Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Terminal Velocity - Be my guest

I was enjoying a quiet drink by myself (sad yes I know) in a club at the top of the Center Point building. Two guys walked past where I was sitting on the top floor (32 stories). One asked if you would survive if you tried to jump off with a parachute. The other guy (one of those sporty types) said that you could base jump from that height as you would have your drone chute in your hand. He rightly pointed out that landing would be problematic.

So far so good.

But he then went on to say that you would probably survive without a chute as you are not high enough to reach terminal velocity. At this point I nearly spat out my drink.

So either

1) he thinks terminal velocity means the speed you reach before a landing becomes terminal or
2) he does understand what terminal velocity is (and he is right, you would not reach it at that height) but is a complete idiot.

Either way, jumping from the 32 floor onto the street without a parachute is unlikely to end in survival. But what do I know, I'm not a sporty type.

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