It happens in basically every superhero movie – someone falls, apparently to their death, only to be caught and saved at the last second.
If you’re like me, (or Sheldon Cooper) you may ask yourself whether being caught in the heroic arms of a superhero after a hundreds-of-feet fall would tend to save the victim or “immediately slice them into three equal pieces.” (0:34)
If you’re like me, (or Sheldon Cooper) you may ask yourself whether being caught in the heroic arms of a superhero after a hundreds-of-feet fall would tend to save the victim or “immediately slice them into three equal pieces.” (0:34)
In the 1978 Superman movie Sheldon Cooper questions (and in most movie depictions of superheroes catching falling victims), there is at least some allowance for matching the victim’s speed and decelerating. However, a recent scene from Marissa Meyer’s book Renegades gives a perfect example of the type of catch Sheldon Cooper ridicules:
“A roar dragged Nova’s attention upward in time to se Thunderbird’s enormous black wings… The ropes entwined around Thunderbird’s body… then she was falling, falling… right into Captain Chromium’s waiting arms… Though the balloon was hundreds of feet in the air…”
“A roar dragged Nova’s attention upward in time to se Thunderbird’s enormous black wings… The ropes entwined around Thunderbird’s body… then she was falling, falling… right into Captain Chromium’s waiting arms… Though the balloon was hundreds of feet in the air…”
How right is Sheldon?
Let’s start with some physics. How fast does an object go when it’s dropped from a given height?
On earth, when things fall, they accelerate by about 22 MPH every second. If something falls for one second, it will be going 22 MPH. If it falls for two seconds, it will be going 44 MPH.
What does that mean in terms of distance? If a victim plummets hundreds of feet, do they fall for one second, two seconds, three?
We could do some math to figure that out… or we could refer to a nice set of kinematic equations from someone who’s already organized things. We’ll use this one:
Let’s start with some physics. How fast does an object go when it’s dropped from a given height?
On earth, when things fall, they accelerate by about 22 MPH every second. If something falls for one second, it will be going 22 MPH. If it falls for two seconds, it will be going 44 MPH.
What does that mean in terms of distance? If a victim plummets hundreds of feet, do they fall for one second, two seconds, three?
We could do some math to figure that out… or we could refer to a nice set of kinematic equations from someone who’s already organized things. We’ll use this one:
A recently netted “Thunderbird” has no initial velocity. We want the final velocity. We can simplify:
“g” is gravitational acceleration (21.94 MPH/s) and “distance” is the height of the fall. Here’s a graph showing how fast Thunderbird was moving when she reached Captain Chromium’s waiting arms, depending on how many hundreds of feet she fell from.
But wait! What about air resistance? Doesn't that slow you down a bit?
It does... but maybe not as much as you think. Tune in next time to find out how much. In the meantime, listen to this fantasy audiobook (which is excellent, if I do say so myself... the author really gets me).
It does... but maybe not as much as you think. Tune in next time to find out how much. In the meantime, listen to this fantasy audiobook (which is excellent, if I do say so myself... the author really gets me).