# Do people explode on impact when they fall from great heights?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 29, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667 "2013-05-29T23:40:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@donnie\_darko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donnie_darko)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/1 "2013-05-29T23:40:52Z")
A really morbid question, I know and I apologize. But like the false belief that you’d explode without a spacesuit in space, it’s very pervasive and often passed on as common knowledge.
I read a witness of the 9/11 attacks describe the falling of a so-called "jumper’ by saying "By the time they hit the ground, there was nothing left. "
Personally, I’m very skeptical of this and I think the witness is likely recalling the incident as being even more visually horrible than it actually was. I witnessed a relatively minor car accident as a teen, the victim only had a nosebleed but it looked very scary and disturbing nonetheless and I could imagine someone falsely recalling they were more injured than they actually were.
I think the injury would be more comparable to someone who got hit by a truck - still very gruesome and catastrophic, but leaving a mangled corpse that’s recognizable as a human being. The human body is only about 60-70% water, it’s much more solid and much less brittle than a watermelon. I think they would die instantly to brain trauma and some of their limbs might sever due to being bent so quickly and surely the internal damage would be catastrophic but I don’t think their bodies would turn into unrecognizable mush.
The 9/11 jumpers only fell about 800 feet or so, much less than people who die in sky diving or mountain climbing accidents. I’ve never heard of people who fall off of Yosemite’s half dome exploding on impact. Then again they did land on concrete as opposed to dirt but I doubt at that speed the substance even matters all that much.
The woman who committed suicide and landed on a car by jumping off the Empire State Building had a very intact (and still beautiful, at least in black and white) body, there’s a very famous photograph of it.
The only thing I can think of that’s confirmed a person to have “exploded” are diving bell decompression accidents, such as the Byford Dolphin incident in Norway back in 1983.
What do you think the “straight dope” on exploding falling bodies is?
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/2 "2013-05-30T00:03:40Z")
Well, I read something (and I vaguely think it was here on SDMB, or maybe one of Cecil’s columns or a staff column) about that. The description was, not so much that bodies “explode”, but more that they splatter. But they splatter so violently that there’s nothing much left. That was the message that I seem to recall taking away from it.
Stay tuned . . . If I can find a link quickly, I’ll be back with it. . .
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/3 "2013-05-30T00:10:01Z")
Based on what I have been told by my skydiving friends a lot depends on what you land on. Bodies can literally bounce, for example, sometimes more than once, after a parachute fails to open. They can also be buried in part or in whole, if the ground they hit is soft enough. Parts can also detach, especially if a limb breaks across something relatively narrow that sort of acts like a blade. Against very hard objects there can be a LOT of detachment and splattering bodily fluids - I myself witnessed then when I was riding a train that his a suicide waiting on the tracks.
In the case of falling from a skyscraper, hitting awnings, overhands, and various other building bits on the way down might disassemble a body. If, however, there are no such obstacles a body will arrive at the ground intact (after arrival it may be less intact).
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/4 "2013-05-30T00:15:42Z")
Well, okay, upon googling, literally the _first_ hit I got is:
> [@First Google search result for "falling bodies explode":](#):
>
> Can the human body explode on impact?, page 1 - Above Top Secret
> [Can the human body explode on impact?, page 1](http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread470803/pg1) - Cached
> Does a human body really explode into nothing when it falls at terminal … I feel that your fear of falling from great heights is there for a reason.
. . . and taking a look there, I see that someone we know was researching this question in July of 2009:
> [@Donnie Darko](#):
>
> Can the human body explode on impact?, page 1
>
> Topic started on 7-6-2009 @ 09:35 PM by **Donnie Darko**
> My greatest death fear is to fall from a great height. I think it might have even happened to me in a past life, and that is why I am so afraid of it and disgusted by it.
>
> Does a human body really explode into nothing when it falls at terminal velocity to the ground? Or does it just get mangled beyond recognition?
So I guess there’s already enough discoussion out there.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/5 "2013-05-30T00:25:21Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> Well, I read something (and I vaguely think it was here on SDMB, or maybe one of Cecil’s columns or a staff column) about that. The description was, not so much that bodies “explode”, but more that they splatter. But they splatter so violently that there’s nothing much left. That was the message that I seem to recall taking away from it.
>
> Stay tuned . . . If I can find a link quickly, I’ll be back with it. . .
from the essay “On Being the Right Size” by J. B. S. Haldane:
“You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at
the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is
fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes.” [http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html](http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html)
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### Author:  [@donnie\_darko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donnie_darko)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/6 "2013-05-30T00:31:21Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> from the essay “On Being the Right Size” by J. B. S. Haldane:
>
> “You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at
> the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is
> fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes.” [http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html](http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html)
Fascinating.
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### Author:  [@donnie\_darko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donnie_darko)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/7 "2013-05-30T00:33:24Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> Well, okay, upon googling, literally the _first_ hit I got is:
>
> . . . and taking a look there, I see that someone we know was researching this question in July of 2009:
> So I guess there’s already enough discoussion out there.
Yeah, that was me lol. I thought Straight Dope would be more interested in it than ATS and that I might get better, more skeptical answers.
I’ve thought about it a lot since my dad told me about Conor Clapton’s death when I was a little kid. It fascinates and disgusts me at the same time.
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/8 "2013-05-30T00:37:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> Based on what I have been told by my skydiving friends a lot depends on what you land on. Bodies can literally bounce, for example, sometimes more than once, after a parachute fails to open.
In the early eighties my brother skydived (skydove?) a lot, and he said that the term ‘bounce’ was used as a general, humorous/sobering euphemism for anyone dying from a chute malfunction (regardless of what kind of surface they hit).
In regards to 9/11 jumpers, I can say that there definitely are a few videos out there of them hitting the concrete pavement near the base of the towers, and yes I’ve seen them, and yes they pretty much became “pink mist” due to their speed & hardness of the ground. Decorum dictates not providing a link but they’re not too difficult to find. Also, in the very first documentary about the attack which aired about a month after and was simply called “9/11” (it was done by the two French filmmakers who were documenting a NYC firehouse and caught the first plane hitting the towers) you can hear jumpers hitting the pavement while they’re shooting in the lobby of one of the towers. The sound was incredibly loud, like a dumpster being dropped. So loud that the two filmmakers didn’t know what it was but the firemen, obviously jumpers being a familiar occurrence to them, did.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/9 "2013-05-30T00:38:09Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> from the essay “On Being the Right Size” by J. B. S. Haldane:
>
> “You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at
> the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is
> fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes.” [http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html](http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html)
This is a (or should be) classic essay.
ETA: a thread I op’ed on how high can ants fall from.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/10 "2013-05-30T00:41:34Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> … So loud that the two filmmakers didn’t know what it was but the firemen, obviously jumpers being a familiar occurrence to them, did.
My sense of those shots were of the unease and fright-- and when firemen get uneasy and frightened something’s really bad-- not only at the raindrop frequency, but some of the young firemen looked like they had never been on a scene with a jumper at all.
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/11 "2013-05-30T01:20:39Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> My sense of those shots were of the unease and fright-- and when firemen get uneasy and frightened something’s really bad-- not only at the raindrop frequency, but some of the young firemen looked like they had never been on a scene with a jumper at all.
It was also during this scene in the lobby that one of the filmmakers states in his narration that he saw an elevator door open and a person come out completely engulfed in flames. He says that against his documentary-making instincts he deliberately did **NOT** turn the camera towards it because at this point into things he felt, _“No one needs to see that…”_
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/12 "2013-05-30T02:20:31Z")
That “9/11” movie is very good, and was aired on network TV uncensored for the first couple of anniversaries. Haven’t seen it since.
As for body parts being severed in a fall, anyone remember that news story some years back about two skydivers who collided during freefall, and one of them lost both legs this way? Both survived, BTW.
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### Author:  [@donnie\_darko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donnie_darko)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/13 "2013-05-30T03:42:41Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> In the early eighties my brother skydived (skydove?) a lot, and he said that the term ‘bounce’ was used as a general, humorous/sobering euphemism for anyone dying from a chute malfunction (regardless of what kind of surface they hit).
>
> In regards to 9/11 jumpers, I can say that there definitely are a few videos out there of them hitting the concrete pavement near the base of the towers, and yes I’ve seen them, and yes they pretty much became “pink mist” due to their speed & hardness of the ground. Decorum dictates not providing a link but they’re not too difficult to find. Also, in the very first documentary about the attack which aired about a month after and was simply called “9/11” (it was done by the two French filmmakers who were documenting a NYC firehouse and caught the first plane hitting the towers) you can hear jumpers hitting the pavement while they’re shooting in the lobby of one of the towers. The sound was incredibly loud, like a dumpster being dropped. So loud that the two filmmakers didn’t know what it was but the firemen, obviously jumpers being a familiar occurrence to them, did.
Are you talking about that really blurry one on YouTube or are there other videos of them that are higher quality? I’d be curious to see them - if I could stomach it.
---
### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/14 "2013-05-30T05:44:48Z")
> [@donnie\_darko](#):
>
> Yeah, that was me lol. I thought Straight Dope would be more interested in it than ATS and that **I might get better, more skeptical answers.**
Well, but of course! You’ve got that right, and you’ve come to the right place! That’s just axiomatic.
You’ll find none of that stoopid stuff here, like:Q: How is babby formed?
A: They need to do way instain mother . . .
No cesspit of stupidity here! ([Discussion.](https://encyclopediadramatica.se/How_is_babby_formed%3F))
---
### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/15 "2013-05-30T06:31:26Z")
> [@donnie\_darko](#):
>
> Are you talking about that really blurry one on YouTube or are there other videos of them that are higher quality? I’d be curious to see them - if I could stomach it.
The one I saw was not blurry, and it was most definitely \*not \*on YouTube. It was probably the old gore site ogrish dot-com. After the second Gulf War started they frequently posted unedited terrorist beheading videos too (most unpleasant…)
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### Author:  [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/16 "2013-05-30T08:07:58Z")
I picked up those bodies. Many were “intact,” so to speak - the bones broken. Basically the equivalent of rubber sacks. There were compound fractures, of course, but they didn’t explode.
Dammit, I’m going to have nightmares again.
---
### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/17 "2013-05-30T08:25:37Z")
It was good of you to respond.
Helping us understand, perhaps, may help you. Your nightmares give meaning to the world.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/18 "2013-05-30T11:23:35Z")
[I asked the same question six months ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=674659)
---
### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/19 "2013-05-30T15:07:23Z")
A falling body in atmosphere doesn’t keep accelerating indefinitely. Air resistance sets an upper limit to falling speed, and as I recall, a human body peaks at about 110 mph and then stops accelerating after 5 or 6 seconds. When the limit is reached, the speed remains constant the rest of the way down. What that limit is, for various falling bodies, is a function of mass and surface profile and streamlined shape of the object. A small bug would reach maximum velocity jumping off a chair. A feather pretty much starts out at maximum velocity, and can be blown back up byslight turbulence.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-explode-on-impact-when-they-fall-from-great-heights/659667/20 "2013-05-30T15:12:44Z")
One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
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