# Jumping when an elevator falls? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632 "2002-06-18T02:09:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/1 "2002-06-18T02:09:37Z")
If you time it right could you negate some of gravity’s speed by jumping before hitting the bottom? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/2 "2002-06-18T02:11:35Z")
not enough to make a difference. I’m sure someone will be along soon to do the math, but no matter if you’re Michael Jordan jumping up, you’ll still be going down far faster than you can go up. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/3 "2002-06-18T02:12:41Z")
[In a falling elevator, could you save yourself by jumping up at the last minute?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_205a.html) ---
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/4 "2002-06-18T03:40:37Z")
You’d be better off carrying a portable airbag, lying down on it, and setting it off about 1/2 second before your elevator hits bottom. Good luck. Such airbags would be great for elevator riding paranoids. I’ve got a few other ideas for other sorts of paranoids. Parachutes for the air-traveler. They should fit in overhead, and I don’t theink they are contraband on airlines…though nowadays you might attract undue attention by trying to check one in…also, sit by a hatch, and know how to blow it open when the time comes. Again, good luck. I ride the SF BART through the tube under the Bay between SF and Oakland. If there’s a quake and the tunnel floods, I’d like some time to try to get out, rather than drown like a rat. How about scuba gear? And some underwater oxyacetylene torch to cut your way out. Hey, this might be a good business to get into! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/5 "2002-06-18T04:08:39Z")
The elevator, the air in the elevator and you are falling at a very fast rate. Jumping will barely make any difference at all. Haj ---
**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:** [June 18, 2002, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/6 "2002-06-18T07:46:09Z")
It only works in cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/7 "2002-06-18T13:02:10Z")
Let’s see, if you are falling at 110 miles an hour…and you jump up at say 15 miles per hour at just the right moment…then you go splat at 95 miles an hour. It might not be that simple (I’ve learned that nothing around here is)…but it probably is that simple. To you, inside the elevator, you are going ‘up’ briefly…but you really are going down still…maybe a little less fast…but even when you jump., you are going down real fast… Lie on your side with your weight spread out, or look into how parachuters try to survive falls with partially opened or unopened chutes. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/8 "2002-06-18T13:28:29Z")
I always thought that in a falling elevator a person would be semi-weightless and closer to the ceiling. Then would fall to the floor upon impact. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2002, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/9 "2002-06-18T13:33:32Z")
in theory they would be weightless (relative to the falling car) but in practice, the descent of the car would be slowed a little by friction on the guide rails and air pressure in the shaft; the only way for them to rise to the ceiling would be if the car was falling faster than they were (which shouldn’t happen) or if it was falling unimpeded and they pushed off from the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/10 "2002-06-18T13:37:50Z")
Thanks **Mangetout**. I learn something new here every day. ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/11 "2002-06-18T13:41:14Z")
I work as a lobbyist for an engineering society. One of our members went off at a convention about how he hates movies where elevators plummet. He went on and on about how elevators are equipped with huge brakes to prevent such a thing. IANAE, but he seemed to think that the chance of a person dying because and elevator fell to the ground would be very, very low. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/12 "2002-06-18T13:59:08Z")
“I ride the SF BART through the tube under the Bay between SF and Oakland. If there’s a quake and the tunnel floods, I’d like some time to try to get out, rather than drown like a rat.” Can I give a :rolleyes: on that? The Transbay Tunnel was _designed_ to deal with earthquakes. It came through the 1989 quake undamaged when that Oakland freeway pancaked so infamously. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/13 "2002-06-18T14:04:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*It only works in cartoons. \*\* I have to take issue with this, Mange. Everyone knows that proper cartoon procedure to surviving a falling elevator is to _step out_ at the last second, not jump. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/14 "2002-06-18T14:09:49Z")
Dammit! and I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for them pesky kids. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/15 "2002-06-18T14:38:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Bredin \* > \*\*Can I give a :rolleyes: on that? The Transbay Tunnel was _designed_ to deal with earthquakes. It came through the 1989 quake undamaged when that Oakland freeway pancaked so infamously. \*\* Can I give a :whoosh: on that? ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/16 "2002-06-18T16:19:39Z")
This has nothing to do with the OP, but some smart alecks (yeah, guys from my department) started jumping in the elevator in this building just to be guys, I guess, and the earthquake alarm was set off and they got stuck between floors. They had to make the call and were met at the next floor by the elevator police. 😛 Just a bunch of fun-loving 30-40 year old kids. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/17 "2002-06-18T16:51:07Z")
To add to Philo’s hijack, the same thing happened to me. My idiot friend/co-worker thought it would be fun to jump up and down just before the elevator reached the ground level. We wound up being stuck for 45 minutes. After that, I always took the stairs if I saw him waiting for one. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/18 "2002-06-18T17:12:00Z")
Has no one here studied physics? Read a _Popular Science_ article about ballistics? Watched things that go up come down? Let’s say you and your elevator are falling at about 45 feet/second (terminal veleocity at the end of a very long fall). Let’s also say you’re athletic enough to jump 15 feet, and the elevator is tall enough for you to do so unimpeded. Let’s additionally suppose that this difference in speed would save you. One second before impact, you jump, travel your 15 feet (relative to the elevator), and watch the elevator crash to the ground. You are now fifteen feet above the ground, at the top of your curve, and motionless with respect to the formerly falling elevator! Traveling at 45 feet/second, and **picking up speed**. It’s basic ballistics, kids; what goes up must come down, at exactly the same speed (leaving out air resistance). ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/19 "2002-06-18T17:26:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*Has no one here studied physics? Read a _Popular Science_ article about ballistics? Watched things that go up come down? > > Let’s say you and your elevator ). \*\* Before you get condescending, don’t do it with an example that is so specific to your design that to be condescending means that we all had to consider your design in advance. Hope that makes no sense. For example, if the OP layed out the scenario you layed out, then you could get condescending…but YOU laid out the scenario to fit your ballistics example, so hold off on the high-and-mighty attitude. “You people are ignorant…when you consider things . **this** way.” Well, that’s swell, but we weren’t using that example, so it’s moot. If you were being funny, then pardon me. Otherwise, I refer to the above. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632/20 "2002-06-18T18:15:55Z")
I’ve never seen a glass-bottomed elevator. I think we’ve established that jumping wouldn’t help, but even if jumping up at the last second could save you, how could you know when to jump? There was a thread about this shortly after I joined the boards. Here is one of my favorite posts. From [If a lift is falling to the ground](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8818), the answer to If a lift is falling to the ground and the person inside jumps in the air just before it crashes at the bottom, would the person inside be hurt or not? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*\*Sake Samurai \*\* > No, not in the slightest. To demonstrate, I suggest you grab a piece of plywood and climb to the top of the largest building or bridge in your town. Put the board under your feet and jump, shouting, “In the name of Science!” > > At the very last minute before you hit the ground - jump straight up. The board will be smashed into a million pieces, but clever you will float, feather-like to the ground. > > Trust me - it’s a thrill like no other! > > Of course, if you’d like to give flying a go, make sure to just miss the ground on your way down. > > And bring a bag in case there are any snipe around - they can be vicious. > > * * * > > Hell is Other People. Disclaimer: I don’t recomend trying this out, I wouldn’t want anyone to get splinters from the shattered plywood. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jumping-when-an-elevator-falls/114632.md?page=2)