Welcome dear Steemians to another episode of Myth or Fact!
I promised you that I came back with more inspiration and new myths! Or are these facts? We will find out.
Consider the following scenario: After a long and boring day in the office you want to get as fast as possible home. You decide to take the elevator since your office is in the 75th floor. Just like every day the door opens, you step inside and see people smiling weirdly at you. You press the button which says “Ground floor” and there you go.
All of a sudden you hear a weird sound as in the lash of a whip followed by an eruption. The elevator doesn’t move. In the next moment the elevator is falling and you inside. You look death in the face and know nothing will help you. Suddenly you remember that jumping in the right moment will save you from the impact.
You survive.
A tale or scientific fact? Let's investigate!
We have to break down the described scene in order to understand what happens. The elevator as well as the person inside are both in free fall. What does that mean?
Every body that is only being acted by the gravity force is in the state of free fall. We will ignore the air resistance since it doesn’t have any huge impact in our description.
The elevator and the person both fall due to the force of gravity with a constant acceleration. The rate of acceleration is 9.8 m/s/s and mostly represented by the letter g.
You got it right, both objects fall with the same acceleration towards earth independently from their mass.
This formula explains why:
F = m * g
F is the force that acts upon the body, m is the mass and g is the acceleration of gravity.
After transforming the equation to: F/m = g, it is obvious that the acceleration is always the same. No matter what mass or force acts. (Note that the value of 9.8 m/s/s is for other planets different and only approximately 9.8)
This is one of the reasons why you cannot jump inside a falling elevator. Your body is in free fall and for a split second there is zero gravity.
Credits
Let us calculate how long it would take for an elevator to reach the ground when it starts to fall from 10 m.
We will use this simple equation.
h is our height, g as above the acceleration of gravity and t the time.
Having a height of 10 m the time until impact is 1.4 seconds. Not much time for people in a shock situation right? In our example however we said we are in the 75th floor, so we would have more time, right?
Let’s pretend the elevator falls with a speed of 60 km/h. In order to overcome its downward movement you would have to jump up with a speed greater than 60 km/h. That’s impossible.
Conclusion?
In case my elevator falls I will still give it a try. Science however taught us that it’s not possible and therefore there is nothing we can do in such a situation. Today’s lifts are safe and are provided with many emergency backup system that will avoid such a scenario.
Next time someone tries to sell you this myth, you know better now! Or perhaps already did? Let me know what you think or wish for the next episode of Myth or Fact!
Tim
Too funny, thanks for sharing this excellent science article. Many would learn from, especially since it is so clear and well written.
Namaste :)
They covered this on Myth Busters once and came to the same conclusion.
I think Galleleo did it before Myth Busters did it except in this case the article came to Galleleo's conclusion that objects fall at the same speed.
Did you know that the constant g has the letter g in honour of Galileo?
I remember I watched Myth Buster when I was 15. One of the greatest TV series I ever saw.
Another one I can recommend: Takeshi's Castle lol
Congratulations @timsaid!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:
I saw it earlier on TV, I do not remember exactly, Gallileo or Mythbusters it was.
In any case, thank you for sharing, maybe someone else are not knows and still believe in the option of salvation. It's time to learn the truth!
After taking an AP physics class at my highschool I can truly appreciate the science behind this!😁 Really interesting article! Good work!
i thought about this before lol great post
I think about it every time I'm inside an elevator. Creepy
I've heard laying flat down on the floor keeps you from breaking bones. Jumping up seems like it may do the opposite.
Nice :)
I work in construction in downtown NYC. Two building down from me there were FDNY trucks and people running in and out of the building. Then I saw fireman running in with big US postal service baskets full of ice from the deli across the street. I knew right then and there what happened. But learned a little while later that a guy was working on an elevator and it came loose while his arm was out the door and it got cut off!! I didn't stick around when they took him out! 🤢
Brilliant Tim, but who's going to test this. Not me kidda
50 Steem for the first who does it.
Just kidding, please don't try this at home *trolling *
Im still going to do it! jump for your life
I'm with you
very interesting.
Thanks!
sure!
Jumping at the right time may not work, however if you could end up on top of he bodies rather than on the bottom that is helpful? I recall the one on top of the pile suffers less injury. LOL Math is interesting but I think a quick prayer to our higher power may be resourceful.
I think you will be quicker with a prayer than calculating the force lol
MaTH
a
MyTH for me...!!!😕
Cool way to learn about maths and physics! Nice one bud
I know you can't but I too would give it my best shot!!
Tim aka the MythBuster!
Good formula and calculation, like to forward to your next post
Thanks Jam! I already have something in mind
you are welcome, good posting. i like it
Totally true! And....makes me think about the time I got stuck in the elevator in my building due to a power surge (they say). Did you know the best thing to do is to sit down right away, try to remain calm...luckily I had my cell phone so I could play a game while waiting for help. Help took an entire hour and a half because it happened on a statutory holiday, so you can imagine what it took for the elevator man to come. Also in a blizzard... While I sat in the elevator in the drench of the watery carpet getting damp and feeling dirty and thinking gee now I have to wash my coat, I thought of the first time I got stuck in the elevator. I was at work downtown Toronto in the Atrium. I was just coming back from lunch when to my surprise the elevator stop and hung there relentlessly it felt like. It was all glass so people just stared up at me from the mall below. It was sooo embarrassing. Stuck and no privacy! Elevator phone telling me not to worry help on the way and do I want to call someone. Why? Am I going to die I thought. Yes...my parents. My parents shocked trying to calm me down...now I am in tears suspended. The ordeal lasted about an hour and a half but it felt like forever. So here is a question to you scientist guy. The next day my legs ached like made and I could barely walk? What's up with this? Who knows....but, that is why I sit down right away whenever I get stuck in the elevator.
Wow! This is intense. I would probably take the stairs and never step inside an elevator again.
Btw great writing! You should write books, was a good read. Seems got a nice talent :)
Sort of like jumping out of a plane right before it crashes, you are still moving plane speed - jump speed, nice way to splat. :x
I would jump midair holding my umbrella
I hope its a secret agent style spy-umbrellachute, The first person to make that would make a killi... wait, forget I said anything. <($.$)>
Now you made me curious
Love the conclusion, you must have put a lot of work into this article
You know what motivates me? The feedback from our community. I love the way we interact and care for each other!
I completely agree with you. The Steemit community has been so sincere and wonderful
if you did jump up with an acceleration high enough... that would also kill you since it's the same force you'll encounter when finally reaching the bottom.
And you would die from hitting the ceiling
it's a die, die and die situation :)
Won't affect mortality rate, but...I think if you're already standing on the floor of the 'vator you could at least push off the floor. Since the elevator has more mass and you're both going the same speed you'd get a little less VIG (velocity into ground). Still deader than fried chicken. :)
Great post! Excellent Myth Busted!
:)
But I guess I would try to do something, futile I know but like try to rock the cage try to make friction stop it a little, but I mean just giving up doesn't seem that good either, sure you'd still die but at least you tried something.
I know what you mean. Just let's hope you will never encounter such a situation
The elevator is heavier than the people inside so it falls faster which means there is nothing to lean on, people in the elevator would hit the ceiling before it hits the ground.
Try it: Drop a full bottle of water and a bottle half full.
Or try a half empty one lol
I've always been told that heavier objects fall faster, even my ski instructor told me heavy people goes down the slope faster :) I never bothered to check why but assumed it was just the law of gravity. I did a quick search and it says that heavy objects fall faster because of air resistance. In a closed environnement any object would fall at the same speed. Looks like I've learnt something today! Thanks
Consider that a ski ramp and free fall works differently. Furthermore: if you have two balls of the same size and shape, then even if you calculate the air resistance, they will fall the same speed because the air body is same except the mass
On second thought maybe the stairs don't look so bad!
Always bring a pillow into a downward elevator, it will help cushion yur noggin' as you jump through the roof of it