Will This Really Prevent Death In A Falling Elevator, Paulina?
One of the world’s first supermodels, the beautiful Paulina Porizkova, has penned a piece for the Huffington Post about being fired from America’s Next Top Model. It’s worth reading if you’re interested in modelling shows/ladies in show business/sisters fighting back against The Man™ – but here’s the bit I found myself obsessing over.
Says Paulina:
When I was fired from “America’s Next Top Model” this past spring, two things hit me simultaneously: the heavy thud of realization that I am not wanted, not liked, not worth my salt, not loved–yes, I know this sounds a little over-the-top, but I have the tendency to run with the negatives–and the lightening of a burden lifted; I would no longer have to worry about missing my children’s recitals, date nights with my husband, and all that family life has to offer. It was a curious mixture, one I imagine akin to standing in a falling elevator, but knowing you can jump up at the last moment to prevent gravity from crushing you. And you can walk off. Not unscathed maybe, with a permanent distrust of elevators perhaps, but alive.
Hang on, will that really stop me dying if I happen to be trapped in a falling elevator? Really? Any scientists out there who can back this up? Because I want to believe Paulina, I really do, but it sounds like the kind of foolproof emergency plan I’d have come up with as an eight year old.
Paulina Porizkova fact! She’s married to the dude from The Cars, hurrah!
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Comments
i reckon this depends on how fast you can jump. if the elevator is falling at a velocity of, like, 100km/hr (and i think it could go even faster) and you can jump upwards right as it crashies at a speed of like, 20 km/hr, then you’re still plummeting downwards at 80 km/hr. which would suck.
check these nerds: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=120600
You’d have to jump up at at least the same speed that the elevator is falling. If the elevator fell 10 storeys (30m-ish) you’d have to jump at least 24m/s to avoid being squished. That’s almost the equivalent of jumping OVER a 10 storey building.
No, that won’t stop you from being crushed. The best way is to lie flat, or to be cushioned by another passenger.
If this helps at all, mythbusters debunked this. No human could save themselves by jumping before the lift landed.
Yeah, actually its a crock. They covered this on Mythbusters and they proved it won’t stop you from dying…