If i drop a cockroach....

[321Mike]

Not only would a cockroach survive the fall, a cat would have a pretty good chance of surviving, too.

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In a study from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, two veterinarians examined 132 cases of cats that had fallen out of high-rise windows. On average, the cats fell 5.5 stories, but 90 percent survived, although many suffered severe injuries. The number of broken bones and injuries increased with the number of stories the cat had fallen – up to seven stories. Above seven stories, however, the number of injuries declined. In other words, the farther the cat fell, the better were his chances of escaping injury.


The reason for this may be that after falling five stories or so, cats reach a terminal velocity. The velocity or speed of a falling body does not increase forever because the rate of increase in speed is interrupted by air resistance. A skydiver reaches a terminal velocity of around 130 to 140 mph after about 30 seconds of free-falling. Cats reach terminal velocity much sooner at a speed of 60 mph.


It’s instinctive for both humans and animals to tense their muscles when free-falling, which makes them more susceptible to injury. When cats land before reaching top speed, they are rigid and flexed and prepared for the landing. This results in most of the force impacting the parts of the body that hit initially. However, after reaching terminal velocity, cats relax their muscles and spread themselves out like flying squirrels. This allows the impact of the fall to be spread across a larger surface area.

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[TheRover]

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If you dropped a cockroach off the empire state building, assuming he couldnt fly to safety, yes, it would die. The impact from the fall out crush its body.

i'm guessing the same is true for an ant.

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how wrong you are!

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This can only be settled via prop bet.

[BJK]

It's been a few years since high school physics, but I think the term we are looking for here is terminal velocity.

An object, when dropped from great height, will continue to accelerate indefinitely in a vacuum at a rate of approximlately 9.8 meters per second squared.

However, we don't live in a vacuum. We have this thing called friction to worry about. Because of friction, all objects have a maximum possible velocity when falling through the air. This "terminal velocity" is in proportion to the objects weight and wind resistance. Wind resistance creates bouyancey while weight reacts to gravity.

That is why a piece of paper would flutter to the ground while a bowling ball would probably do a lot of damage.

The small insects you mentioned would not die if dropped from the Empire State Building because they would stop accelerating at a relatively slow speed. In fact, if you dropped one of them from the roof of your house, they would reach the ground with roughly the same impact as if you dropped them 144 stories from a tall skyscraper.

[-zero-]

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It's been a few years since high school physics, but I think the term we are looking for here is terminal velocity.


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Wow, if only someone mentioned this in a previous post.

[BJK]

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Wow, if only someone mentioned this in a previous post.

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I read about 2/3 of the replies, found a bunch of gibberish without any answers, and decided I'd throw in my $0.02.

I apologize for trying to be helpful. I'll try not to let it happen again.

[RedBean]

FWIW, the terminal velocity of a penny is about 25-30MPH,when falling end over end.

You'd do more "damage" throwing it at someone as hard as you could at close range than you would do by dropping it off a skyscraper.

[ActionJeff]

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Not only would a cockroach survive the fall, a cat would have a pretty good chance of surviving, too. [ QUOTE ]
In a study from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, two veterinarians examined 132 cases of cats that had fallen out of high-rise windows. On average, the cats fell 5.5 stories, but 90 percent survived, although many suffered severe injuries. The number of broken bones and injuries increased with the number of stories the cat had fallen – up to seven stories. Above seven stories, however, the number of injuries declined. In other words, the farther the cat fell, the better were his chances of escaping injury.


The reason for this may be that after falling five stories or so, cats reach a terminal velocity. The velocity or speed of a falling body does not increase forever because the rate of increase in speed is interrupted by air resistance. A skydiver reaches a terminal velocity of around 130 to 140 mph after about 30 seconds of free-falling. Cats reach terminal velocity much sooner at a speed of 60 mph.


It’s instinctive for both humans and animals to tense their muscles when free-falling, which makes them more susceptible to injury. When cats land before reaching top speed, they are rigid and flexed and prepared for the landing. This results in most of the force impacting the parts of the body that hit initially. However, after reaching terminal velocity, cats relax their muscles and spread themselves out like flying squirrels. This allows the impact of the fall to be spread across a larger surface area.

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seriously? I just had a big arguement with my dad about this. He doesn't buy it. I'm skeptical too.

I suppose if you remove the problem of the wind blowing the cat into the side of the building or it hitting a ledge or something, its more feasible.

Lets say we airlift a cat 1000 feet high or so, and drop it.

What are its chances of survival if it lands on grass? cement? I am genuinely interested, something seems wrong here heh

[skiier04]

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Not only would a cockroach survive the fall, a cat would have a pretty good chance of surviving, too.

[ QUOTE ]
In a study from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, two veterinarians examined 132 cases of cats that had fallen out of high-rise windows. On average, the cats fell 5.5 stories, but 90 percent survived, although many suffered severe injuries. The number of broken bones and injuries increased with the number of stories the cat had fallen – up to seven stories. Above seven stories, however, the number of injuries declined. In other words, the farther the cat fell, the better were his chances of escaping injury.


The reason for this may be that after falling five stories or so, cats reach a terminal velocity. The velocity or speed of a falling body does not increase forever because the rate of increase in speed is interrupted by air resistance. A skydiver reaches a terminal velocity of around 130 to 140 mph after about 30 seconds of free-falling. Cats reach terminal velocity much sooner at a speed of 60 mph.


It’s instinctive for both humans and animals to tense their muscles when free-falling, which makes them more susceptible to injury. When cats land before reaching top speed, they are rigid and flexed and prepared for the landing. This results in most of the force impacting the parts of the body that hit initially. However, after reaching terminal velocity, cats relax their muscles and spread themselves out like flying squirrels. This allows the impact of the fall to be spread across a larger surface area.

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I really want to try this.

[AntonHeat]

This would be really cool to try and see, but my guess is it would go splat, or be really injured.

[doubLe a tom]

I dont think you guys understand the concept of terminal velocity. It doesnt matter if you drop a cat from 100 feet or the top of Earth's atmosphere, its going to hit the ground at the same speed and therefore receive the same injuries.