What happens if you jump into water from a great height?

Even if you enter feet-first in a straight, vertical line, and like a pencil, that impact can be strong enough to compress your spine, break bones, or give you a concussion. The force of the water can knock people unconscious on impact, and even if you survive, you may drown.



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Heavier things have a greater gravitational force AND heavier things have a lower acceleration. It turns out that these two effects exactly cancel to make falling objects have the same acceleration regardless of mass.

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Almost all falls from beyond about 10 stories are fatal, although people have survived much higher falls than this, even onto hard surfaces. For example, one suicidal jumper has survived a fall from the 39th story of a building, as has a non-suicidal person who accidentally fell from the 47th floor.

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