What are the physics of humans falling a large distance (1000+ feet) and hitting the ground? What happens to them mathematically when they land assuming it's a hard surface that they impact?
>>16259233All things, including humans, have a "terminal velocity" or a max speed of fall with minor variation due to air resistance on the falling object. That's one variable of the equation. We combine that with the mass of the object and the assumption of instant deceleration upon impact and we can yield an energy of impact. Using the basic Kinetic Energy equation we get the following. >Terminal velocity of a human falling to Earth (200Km/h)>Mass of a human male (91Kg)>Yields 140432.12123457 J(joules) When you impact the ground roughly 140,000 joules of energy will be instantly transferred to your body with a trivial percentage going to the pavement. Basically all the energy will transfer to your body instantly and liquefy you. For what it's worth you would generate the equivalent of about 38 watts of electricity when you impact which would power a bright LED light bulb for about 4 hours.If we rounded up all 82 million communists world wide and dropped them from helicopters into a special power plant to capture their kinetic energy for electricity we would yield 3.116 gigawatts of power. Which is about 25% the power output of the Three Gorges Dam in China, the largest power plant ever built by man. I hope this helps.
>>16259233>What happens to them mathematically when they land assuming it's a hard surface that they impact?the energy calculated here:>>16259347gets imparted onto the tissues and skeleton in a fraction of a second. Right at impact, the soft tissues between the hard surface, and the bones gets squeezed beyond they elastic limits, The acceleration pulse continues and the distortion imposed upon the soft tissues surpasses their shearing limits of their elasticity. They molecularly disconnect within, and get "cut" or ripped apart by that compression; the bones cut into the flesh. Then, the impulses effected upon the bones surpasses their structural limit, and they fracture. The compression downwards continues, and the flesh is now molecularly unzipping into uneven portions and chunks having the initial points of said disconnection at the impact points as described earlier, and depending on the haphazardness of the initial angle of impact, and the anisotropic properties of the tissues.As the compression continues, a momentaneous limit to that compression is reached, the mass stops, and the pressure and elastic properties of the soft tissues and bones induce a bounce back and a dispersion effect, and so the motion reverses away from the hard surface and the general area of compression, and all those bits and chunks of tissue that were shredded eventually begin to move up and radially outwards from the point of impact. Blood and guts splatter everywhere, bouncing upwards and sideways, in a radial manner.Splat!
>>16259411How does the timing of this energy transfer compare to the response time of the nervous system?
>>16259832The nervous system, including the brain, ceases to exist for all intents and purposes instantly. Electrical signals travel at the speed of light like all electricity but there is a "reaction time" where the brain must intake and process these electrical signals. Average reaction time is 150-300 milliseconds. Your brain would be liquid before it could register the electrical impulses. Here is a good visual aid. Spoilers for Dredd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_NS4geHgx8
