# jumping in unison

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-in-unison/148850>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 15, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-in-unison/148850 "2003-01-15T23:28:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-in-unison/148850/1 "2003-01-15T23:28:20Z")

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How much effect would two billion people jumping at one time, in unison, have on the earth? Earthquakes? Falling out of orbit? Absolutely nothing?

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**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-in-unison/148850/2 "2003-01-15T23:41:06Z")

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How about [almost](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_155.html) two billion?

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**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-in-unison/148850/3 "2003-01-15T23:45:37Z")

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Work = force \* distance, and force = mass \* acc, so potential energy = mass \* acc \* distance. A 70KG adult  
jumping from a 1/2 meter chair in a 9.8m/sec^2 gravity field releases 340 joules of energy. Two billion of these would release 6.8x10^11 joules, which is equivalent to an explosion involving 0.16 kilotons of TNT (way smaller than the Hiroshima bomb)

How much energy in an earthquake? I was under the impression that even a small earthquake packed way more energy than a nuke.

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**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-in-unison/148850/4 "2003-01-15T23:49:07Z")

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I think you want your 2 billion people to form a large circle surrounding their target. 🙂 Then when they all jump, they’ll launch a surface wave inwards, and the wave will grow very large because it’s focused on a small area.

This is like the “duck-annoying museum fountain”

[http://amasci.com/hoax.html#duck](http://amasci.com/hoax.html#duck)