Help Does Bodyweight Matter When Jumping?

[ihatepain]

I have a question. Would it be more lethal if a fat person jumped off a tall building compared to a thin person jumping off a tall building? Fat person advantage is that there would be more impact but the disadvantage is that the fat person would have more cushioning that protect their organs.

I am asking because I am fat and I wonder if it would be better to lose weight before I jump? I plan to jump off a 30 storey building.

 

[who doesn't matter]

I am no expert here, but from what I have heard, if you fall from a certain height then fatality is absolute and considering it's a 30 storey building, chances of survival seems none, at least to me.

 

[Rhea]

Weight matters when jumping because the faster you fall the better. But if you plan on jumping from a 30 story building, it won't matter if you are a skeleton like me or weigh as much as a truck, you'll still die, for sure. Damn I wish there there that high buildings in my country that I could get on top of.

 

[Yoffi]

on human scale, there won't be much of a difference unless you're extremely obese to a point when you wouldn't be able to walk.
but in general, then yes, mass matters a fair bit, more mass = more kinetic energy when moving = stronger impact force/shock.
30 story tall building is a guaranteed death on impact for a human, but it would be nothing more than an annoyance for an ant.

 

[Lookingforabus]

It makes absolutely no practical difference, actually.

All objects are accelerated at the same rate by gravity. On Earth resistance from the air makes a difference (why a feather and a bowling fall at different rates), but the effect of air resistance between a fat person and a thin person is going to be negligible to the point of being unmeasurably small.

Someone brought up the idea of having more kinetic energy with more mass, but while true, it's not particularly relevant. What kills people in impacts is not the overall force applied to their body as a whole, (F=ma) it is the blunt force to specific parts of your body (your brain smashing into your skull rapidly, your heart being crushed by the impact of the ground, blood vessels and arteries breaking open, etc.). Whether you're fat or thin, your head is going to decelerate at the same rate and cause the same damage to your brain when you hit the ground, etc. If anything, the fact that fat absorbs and (to some degree) dissipates impact forces, means that having lots of fat would have a protective effect in impact traumas (the opposite of what you'd expect from just using "F=ma"), but it's not a significant effect. You smash into concrete at over 150 kph (as you will from a 30 story free fall), you're just dead, no matter how fat or thin you are.

 

[ihatepain]

Thanks for all your replies. I appreciate it. Do any of you have any ideas on how to make sure my head hits the ground first before the other parts of my body hit the ground?

 

[Rhea]

Thanks for all your replies. I appreciate it. Do any of you have any ideas on how to make sure my head hits the ground first before the other parts of my body hit the ground?

Try head diving I guess. Though it won't matter how you fall, it's a 30 story building, you'll instantly die when you hit the ground in any position.
I'm also very curious about how the hell will you get on top of a 30 story building.

 

[Baskol1]

Try head diving I guess. Though it won't matter how you fall, it's a 30 story building, you'll instantly die when you hit the ground in any position.
I'm also very curious about how the hell will you get on top of a 30 story building.

How high is that? 60 meters? 80?

 

[TheGoodGuy]

Damn I wish there there that high buildings in my country that I could get on top of.

Yeah I have often thought about that although I have a couple other methods I would choose now but I still envy people living in America or other places where tall buildings are in abundance it provides a foolproof method for anyone in a hurry.

The US is really the ideal place for suicide since there are so many options the first of course being how easy it is to get guns, the tall buildings and remote areas where no one will disturb you in Denmark we are so closely populated that it is literally impossible to find a spot where there aren´t any humans in a miles radius there is no real nature here.

 

[Lookingforabus]

How high is that? 60 meters? 80?

Depends where you are, but a story in a building is approximately 4 meters. It varies a bit from building to building and place to place, though.

 

[NextBusLeaving]

Everything falls at 9.8 meters/second squared. Fat thin feather or marble.

 

[Wayfaerer]

Does bodyweight matter when jumping?

Not if you land head-first.

 

[ihatepain]

Do you guys think the chances of surviving a 31 storey fall to hard concrete is below 1% ?

 

[Stan]

Do you guys think the chances of surviving a 31 storey fall to hard concrete is below 1% ?

It would be a miracle to survive. My concern would be if someone innocent at the bottom got hurt, a passerby

 

[ihatepain]

It would be a miracle to survive. My concern would be if someone innocent at the bottom got hurt, a passerby

Nobody ever walks there so it's safe.

 

[Lookingforabus]

Do you guys think the chances of surviving a 31 storey fall to hard concrete is below 1% ?

Well below 1%, yes.