How Dangerous is a Penny Dropped From a Skyscraper?

Summary by Krater

This video investigates whether dropping a penny from the Empire State Building could kill someone, exploring the physics of air resistance, terminal velocity, and crosswinds to explain why falling pennies and other small objects are not dangerous.

From the video

Answers: What would happen if you dropped a penny from the Empire State Building?

• terminal velocity
• air resistance
• drag coefficient
• falling objects
• physics of projectiles

What it concludes

• A penny dropped from the Empire State Building will not kill someone because its terminal velocity is only about 80 kilometers per hour.
• Air resistance is proportional to the square of speed, meaning heavier objects with low drag relative to their weight achieve much higher terminal velocities.
• Every object has a terminal velocity reached when the force of gravity equals the force of air resistance.
• Objects with a low mass and high surface area, like raindrops and pennies, experience minimal terminal velocity and low impact energy.
• Objects like bullets, hailstones, and fléchettes are heavy and aerodynamic enough to reach high terminal velocities that can cause severe injury or death.