The Mystery of the Plummetting Lift

[Easy 10]

Alone in the lift at work the other day I started wondering about something. I chewed it over all afternoon yesterday, and my brain has still not come up with a satisfactory conclusion yet.

Just say you are standing in a falling lift. The lift is plummetting down the shaft because the support cable has completely snapped off. You know the lift is about to crash into the floor, and there is nothing you can do about it. Now, what would happen if, in the split second before the lift actually hit the ground, you jumped in the air ? In other words, at the very moment of impact, you are actually suspended for that split second in mid-air with your feet off the floor. Would you completely avoid the bone-shattering impact of the crash ?

I think you would, but I'm not sure. I need to know. I can't face another sweat-soaked night of twisted contortions and stinking sheets as my fevered mind wrestles with this conundrum of physics.

 

[Braders]

i think so .

but i think many things

 

[Brighton Breezy]

This is one of those science questions teachers would illustrate on the board at school.

I think you would escpae the bone shattering innitial collision but die from being crumpled up with the rest of the lift.

I was always amazed at the one our teacher used to do: A fly stop a train.

Basically, if a fly flies headfirst into a train going in the other direction, there must be a point in which that fly stops going one way and has yet to start being pushed the other way by the force of the train. For a very very small moment the fly is static and as it is contact with the train, so is the train. Therefore a fly can stop a train.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

I read somewhere that there is nothing you can do to save yourself in a falling lift.Its all to do with momentum or something.Apparently if you jump up when you come down you are still traveling at the same speed as the lift was!!!
I dunno!!!!

 

[Easy 10]

For a very very small moment the fly is static and as it is contact with the train, so is the train. Therefore a fly can stop a train.

Naah, I don't buy it.
The train isn't static at any point in that collision, its just impossible. The fly would simply be instant mush. No way does that train become static, not even for a million billionth of a second.

(I saw you today btw Richie, you were deep in conversation with someone and you looked very happy).

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Surely if you jump up you will hit the roof of the lift as it continues to head downwards?

 

[DTES]

Would you completely avoid the bone-shattering impact of the crash ?

I'm going to go for a decisive no, on the basis that you can't jump off the floor!! If the lift is in free-fall, you wouldn't be pressed against the floor, in the same way you lift off your seat on a rollercoaster. So you can't press against the floor, so can't jump.

Sorry Easy, but there's no escaping the split-second of absolute agony before the roof squashes you dead anyway.

I love life.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Ive been thinking. If you were plumetting would the g force not have pushed you against the roof anyway?

 

[DTES]

Ive been thinking. If you were plumetting would the g force not have pushed you against the roof anyway?

No, because you fall at the same speed as the lift, so you float. At least you can spend your last few seconds pretending you're Superman.

 

[Beach Hut]

Easy 10 - just ask this bloke he knew a lot about physics etc

 

[Easy 10]

G-force would be a factor, but I'm not talking about a falling lift in the Empire State Building. I work on the 3rd floor at work, so if the lift cable were to snap on the 3rd floor, I reckon I'd still be able to jump near the bottom - the lift would be travelling fast, but not fast enough to pin me to the floor or stop me jumping.

I still think I've got a chance...

 

[Easy 10]

Easy 10 - just ask this bloke he knew a lot about physics etc

Is that Ernest ?

 

[Brighton Breezy]

G-force would be a factor, but I'm not talking about a falling lift in the Empire State Building. I work on the 3rd floor at work, so if the lift cable were to snap on the 3rd floor, I reckon I'd still be able to jump near the bottom - the lift would be travelling fast, but not fast enough to pin me to the floor or stop me jumping.

I still think I've got a chance...

Take the stairs.

Stay alive and get fit at the same time.


Easy, should have said hello. I was probably with my old man and his mates when you saw me.

 

[DTES]

the lift would be travelling fast, but not fast enough to pin me to the floor or stop me jumping.

I still think I've got a chance...

Sorry, no. Imagine the floor was taken from under you now - you'd accelerate down, the same as the lift would if the cable snapped. It would happen at the same rate - you wouldn't be pinned anywhere, you'd float.

 

[Beach Hut]

Is that Ernest ?

No Ernest only knows about ladyboys

 

[Easy 10]

Sorry, no. Imagine the floor was taken from under you now - you'd accelerate down, the same as the lift would if the cable snapped. It would happen at the same rate - you wouldn't be pinned anywhere, you'd float.

Even better then. Yes you're right, as the lift dropped I would not be pinned, my mass would be lighter and I would almost float, meaning I could stay in the air a fraction of a second longer when I jump, thus increasing my chances of survival.

If I could just time that jump to perfection, I could survive it...I think I could....

 

[DTES]

Easy - I admire you're determination to survive, but no. You wouldn't weigh less, you would effectively weigh nothing. You would have nothing to push against the bottom with, you simply have no way to generate the force. Basically, when you squat to jump, your legs would lift up - not your body lower to the floor, so you wouldn't spring off. Sorry, no way.

 

[Easy 10]

I'm not convinced. I have quite powerful thighs. I really need to try this out.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

GO HERE
www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_205a.html

 

[Brighton Breezy]

As I said, best way to survive, use the stairs.