Surviving a fall

[gravity]

If I was on a platform or in a lift that was hurtling to the ground really quickly could i survive if at the last minute I jumped into the just before impact?

This question caused about 8 hours of arguing last christmas please Help!!

[paralysis]

You would still be hitting the ground at terminal velocity... They call it terminal and they aint wrong!

If you were falling along side a lift which was also falling at the same speed and you stepped into it, it would still have to slow at a safe speed before coming to a stop.

[bernardo]

No, because you would be going really fast due to the fact that you have been accelerating downwards.  Being on a platform or in a lift would amke little difference, because you and the lift are both falling together.

[Diablod666]

If you jumped at the last moment, it would succeed in only pushing the lift down, and not you up. The only reason that you move upwards when jumping on the ground is that you are pushing off from the ground. The ground doesn't move so you have to. If there is nothing underneath what you are pushing at with your legs (to try and jump) then you would simply push the platform slightly faster to the ground. Jumping in a lift would not save your life.

[doorknob]

Not really an answer but I browsed through a book in Borders the other day about how to survive a Gap Year and this question was raised.  Their answer was that to best survive the fall would be to spread yourself out on the floor of the lift, thereby maximising your contact with the floor  and spreading the force of the impact over as large an area of body as possible reducing the damage. 

[Potatoman]

I had to study something similar to this in science at school. diablod666 it right - lets say for example you're in a lift falling at 100Mph. If you jump at the last moment (we're talking milliseconds here!), all you would do is slow your fall by less than 1Mph, and would still splatter horribly on the floor.

[Tweed]

Only Bugs Bunny has the ability to survive this type of maneuver.

[kags]

I once saw an interview with someone who had survived a falling lift because it was full of empty cases or barrels or something like that, which absorbed a lot of the energy. He was firmly of the opinion that if you have time to consider bracing yourself, or jumping at the last moment, then you are falling from far too great a height to survive!