# Can I make a suit that will allow the wearer to survive a 40 story fall? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466 "2003-07-23T19:29:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/21 "2003-07-24T11:48:10Z")
Sure, if it’s a bathing suit and you land in deep water. Survival chances aren’t _good_, mind you. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/22 "2003-07-24T12:03:35Z")
Considering that stuntmen use enormous air-filled “mattresses” and piles of hundreds of cardboard boxes, chances look dim for a natty, practical attire you could buy from Moss Bros. The best option would be some kind of built in “wings” allowing you to steer yourself towards trees/water _etc_ (although remember that at large velocities the shear modulus of water is such that it behaves more like concrete). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/23 "2003-07-24T12:10:43Z")
I have this image of the “suit” being 39.5 stories high… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/24 "2003-07-24T12:10:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*By the way, science fiction novels often use “acceleration tanks” to help people withstand high acceleration. The theory is that if you are immersed in a saline solution, the acceleration will work on your body evenly and there will be no concentrated stress to break bones or organs. Anyone know if this works in practice, and whether anyone has tried it? \*\* Hmmm, I think that in terms of surviving an impact, this wouldn’t work very well as the container would hit the ground and a tremendous shock wave would travel through the fluid, injuring the occupant. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/25 "2003-07-24T12:12:59Z")
Not quite a ‘suit’, but wasn’t there a design for an orbital escape device that was little more than an overstuffed chair; the astronaut travelling arse-first toward the ground braked only by wind resistance? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/26 "2003-07-24T13:31:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Not quite a ‘suit’, but wasn’t there a design for an orbital escape device that was little more than an overstuffed chair; the astronaut travelling arse-first toward the ground braked only by wind resistance? \*\* Holy moly. You first. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/27 "2003-07-24T13:35:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > By the way, science fiction novels often use “acceleration tanks” to help people withstand high acceleration. The theory is that if you are immersed in a saline solution, the acceleration will work on your body evenly and there will be no concentrated stress to break bones or organs. Anyone know if this works in practice, and whether anyone has tried it? \*\* Sounds like a bastardization of G-suits pilots wear. IIRC, they have water or some other fluid in the legs. But they work by pushing blood out of the extremities so the pilot doesn’t black out. They wouldn’t protect him from being crushed. See, I’m wondering how much deceleration a human body can handle if the force is distributed evenly. When you fall out of a building, most of the force lands on one spot which either shatters your head or sends your legs flying up through the rest of you. Gumbercules - See that bear suit is what I had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/28 "2003-07-24T14:04:45Z")
[this](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/geleraft.htm) (or somethihng very much like it) was the re-entry vehicle I was thinking of; I think the retro motor is there to drop the thing below orbital velocity, rather than slow descent. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/29 "2003-07-24T14:10:06Z")
Oops - it wasn’t that one because the occupant has a parachute; with the one I was thinking of, the occupant stays in it all the way to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/30 "2003-07-24T14:35:54Z")
[This](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/paracone.htm) is the one. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/31 "2003-07-24T15:04:52Z")
I refer you to the wonderful [Zorb](http://www.zorb.com/). If you watch the beginning of Jackie Chan’s film _Operation Condor_, you can see Jackie roll off a 200 foot cliff in one (actually a facsimile), hit the water, and start walking away. ---
**Author:** ![hobbes730](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/97f17d/32.png) [@hobbes730](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobbes730)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/32 "2003-07-24T16:12:43Z")
Actually I think acceleration tanks have been studied and considered for space missions that would involve extreme acceleration. I’ve only ever heard of it once, though, and unfortunately I don’t have a cite, but the point is it is a solid theory. By distributing the force of impact evenly across the entire body, you could increase the amount of sustainable G-forces many times over. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/33 "2003-07-24T17:10:39Z")
I don’t get how that Paracone never reaches more than 30 mph or so. It doesn’t seem like it would create enough drag. The problem it seems is that the thicker you make the suit, the greater the drag and the slower you will fall. Sounds like the way to go is to wear a suit with large inflatable air bladders. So while I’m working and typing and whatnot, I just look like a guy with a slightly rumply suit. But when it’s time to go home, I just smash a chair through the window, use a CO2 canister to inflate like a raft and bounce the heck out of there. What I really had in mind though was more along the lines of the Iron Man suit. A hard outer shell to protect the occupant from spinal injuries, broken bones and the skull shattering impact of hitting the pavement. The inside lined with some kind of foam. Maybe a hydraulic fluid that is ejected like one of those highway barriers. Basically, you can’t move in it, someone just tosses you out the window and you tumble like a gingerbread man. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/34 "2003-07-24T17:38:58Z")
The problem with the Iron Man suit is that your body will stop in a very short distance, with only the thickness of the foam to travel. G-forces are based on decelleration over distance, and no matter how good the exo-skeleton is, your body can’t stand such high forces. Your brain will splat against the inside of your skull, your aorta will tear away from your heart, life will be very unpleasant for a short period of time. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/35 "2003-07-24T23:24:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\*I refer you to the wonderful [Zorb](http://www.zorb.com/). If you watch the beginning of Jackie Chan’s film _Operation Condor_, you can see Jackie roll off a 200 foot cliff in one (actually a facsimile), hit the water, and start walking away. \*\* The zorb website strongly discourages this. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466/36 "2003-07-24T23:57:43Z")
So how large a “crumple zone” do you need to survive a 40-story fall? IIRC someone survived 48G in the famous rocket sled experiment. If you wanted to keep it under 40G for safety, would it simply be a 1-story long crumple zone? (I’m too sleepy to do the math, sorry). If you wanted it to be a rigid suit, you’d want to put 3-meter long mechanica legs with _very_ good shock absorbers. I think that’d do the trick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-a-suit-that-will-allow-the-wearer-to-survive-a-40-story-fall/190466.md?page=1)