It is a common myth that people believe that a penny can fall off the Eiffel Tower and can obtain enough velocity to kill a person. well, I'm here to bust that myth, well not really since Myth Busters has already accomplished that. I'm here to provide you with information to prove this myth to be true or false. The existence of this myth exists because people believe that since the hieght for the drop is so high for the penny to travel that it will constantly be picking up speed to go fast enough to go threw a human skull and kill a person below or to stick in the cement.
For any free falling object or in this case, a penny, has the acceleration of 10m/s/s. To add as well, the penny will also catch wind on the way down causing wind resistance and making it to slow down. Since the penny will have wind resistance on the way down, it will cause it to slow it down enough so that it wont have enough velocity to go threw a human skull, or to even put a dent in the cement.
Many people and groups have tried to bust this myth by providing experiments set up with the same conditions as the Eiffel tower (or empire state building). All have come to the same conclusion that this myth is without a doubt false. It may sting a little but it wont be able kill anybody or cause any damage permanent damage. Below are some helpful web links to provide additional information to help anyone grasp this concept that is having trouble with it or just to kick back and watch a funny but useful informational video done by Myth Busters.
http://www.fanhouse.com/videos/video/tagsports/mythbusters-penny-drop/144115232737208311
5 comments:
Cameron, I like how you compared the results from myth busters to what other people thought would happen. I agree that this myth is false because of wind resistance. Also fix your heading because it doesn't sound right.
This is a very interesting myth. The myth also contributes to a very common misbelief, that an object keeps gaining speed as it falls. This blog gives the science behind why that is not true, that an object does eventuly reach terminal velocity. I find this idea interesting because it is very beleavable that a penny could kill someone when droped from the Effel tower, because of the massive size of the effel tower. good job on your blog very thought provoking.
Makes sense that this isn't true because of what we have learned in class, but it is understandable that people would think this, because that is what that are told. good info.
this blog makes me wonder, what is the largest speed that an object such as a penny can pick up wen dropped. also it arises the question of how long does it take for a small object such as a penny to reach terminal velocity? there are many questions that come with this myth.
also this myth makes me wonder what is the lightest object that has the potential to kill someone?
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