The myth "A penny dropped off the Eiffel Tower will fall with enough velocity to kill a person" means that, if a person was to drop a penny from the Eiffel Tower or a taller building will gain enough velocity that the penny will go through the body like a bullet and kill a person. The myth may have originated in cities where people believed that the towers were so high that things dropped from it could kill people. Also it could have originated in a physics class because a penny dropped from that height without air friction probably could gain enough velocity to kill someone. There are multiple perspectives to this myth because some say the penny is dropped off the empire state building and some say the Eiffel Tower. That is the meaning of the myth "A penny dropped off the Eiffel Tower will fall with enough velocity to kill a person".
The reason this myth has been circulating in urban legends so long is because there is a lot of scientific content in it. For example if a penny was dropped from the Eiffel Tower and there was no air friction acting upon it, the myth could be quite possible. Like University of Virginia Physics Professor Louis Bloomfield said " They're thinking of a world without air." This thought is based off the term "free fall" which means a object falls and the only force acting upon it is gravity.
But overall the myth is not true and a penny dropped from the Eiffel tower cannot kill a person. This is because the pennies are not very aerodynamic and cause a lot of air friction when they fall which greatly slows down the penny. Also the penny wouldn't even break the skin of a person if the penny was dropped from the Empire State Building which is 264 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower. One last thing is that the penny reaches its terminal velocity " the fastest speed an object can go" at 50 feet and no matter how much higher the penny is dropped it still won't hurt anyone.
Ah, but, what if it landed in your eye?
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Deletehaha^
ReplyDeleteThat is so stupid that people would actually believe that because if u think about it, if that were true, we would all be doomed if it ever hailed, golf ball size hail has happened and it never went through anyone! Maybe hurt someone or dented a car roof a little but the weather comes down from way way higher then the Eiffel tower!
ReplyDeleteActually golfball sized hail has had sheep struck stone dead
ReplyDeleteThe hail would be more aerodynamic than a penny
DeleteActually golfball sized hail has had sheep struck stone dead
ReplyDeleteHow would you know without some sort of test to decide is this theory was a fib or the truth?
ReplyDeleteTest are already done Mr Anonymous
DeleteAll of you people shut the fuck up!! Leave it up to the scientists and other discoverers to find out..
ReplyDeleteStop acting as if u know what's myth or fiction. ..
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to test it because air friction would stop it from speeding up any more after 50 feet
ReplyDelete2018 anyone?
ReplyDeletethis is not true
ReplyDeleteoh my god you are a liberal
Deleteout of date (2010)
ReplyDelete"A penny dropped off the Eiffel Tower will fall with enough velocity to kill a person" then the "raindrops could have easily killed us"
ReplyDeletethank you the only reasonable person on this site except for hail guy.
DeleteWell, if this was true then we would have more craters in the earth than the moon
ReplyDeleteI think it would kill you, I also think penny would be killed too.
ReplyDeleteWhat if the penny was in a safe?
ReplyDeleteif a penny was in a safe it would survive
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ReplyDeleteis a penny was on the Eiffel Tower it was in the a safe and it would survive if there's a cushion under it
pog
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