![]() "In a normal position for a skydiver, that's around 120 miles per hour," Allain says. When these two forces equal each other out, you've got terminal velocity – the stable speed at which a skydiver falls. While gravity pulls down on a skydiver's mass, air resistance pushes back. For one, falling people aren't in a vacuum – they're surrounded by air. So how can it be that a heavier skydiver will fall faster?Īlthough two objects with different masses will fall at the same speed in a vacuum, it's not so simple for a skydiver. You may remember learning in physics class that gravity accelerates all objects at the same rate, regardless of mass. The answer has to do with the two main forces acting on a falling person - gravity and air resistance. A 3-foot fall is pretty intimidating for something as small as an ant. You've probably witnessed this phenomenon if you've ever brushed an insect off your kitchen table. ![]() "Smaller people are going to fall slower, so that's going to give them a better chance ," explains Allain. This is one situation where size really does matter. According to Allain, there are a few things you need to do. Still, Allain and others have a few ideas about the factors that might determine whether you survive a tumble from thousands of feet in the air. "Fortunately, we don't have enough data to make a trend line," Allain says. ![]() Rhett Allain, associate professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana State University, says that experimental evidence on the subject is thin because it's unethical to throw people out of airplanes for science. And Serbian flight attendant Vesna Vulović holds the Guinness world record for the longest survived fall - over 30,000 feet - after her plane blew up in the 1970s, though some cynics think the real height of Vulović's fall was a mere 2,600 feet.īut how exactly do you survive such an extraordinary event? ![]() For instance, Alan Magee survived a 20,000-foot fall from his plane during World War II and survived by landing on the glass roof of a French railroad station. A handful of lucky people have survived similar falls in real life.Īuthor Jim Hamilton has compiled dozens of these stories. He's totally dead, right?Īs it turns out, maybe not. But I couldn't help but wonder: What happened to the other guy? You know, the villain who lost his parachute. I remember seeing that scene as a kid and being pretty impressed. Falling from an airplane would ruin most people's day.īut if you're James Bond, it's no big deal.Īfter getting pushed out of a plane in the 1979 film Moonraker, Bond initiates a midair fight with a nearby skydiving villain and takes the evildoer's parachute.Īs his enemy plunges to the ground, Bond fights off a second bad guy, deploys his chute and floats gracefully to Earth. ![]()
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