Bit morbid...

[missjef]

After watching a trailer for a film about people jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to commit suicide it made me think - If you jump from a bridge what kills you? the impact or the drowning? also if you jump from a really tall building or cliff can the falling kill you before you land?

many thanks.
em x

[Briar_x]

so how come In A Pickle when you do free falling you don't die?

[Briar_x]

well may be not you do it, but you know what I mean I hope.

[Rabelais]

What unmitigated twaddle, according to you sky divers would suffocate, which, patently they don't.
If you jump from a great height into water the deceleration upon impact with the water is enormous. Basically when you are going really fast the water cannot get out of your way and being an incompressible material resists your entry and slows you down rather violently. The will result in blunt force trauma smashing what ever part of your body come in contact with the water. The faster you are going the more resistance you encounter. If you are high enough up it�s like jumping on concrete.

[suffragette]

The usual cause of death for someone jumping from The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco would be multiple blunt force trauma.

The falling body is travelling at about 75m.p.h. and is suddenly forced to stop descending. Unfortunately, the internal organs do not stop and are often torn loose. Jumpers typically have lacerated aorta's, livers, spleen etc.

Basically, the impact kills most people because water is not a soft landing when people enter from a great height. If a body enters the water at an angle and feet first, the person may initially survive the fall, but will die from internal bleeding within minutes as a result of the above mentioned injuries.

Sometimes the person survives the fall only to plunge deeply into the water which forces air out of their lungs and salt water in, which will asphyxiate the jumper.

[Toureman]

Lot of twaddle from I A P.

I used to dive off the 10 metre board at our local pool, If you got it only slightly wrong it would really hurt. From any height over 30 metres if you got it slightly wrong it could kill, as has been said it is like diving onto concrete.