A friend of a friend of a friend
of a friend etc, believed that if you were in a hot air balloon, and it failed whilst hundreds of feet above ground, sending the basket and its occupants plummeting to their QUICK BUT MESSY DEATHS, you would all right "as long as you jumped out just before it hit the ground."

Dktr S
(Dr Skagra glorious glargzhem, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 15:53, 10 replies)

same as
jumping just before the plummeting lift hits the ground? I don't think this is completely ignorant - am I missing something? Perhaps some scientific explanation of why this would not work should be forthcoming
(Purpledoris I've got afeckin' job, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 15:57, closed)

are you serious?

(likeajackhammer, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 15:59, closed)

yeah?
surely if you jumped you would be travelling upwards not down thus reducing the impact......

**sniggers uncontrollably**
(Purpledoris I've got afeckin' job, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 16:03, closed)

I totally agree
you would reduce your movement speed - maybe not considerably enough to save your life - but it would still reduce your speed.

i once had an argument with someone because they couldn't grasp the concept that jumping off a building holding a cocktail parasol would increase your chances of survival.
( valoukh newsgash.wordpress.com, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 16:10, closed)

I
also once had an argument with someone. What a coincidence...
how big was the building?
(Purpledoris I've got afeckin' job, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 16:29, closed)

favourite response to this
is that, if you are in a lift, how do yo know when you are about to it the ground?

(unless you are in Hugh Heffner's glass bottomed lift)
(pounana Slept well, and dreamed of large women, on, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 17:16, closed)

if you could jump hard/high enough to make any difference you would splatter yourself against the roof of the lift
www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae54.cfm?CFID=26826293&CFTOKEN=7ef8b6e7fade0e09-773662D1-15C5-EE01-B99C0FB1C926B1C8
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 16:16, closed)

Well done Vip
I knew I had seen it somewhere - one of my favourites but rather long winded!!
(Purpledoris I've got afeckin' job, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 16:28, closed)

You would be 'plummeting' at the same speed as the gondola
Therefore, jumping out before you hit the ground would still result in you being splatterised.

Unless of course you are made of photons, as light doesn't gain any speed when it leaves a moving object.

Geddit?
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 16:30, closed)

In order to make a difference
you would need to jump hard enough that if you were on the floor of the lift shaft you would be able to jump to the point from which your plummet began (considerations of terminal velocity aside).

If you can't jump that hard, the effect would be so minor as to be virtually pointless. If you can, you'd have to judge and time it REALLY well so as not to just smash yourself into the roof of the lift.
( Mockingbird Practitioner of SCIENCE, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 11:24, closed)