jump with an upward acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2 which might be impossible. if you did, your velocity would =0 at a certain point and then you would free fall for the rest of the distance, and that shouldn't hurt if you are less than 2 m above the ground. your acceleration is always 9.8 m/s^2 down in free fall
2007-07-20 15:19:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
check out Myth Busters on TV. They tried this one and came to the conclusion the answer is no, it won't help. Some elevators have huge springs underneath them in case of this. If you're in one of them it might help to lay flat and try to cushion your head. Maybe...
2007-07-20 15:20:37 · answer #5 · answered by balloon buster 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i for my section like unfastened falling, its one among my favorites :) BA: i admire maximum of Tom Petty's song, working Down A Dream, American lady, I won't lower back off, Refugee, do not Do Me Like that are a number of my widespread songs candy
2016-10-22 05:16:27 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I wouldn't want to be the who tries that.
2007-07-20 15:19:11 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋