If I Drop A Penny Off Of The Empire State Building, How Fast Would It Ricochet Off The Ground?

By Buildless on July 3rd, 2009

I doubt, by the time you got to top of the Empire State Building that you would have any pennies because you didn’t have any cents when you started.

one eye Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

gravity can only supply so much energy then its a q of mass and Resistance – about 150mph.
Tony Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

fast enough to poke someone in the eye or maybe even kill someone.
krimebos Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

Not very. V=MA, so you need much more mass than a penny will provide to get anything like a ricochet.
jonmcn49 Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

actually they tried that on mythbusters…it dropped about 20 ft to the next balcony of the building…not the ground…but if you threw it out far enough…it wouldn’t even go fast enough to break skin
dansmith Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

32ft per second per second minus the resistance
? Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

You can compute the speed of the penny by:
1. Ask or find out how tall is the building.
2. Get a stop watch and record the time.
3. Then divide the height of the building to the time elapsed.
4. Or you can find the speed by dividing the time by 9.8 m/s^2.
piumps Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

it wouldn’t ricochet of the ground it would penetrate the ground.
rachelbe Jul 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am

that is if it ricochet off the ground, chances are ill burn into a unlucky guy’s skull who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

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