# Would a 10 meter/32 feet drop kill and would it render someone unconscious in the first 1 minute? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980 "2014-02-22T22:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/21 "2014-02-23T17:18:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I could swear we did this earlier, but the LD50 for falls, according to [this](http://crashingpatient.com/trauma/general-trauma/trauma-resuscitation.htm/) is 48 feet. > > My father fell off a ladder (feet first) from about 24 feet or so at the age of 52 and that was pretty close to damned near killing him. He certainly wished that he were dead, from all accounts. (I was not around for this.) So, yeah, I have no problem believing a 32 foot drop would kill someone, much less render them unconscious. Fron the link > [@](#): > > The median lethal dose (LD50) for falls is 4 stories, or 48 ft, and the lethal does for 90% (LD90) of test subjects is 7 stories, or 84 ft. I like how they refer to them as “test subjects” as if this was some sort of double blind study approved through an ethics committe. Note it seems they have the original data in stories - so there is some rounding going on there. Although I guess in construction if you fall - you probably usually are falling from the exact story height. Side note - a few of us were looking at condos at both the third and fourth levels (with balconies). We all seemed to agree that the third for balconies were relaxing - while one floor up - it seemed to cause us significantly more fear than 3 floors did. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/22 "2014-02-23T17:22:33Z")
[QUOTE=Amateur Barbarian;17132643Hmm.] Will the “10 meter drop kill” be in the next Olympics? [/QUOTE] You mean the [low jump](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed9KRab_2_Q)? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/23 "2014-02-23T17:22:48Z")
The human body reaches 50% of terminal velocity after about three seconds fall. So after three seconds (less than 20 stories), a body is traveling at half the speed it would attain if it fell out of an airplane. A human body in free fall reaches terminal velocity at about 120 mph, and then stops accelerating. After three seconds, the impact would be about 60 mph, the equivalent of hitting a brick wall on a motorcycle at highway speed. (All of the above being very rough approximations.) ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/24 "2014-02-23T17:36:34Z")
v = √(2gh) = √(19.6\*h) For ten metres that is 14ms[sup]-1[/sup] = 31.3 miles per hour. Note that the speed goes up as the square root of the height. Which is why it takes such a height to get terminal velocity, whilst only modest heights are lethal. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/25 "2014-02-23T17:53:35Z")
People have fallen from [as high as 47 stories](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-506050/Window-cleaner-falls-47-storeys-skyscraper--survives-tell-tale.html) and survived. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/26 "2014-02-23T19:19:12Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > People have fallen from [as high as 47 stories](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-506050/Window-cleaner-falls-47-storeys-skyscraper--survives-tell-tale.html) and survived. Pah. [3300 stories](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87). And [1800 stories](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade). ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/27 "2014-02-23T19:27:38Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Need answer fa… hmmm…hmmm… **6.7** ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/28 "2014-02-24T01:15:11Z")
My grandfather was working at a gas distillation plant in the 1940s and a fire started that they were unable to get under control, at a certain point he was basically trapped on the third floor of the industrial building with all exits blocked by raging inferno. He made the decision to jump, feet first reasoning he’d rather gamble with the ground than the certainty of death from the fire. He ended up surviving with a broken foot and made a full recovery. Shortly afterward the fire caused a large explosion and two men who were in another section of the plant died from the blast. The building has long since been demolished but I’d guess given the high ceilings in the plant his jump had to have been from 30+ feet, I couldn’t say how high though. I do know he landed on dirt and not concrete, loose dirt even, as they had just recently done some digging on that side of the building and my understanding is it hadn’t fully settled since being filled back in. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/29 "2014-02-24T14:22:27Z")
This is one of those cases where the difference between “could” and “would” is important. While a fall from that height can easily kill, especially if the faller is unprepared, it is also quite possible to survive. Our local paper had an article about a guy who worked trimming trees who fell during a skills competition. He was feeling under the weather, and lost his grip due to distraction (I think he forgot to secure a line), landed head first. Every witness expected him to die, but he’s learned to walk again and hopes to be up in the trees again soon, although his doctors warn that his brain is still fragile and easy to re-injure. On the flip-side, my older brother survived without (noteworthy) injury jumping from higher than that. He was a teenager engaged in a capgun war with the neighbors, and believed 1) that using an Army parachute you hit the ground as if you had fallen 50 feet, 2) that the Army trained paratroopers in how to land by having them jump off progressively taller things, building to 50 feet, and 3) that he had taught himself the Parachute Landing Formation after watching it in training films. I don’t know if any of these things are true, but he believed them, which is why he jumped from the top floor of a tower that had been built to get a telescope above the local trees - the top platform was 50 feet above the ground. (The house’s previous owner was an Astronomy Professor.) He did a PLF as he landed, and ran for cover. For those who insist on picturing this, the tower was an open wood frame with big wooden columns in the corners, a big wooden X of cross braces on each side at each level, and the top floor was surrounded by a railing but had no roof. I’d guess the top floor was 8 by 8 feet, and there was a trapdoor covering the stairs, and in the middle of the floor was the socket for the telescope stand. He had actually been climbing the outside of the tower, and had just gotten to where he could climb over the railing when he realized that the kid coming through the trap door would be ready to fire before he could climb over the railing, and that kid had backup coming up the stairs. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/30 "2014-02-24T15:27:04Z")
People slip in the bathtub and die all the time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/31 "2014-02-24T18:09:01Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People slip in the bathtub and die all the time. You wouldn’t want that to happen, it would be a shame. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/32 "2014-02-24T20:51:52Z")
> [@](#): > > The median lethal dose (LD50) for falls is 4 stories, or 48 ft, and the lethal does for 90% (LD90) of test subjects is 7 stories, or 84 ft. This jibes with the rule of thumb I have always heard - the chance of death from a particular fall is roughly equal to the height of the fall. A fall from 1’ gives a 1% chance of death, 50’ = 50%, 100’ approaches 100%. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/33 "2014-02-25T04:54:56Z")
FWIW, I was a telephone tech and took a fall from approximately 28’. It didn’t kill me, but I herniated the discs in my back from L3 to S1, requiring fusion of all if them. This in turn had resulted in permanent disability and lifelong chronic pain. I didn’t however fall on my head and I did grab the pole on the way down (which resulted in some cringe worthy splinters in my arms). I landed pretty much on my ass. So, I really think it’s how you land that’s going to determine if your going to kill yourself. But 25’ or more is plenty far enough to mess yourself up. I don’t recommend anyone trying it out for fun. Btw, the fall really wasn’t that bad, but the landing was a real bitch. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/34 "2014-02-25T05:50:35Z")
If it doesn’t kill you it will make you stronger. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/35 "2014-02-25T06:10:58Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > If it doesn’t kill you it will make you stronger. Or perhaps leave you a crippled and broken shell of your former self. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/36 "2014-02-25T06:27:44Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > \ > The big trick with a fall is clearly what adsorbs the energy. If it is your skull, you are dead before your feet hit the ground. If it is your feet you are probably going to survive, but you will be reasonably broken up, depending upon where the loads go. At an angle, feet first, you will distribute the shock along your body. Assume some nasty fractures and soft tissue injuries. You really want to choose ground that will adsorb at least some of the energy. No matter what, it isn’t going to be nice. Another problem with falls (and part of why people die from them) is the internal injuries - a fall of 11 feet is apparently enough to dislodge internal organs, and then you bleed out and die. The problem with this kind of injury is that it isn’t obvious, and treatment comes too late if at all. Fall arrest equipment is required to be used in Alberta for any work being done with a drop of over 10 feet - as we’ve seen from this thread, 10 meters isn’t guaranteed to kill you, but it certainly can. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/37 "2014-02-25T06:38:29Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Or perhaps leave you a crippled and broken shell of your former self. Exactly. That was my point, the absurdity of the IIDKYIWMYS mantra. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/38 "2014-02-25T07:02:38Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > Exactly. That was my point, the absurdity of the IIDKYIWMYS mantra. Well it is a poor misquoting, and totally misses the point of Nietzsche’s original. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/39 "2014-02-25T07:03:58Z")
So? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980/40 "2014-02-25T07:33:56Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > You could ask the inverse question. If you dropped an 80kg block of concrete onto someone from 10 metres above their head, would it kill them? I doubt anyone would suggest that would be survivable. Is the “inverse question” really like-for-like here? There’s a big difference between being crushed between two solid surfaces and striking a single solid surface. In the latter case there are more ways for the energy to dissipate. Especially when we’re consider more realistic scenarios than dropping directly on to the top of your head, with no attempt to brace yourself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-10-meter-32-feet-drop-kill-and-would-it-render-someone-unconscious-in-the-first-1-minute/681980.md?page=3)