would u die ?

[dove]

if u were in a lift and the cable snapped while it was going down fast .If u could guess when the lift would hit the bottom, and u jumped at the right time......... would u survive?

[Skithepowder]

nice question, i'm no expert but I don't think jumping would make a difference.

If you imagine a lift made of glass and imagine the scenario then, when it got near to the bottom even if the person inside jumped they would still be travelling downwards at a great speed. They would still have a large amount of downwards momentum that would have to dissappear as the lift stops. You would still be subjected to a great decceleration force, I think.

[Mortartube]

Probably not. You'd be falling at the same speed as the lift and the jump you did would be almost ineffective to slow your falling velocity. Happily this shouldn't happen owing to a safety device that prevents most lifts fom falling if the cable breaks.

[crgb14]

plus the fact that most have buffers fitted to the bottom

[fountain]

It would work if you were able to jump with enough force to overcome your downward momentum. If you could do that, though, you probably wouldn't have needed the lift in the first place.

[stevie21]

This has been asked ages ago - you'd have to be able to jump up in the air at the same speed, or faster than the lift is falling to cancel out your descent speed.
I, personally, don't know anyone who can jump up at 200mph

[kev100]

This question was put to the test on the TV prog Mythbusters using a dummy and the dummy was splattered to bits.

Short answer is no you would die just the same.

[woofgang]

as crgb14 states, lifts have huge spring things in the bottom to decellerate you safely. plus sort of one way sticky out things in the shaft walls to limit the distance that you would actually fall.

What does happen is that you jar your neck and spine and risk fracture to your heelbone (calcanaeum) from the jarring stop

(isn't it amazing the rubbish that you remember, I learned that over 30 years ago on a visit to the Express Lift Company as part of my training as an Occupational Therapist)

[dove]

thanx I am not so scared to go into lifts now!

[twiglet4frog]

i saw the mythbusters and it definately killed the dummy, i thinks it was to do with the fact that the lift plummeted at 80mph or more and althought u can jump, its a mind trick cos u can only jump at say 8mph when u are on flat ground so if u are already plummeting at 80 downwards and then jump up at 8mph that means all u are doing is slowing your descent to approx 72mph, so it does help but wont save u as u still hit earth at 72mph!!!!!

[LINCOLN]

If you were travelling downward at 100mph and you jump you will still be going downward at 100mph. And if you did suvive the initial impact i suppose that the roof of the lift would give you a bit of a nasty headache.

[kags]

surely if you had enough time to think about jumping you are falling from too great a height to survive anyway?

[SteveD]

....and if you jumped with sufficient force, you would probably kill yourself by hitting your head on the roof of the lift!

[WendyS]

Would you stand a better chance if you laid yourself  down flat on the floor instead of being upright?

[andy6006]

I tried this once and would not recomend it, it left me feeling very flat!

[Royal Pollen]

surely if the lift was in freefall so would you be.  You'd apparently be floating in the lift right up to point it hit the floor, when you'd stop (apparently) floating and hit the same floor.

What s the freefall velocity? 150mphish???