# What exactly happens when you fall from a height?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 1, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864 "2016-04-01T19:57:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hello\_hello\_hello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hello_hello_hello)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/1 "2016-04-01T19:57:30Z")
I am writing a twisted story where a character needs to commit suicide by jumping from an 8 story office building because he will soon be attacked. He is an extremely paranoid character (for a bit of humor), so he also consumes poison just before he jumps to add to certainty of death. He jumps despite taking poison because he is not a very “brave” person (again, adds to the humor a little) and is scared of a painful death due to poison.
Is he doing something wise by consuming poison before jumping? What exactly happens after a fall from height? I have read that bones can be broken, etc. but what exactly contributes to death after a fall? Internal bleeding? Brain injury? Can poison add to any of these?
Poisons usually cause organ failures. I am just not sure doing both poison and jumping together will really serve a useful purpose. Let’s say the guy doesn’t die from the fall, so he is taken to the hospital. Will the hospital staff have a tougher time to save him from the fall injuries because he also consumed poison?
I just want to write down the thought person of the paranoid guy (who is also smart and knowledgeable) because it will create some much needed humor there.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/2 "2016-04-01T20:30:45Z")
As I understand it, from great heights, if you land on your feet, everything inside your body goes out thru your ass. I suppose even if organs weren’t ejected, they would rupture when the body hit the ground, Since the body is mostly water I would imagine the results would be similar to a water balloon.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/3 "2016-04-01T20:31:18Z")
[PubMed abstract:](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8584940)
> [@](#):
>
> There are few references discussing the typical injury patterns of adults after a fall from a height. We present the pattern of injury in 101 adult patients who were treated between 1987 and 1990 at our trauma center after falling from an average height of 7.2 m. In 62 patients the fall was accidental; 39 patients tried to commit suicide by jumping from a height. The most common injuries were fractures of the thoracic and lumbar spine (83.0%) with a preference for the thoracolumbar junction. Fracture of the lower limbs occurred in 45%. The most frequent injuries were fractures of the os calcis (64.4%) and the ankle joint (26.6%). Twenty-five percent of all patients suffered from fractures in the upper limbs with a preference for the distal radius (56.6%) and the elbow (44.0%). There were no differences between the injury patterns after a fall from a height of more than 7 m or less than 7 m. The incidence of thoracic and pelvic injuries (30.0%) increased after falls from more than 7 m. The neurological complications of injuries to the spine corresponded to increasing height. According to our analysis blunt abdominal trauma is an uncommon injury after falling from a great height. Head injuries, which would be expected to be the most common cause of death in all non-survivors in the literature, only occurred in 27% of our patients who all survived their transport to hospital.
[Article on suicide by jumping (into water) from Golden Gate Bridge](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/LETHAL-BEAUTY-No-easy-death-Suicide-by-bridge-2562269.php):
> [@](#):
>
> Every time a person jumps from the Golden Gate Bridge, his or her broken corpse is brought to Fort Baker by solemn sailors of the U.S. Coast Guard. There, the dead are met by an investigator from the Marin County coroner’s office, which is responsible for tying up the loose ends of the jumper’s life. […]
>
> The impact is tremendous. The body goes from roughly 75 to 80 mph to nearly zero in a nanosecond. The physics of inertia being what they are, internal organs tend to keep going. The force of impact causes them to tear loose. Autopsy reports typically indicate that the jumpers have lacerated aortas, livers, spleens and hearts. Ribs are often broken, and the impact shoves them into the heart or lungs. Jumpers have broken sternums, clavicles, pelvises and necks. Skull fractures are common. […]
>
> Which means you die one of two ways, or a combination of both. One, you hit the water and the impact kills you. Sometimes the jumper is knocked unconscious. Other times, the jumper survives for a time. The person can be seen flailing about in the water, trying to stay afloat, only to succumb to the extensive internal bleeding. Death can take seconds or minutes. Two, you drown. You hit the water going fast, and your body plunges in deep. Conscious or otherwise, you breathe in saltwater and asphyxiate.
> [@hello\_hello\_hello](#):
>
> I just want to write down the thought person of the paranoid guy (who is also smart and knowledgeable) because it will create some much needed humor there.
Good luck with that.
---
### Author:  [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/4 "2016-04-01T20:32:50Z")
> [@hello\_hello\_hello](#):
>
> Is he doing something wise by consuming poison before jumping? What exactly happens after a fall from height? I have read that bones can be broken, etc. but what exactly contributes to death after a fall? Internal bleeding? Brain injury? Can poison add to any of these?
>
> Poisons usually cause organ failures. I am just not sure doing both poison and jumping together will really serve a useful purpose. Let’s say the guy doesn’t die from the fall, so he is taken to the hospital. Will the hospital staff have a tougher time to save him from the fall injuries because he also consumed poison?
Well, if he wants to die, a little poison can’t hurt…
There are lots of different poisons, and while a few, like cyanide, might act within seconds of ingestion most would take hours or even days to kill. So, jumping from a roof might be a good idea to shorten the suffering. On the other hand, if blunt trauma doesn’t kill him immediately, there’s a good chance the poison will, especially as it’s obviously not something the medical staff would expect.
Some poisons, like warfarin, act by inhibiting blood clotting, and would indeed make any internal bleeding much worse to deal with.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/5 "2016-04-01T20:40:26Z")
I think the OP should have the guy jump off of a tall bridge after taking the poison. He hits the water, with all the results noted above, then sinks like a stone because he’s also tied a brick to his leg. The result of the body bursting releases the poison he took into the water, resulting in a huge fish kill in the following days. Marine biologists are mystified and baffled by the presence of, say, curare in the dead fish. Meanwhile police are investigating the disappearance of the jumper, who has been reported missing by his employer and others. Enter a clever forensic investigator who somehow ties both events together, probably because the missing guy was a frequent traveler to the Amazonian rain forests and thus had access to curare.
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/6 "2016-04-01T20:56:44Z")
Hey, I knew a guy who tried that. To make quadruple-sure, he also brought along a gun and a rope. Well, he tied a noose in the rope, put it around his neck and tied the other end to the bridge he was on, swallowed the poison, jumped off, and pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger.
Thing is, with the falling, he couldn’t aim very well, and so missed his head completely, and the bullet hit the rope instead, weakening it so much that when he reached the end of the rope, all it did was slow him down before snapping, so he hit the water pretty slowly. The water ended up shallow enough that he could stand up and couldn’t drown, but it was brackish enough that the couple mouthfuls he accidentally swallowed made him vomit, getting rid of the poison…
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### Author:  [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/7 "2016-04-01T21:03:09Z")
… next to a hospital ship anchored waiting to dock …
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/8 "2016-04-01T21:26:51Z")
I saw the aftermath of someone who had fallen from a 7th floor balcony. The paramedics were working on him. His eyes were open but unresponsive, and he had blood trickling from his ears.
Apparently he managed to live.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/9 "2016-04-01T21:52:34Z")
I recall a discussion on recovering MIA’s from Vietnam, typically pilots. The article mentioned that pilots who never ejected, were in a crash where they went from 600mph+ to 0 in no time. The investigators said the proof of this was that the sides of their boots blew out, when the liquid content of their bodies was stopped by their boots.
IANAFP (I Am Not A Forensic Pathologist) but I’ll make an educated layman’s guess. Essentially, you suffer a massive blow to your entire body. YMMV depending on what hits first - head, feet, front, back… the force of the remainder of your body landing on top of the part that hits first results in severe bone breakage. Bashed in skull? Loss of blood pressure means loss of consciousness in seconds or less (see the big long discussion here on “can you live for a few seconds when your head is chopped off?”). Spinal cord disconnections probably affect ability to breathe, if crushed ribs haven’t done so; the pressure of the impact will collapse the lungs. some of the impact and the pointy bits of bone and tearing of different organs as they slosh around - will mean that blood vessels tear in many places, as does the skin, and all the blood will run out.
Also - a 10 story fall - say 100 feet - will only take less than 3 seconds; so your comedic snuffee better think fast.
Some data points:
There’s a very famous picture of a starlet who had committed suicide jumping off the Empire State Building. She did a perfect landing on a car roof, from the top she appears perfectly fine, although the car roof is pushed in a ways. She was dead. I assume the other side of her was not so pretty.
There’s the case of a fellow who jumped from a burning bomber over Germany without a parachute. He woke up in the forest a few hours later, and walked away. The thought is he hit enough tree branches on the way through the forest canopy to stop safely, and landed in snow.
An article I read once in Penthouse (see, they have articles and people read them) was about the early days of Hollywood, the crazy and dangerous stunts done for the movies and some directors’ callous disregard for safety. After several dozen attempts to film a stuntman climbing from the top of a train onto a rope ladder dangling from an aircraft - the final go-round, the fellow was so tired he was only hanging by his hands, fell from almost a hundred feet, and landed standing upright. He died a few hours later, but when they got to him, his shin bones had broken through the bottom of his shoes.
Deaths are not usually pretty.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/10 "2016-04-01T22:29:17Z")
We had a guy try to commit suicide by jumping off an 8th story balcony at our building. So 7 x roughly 10 feet = 70 feet of fall. Didn’t work.
He landed flat (prone) on the corrugated aluminum roof of the carport he forgot to aim to miss. So he fell ~60 feet, hit the aluminum, broke through it and fell the last 10 feet to the ground. There didn’t happen to be a car parked there at the time.
Ended up with a torn liver & ruptured spleen. The fact he was stone drunk & had cocaine in him didn’t simplify the problem for the EMTs & ED docs.
He wasn’t in great shape but there wasn’t much doubt they’d put him back together enough to be released from that hospital on his way to the county psych hospital.
Had he both missed the carport roof and landed head first in the parking lot the outcome would have been more final.
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### Author:  [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/11 "2016-04-02T05:15:16Z")
If you’re going to have a jumper AND want humor (another “Good Luck whit That!”):
So far every last jumper from the Golden Gate has jumped from (near) the south tower while facing the city.
Just once, I’d like to hear of someone getting creative - jump from north tower while facing the ocean.\*
Note:
There are sidewalks on both east and west - the east (facing city) is now reserved for pedestrians; the west (facing ocean) is reserved for bicycles. A pedestrian would bring quick response on the west sidewalk.
- the bridge, last I heard, finally installed “jumper-proof” netting below the deck. Have your jumper carry cutting tools to slit the net and finish his jump. This wrinkle may provide some humor - have him try to find out exactly what the net is made of without tipping his hand as to purpose and then research cutting tools - small bolt cutters (too long of time), torch (too bulky to conceal on his/her bike), katana (too expensive for the quality required.
Have fun with it.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/12 "2016-04-02T05:49:20Z")
> [@hello\_hello\_hello](#):
>
> I am writing a twisted story where a character needs to commit suicide by jumping from an 8 story office building because he will soon be attacked. He is an extremely paranoid character (for a bit of humor), so he also consumes poison just before he jumps to add to certainty of death. He jumps despite taking poison because he is not a very “brave” person (again, adds to the humor a little) **and is scared of a painful death due to poison.**
Frankly, I doubt falling from that height is instantaneous death; especially if he lands feet first. I think he’d be in immovable agony for at least a few minutes.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/13 "2016-04-02T06:14:08Z")
There was a case in Bangkok where a farang (Westerner) jumped to his death from a high-rise, but only half of him land on the ground. The top half, IIRC. He’d hit some sort of wall about the 10th floor, ripping him in half with one half remaining on the upper floor. I think the poor folks on the ground below are still undergoing therapy!
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### Author:  [@hello\_hello\_hello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hello_hello_hello)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/14 "2016-04-02T06:33:52Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> I saw the aftermath of someone who had fallen from a 7th floor balcony. The paramedics were working on him. His eyes were open but unresponsive, and he had blood trickling from his ears.
>
> Apparently he managed to live.
yeah? do you know how he fell?
---
### Author:  [@hello\_hello\_hello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hello_hello_hello)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/15 "2016-04-02T06:34:55Z")
> [@usedtobe](#):
>
> If you’re going to have a jumper AND want humor (another “Good Luck whit That!”):
>
> So far every last jumper from the Golden Gate has jumped from (near) the south tower while facing the city.
> Just once, I’d like to hear of someone getting creative - jump from north tower while facing the ocean.\*
> Note:
> There are sidewalks on both east and west - the east (facing city) is now reserved for pedestrians; the west (facing ocean) is reserved for bicycles. A pedestrian would bring quick response on the west sidewalk.
>
> - the bridge, last I heard, finally installed “jumper-proof” netting below the deck. Have your jumper carry cutting tools to slit the net and finish his jump. This wrinkle may provide some humor - have him try to find out exactly what the net is made of without tipping his hand as to purpose and then research cutting tools - small bolt cutters (too long of time), torch (too bulky to conceal on his/her bike), katana (too expensive for the quality required.
> Have fun with it.
haha, but he’s not doing it from the golden gate bridge. It’s just his office building 😃
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### Author:  [@hello\_hello\_hello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hello_hello_hello)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/16 "2016-04-02T06:41:24Z")
Thanks a lot for the responses! I love this forum!
I understand that falling head first = 100% death from that height. But falling in any other way, while still pretty certain, but is not guaranteed death.
So if the guy were to tie something heavy to his head / chest (like a backpack with stones), will that be of help to “rotate him” over so that he falls head first? of course, he has to at least attempt to fall with in an initial inclination (as opposed to completely vertical - standing pose).
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/17 "2016-04-02T06:44:07Z")
> [@hello\_hello\_hello](#):
>
> Thanks a lot for the responses! I love this forum!
>
> I understand that falling head first = 100% death from that height. But falling in any other way, while still pretty certain, but is not guaranteed death.
>
> So if the guy were to tie something heavy to his head / chest (like a backpack with stones), will that be of help to “rotate him” over so that he falls head first? of course, he has to at least attempt to fall with in an initial inclination (as opposed to completely vertical - standing pose).
I think it would make him hit head-first, yes.
I once met a man who claimed to have survived a work-accident fall from a 6th floor. He looked pretty intact and healthy. Not sure whether to believe him or not.
---
### Author:  [@hello\_hello\_hello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hello_hello_hello)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/18 "2016-04-02T10:05:56Z")
are we allowed to post videos on here (from LiveLeak) ?
I saw a bunch of videos of people falling. There is one where a guy falls from a 10 story building his body is quite in shape (no explosions or anything). He falls prone and bounces up a little.
Anyone has any videos?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/19 "2016-04-02T11:50:00Z")
You can’t post anything but words directly here. You can post links to vids or pix or whatever that are already uploaded someplace else like YouTube or Flickr or … . First upload your content there then paste the url from YouTube or Flickr or … into your text.
But …
Per the rules at [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/faq.php?faq=vb3\_board\_faq#faq\_sdmb\_rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/faq.php?faq=vb3_board_faq#faq_sdmb_rules)
> [@](#):
>
> Do not post links to pornography - we will be the judge of what constitutes pornography. Links to nudity \*\*or other potentially shocking or offensive material \*\*are permissible only in the context of a mature discussion - gratuitous posting of such links is grounds for revocation of your posting privileges. When posting a link to potentially shocking or offensive material, observe the “two click” rule - don’t link directly to the item, but rather to an intermediate page that in turns links to the item. If you’re not sure whether a link is appropriate, contact a moderator or administrator before posting it. Any user who feels a posted message is objectionable should contact the moderators of the affected forum by e-mail.
Bolding mine.
The rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t want your mom to see it while she’s at her job with her boss watching, then don’t link directly to it.
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-happens-when-you-fall-from-a-height/750864/20 "2016-04-02T15:30:23Z")
> [@Quercus](#):
>
> Hey, I knew a guy who tried that. To make quadruple-sure, he also brought along a gun and a rope. Well, he tied a noose in the rope, put it around his neck and tied the other end to the bridge he was on, swallowed the poison, jumped off, and pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger.
>
> Thing is, with the falling, he couldn’t aim very well, and so missed his head completely, and the bullet hit the rope instead, weakening it so much that when he reached the end of the rope, all it did was slow him down before snapping, so he hit the water pretty slowly. The water ended up shallow enough that he could stand up and couldn’t drown, but it was brackish enough that the couple mouthfuls he accidentally swallowed made him vomit, getting rid of the poison…
…and then was killed violently by a falling piano.
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