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Terminal Velocity Impact

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Zurp

Zurp

I have misplaced my pants.
A classic discussion I've had: is there an animal ("bugs" excluded) that would survive a terminal velocity impact with the ground? If so, what would be your guess? And it's cheating to say that birds can just fly away, without suffering the impact. Assume that any animal you use for this discussion is unconscious. A branch of this discussion has produced this question: which animal would produce the highest terminal velocity?
 
Well I would say the lightest creature would have the best chance of survival. I am not quite sure which creature that is. You said bugs excluded.......so I would say maybe a worm or something. Probably way off.

Are you talking about dropping it off a large building? or actually projecting it horizontally?

Disregard that question, you said with the ground.


I would say the lightest creature would survive, probably like a blue whale or something would have the greatest velocity. Mind you I am completely full of shit, but this sounds correct to me at this present time.
 
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Worm... I don't know if I'd call that a "bug." I have my doubts as to whether it would survive.

And I don't think it matters how you get the animal to reach terminal velocity. Drop it out of an airplane, or off a building. It should probably be a pretty tall building. I think the experiment is the same if you determine the terminal velocity, somehow, then strap the animal to the front of your car and smash into a wall at that speed. It doesn't have to be the ground - I was just trying to avoid the questions like "can it fall into water?" and "how about a pile of hay?" The animal needs to impact with something very solid.

Maybe one of those small lizards? Like a gecko? Or a tree frog?
 
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I thought this was true for cats.

Turned out it wasn't. . .


(btw - anyone see the article about some Chinese Travel Channel throwing a cat off a four story building to show it would be fine? Freaked some people out. . . )
 
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nice thread, zurp :)

Terminal velocity is a function of wind resistance, so I would guess that whatever animal offered the most wind resistance would stand the best chance at survival and conversly, the animal offering the least wind resistance would achieve the highest terminal velocity. I think a fish doing a nose dive would achive the highest terminal velocity by virtue of it's 'aerodynamic' body shape. The animal most likely to survive would need a relatively slow terminal velocity and also be the most elastic/resiliant. How about an armadillo?
 
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BTW,

There is no animal that would survive a terminal velocity impact as their internal organs would move so drastically inside the body cavity that all arteries and veins would most likely be ruptured.
 
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Thump said:
There is no animal that would survive a terminal velocity impact as their internal organs would move so drastically inside the body cavity that all arteries and veins would most likely be ruptured.
Click to expand...
"Get a load of Captain Bring-Down! WHooooaaaa!!!!"
"Yeah.. Whoooaaaaaa!!!!"
 
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Zurp said:
"Get a load of Captain Bring-Down! WHooooaaaa!!!!"
"Yeah.. Whoooaaaaaa!!!!"
Click to expand...
Hey man, I mentioned a flying squirrel and got no feedback. I can't think of an animal that would have much more wind resistance than that.
 
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Thump said:
Hey man, I mentioned a flying squirrel and got no feedback. I can't think of an animal that would have much less wind resistance than that.
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Less wind resistance than a flying squirrel? I thought flying squirrels had a lot of wind resistance - so they can glide through the air.

I wonder why my fluid mechanics text books in school never had a chart or graph of air resistance for different animals. I'd be interested to see how they find different wind resistances.

Science guy #1: Ok.. drop the camel this time.
Science guy #2: Ok.. here goes.. get the stop-watch ready.
(Camel drops out of the airplane)
Science guy #2: Did you get that?
Science guy #1: Damn! No.. I hit "reset" instead of "start". Get another camel.
 
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Thump said:
You are right and I am wrong. I used the wrong word. I'll edit it.
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Ok.. I think if the flying squirrel were allowed to use his gliding ability, he'd survive. But I also think that, since he's unconscious for the experiment, he'll be too limp to glide, and he'd splat just as well as any other squirrel.

Maybe a jelly-fish would survive? But maybe they're too fragile - as soon as they hit the ground, they're probably all over the place. Are natural sponges animals? Or plants? Maybe a starfish would survive. I know they're fragile once they're dead, but what about while they're still alive? Or how about a hermit crab? I think for the sake of this experiment, we have to get them out of their shells, but after that, they still may do pretty well with the fall.
 
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Zurp said:
Ok.. I think if the flying squirrel were allowed to use his gliding ability, he'd survive. But I also think that, since he's unconscious for the experiment, he'll be too limp to glide, and he'd splat just as well as any other squirrel.

Maybe a jelly-fish would survive? But maybe they're too fragile - as soon as they hit the ground, they're probably all over the place. Are natural sponges animals? Or plants? Maybe a starfish would survive. I know they're fragile once they're dead, but what about while they're still alive? Or how about a hermit crab? I think for the sake of this experiment, we have to get them out of their shells, but after that, they still may do pretty well with the fall.
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How about a snipe?
 
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