Would an unplanned accidental demolition of a building fall at the same speed as a control demolition?
104285
When all broken up in a planned demolition, the parts of the building generally fall straight down.  When partly intact from an uncontrolled demolition, vertical substructures (columns, walls, etc.) might fall slower because they are still intact and close to vertical.  Some might even remain standing, as in 9/11.  I would guess this is a dominant effect.
19024
I'm explaining this only on condition you don't try the experiment yourself.\n\nGiven that the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall and ignoring such factors as wind resistance for the moment, a penny dropped from the top would hit the ground in approximately 8.8 seconds, having reach a speed of roughly 280 feet per second.\n\nThis is not particularly fast. A low-powered .22 or .25 caliber handgun bullet, to which a penny is vaguely comparable in terms of mass, typically has a muzzle velocity of 800 to 1,100 FPS, with maybe 75 foot-pounds of energy.\n\nOn top of this we must consider that the penny would probably tumble while falling, and that the Empire State Building, like all tall buildings, is surrounded by strong updrafts. As a result the penny's descent would be substantially slowed.\n\nThus while you might conceivably inflict a fractured skull on some hapless New Yorker (or, more likely, some cretinous tourist from Towson), the penny would not "go through just like that." I bet it wouldn't even penetrate the skin. Not that I intend to find out.\n\nFor the record, the Empire State folks claim no one has ever dropped anything off their building. Yeah, right.\n-By Cecil Adams
478202
If is really no wind, it should fall right back into your gun.\n\nBut an experimental proof I think can hardly be done because of friction effects between air and bullet: so you would need an evacuated tube of some 100 m height, higher than any building. And the accuracy of this tube also woud be hard to be realized.\n\nNevertheless, such an accuracy problem I think was encountered when was built the SLAC (STANFORD Linear Accelerator) in the 1950ies; but this installation was not upright.
12468
It's not specified that the object is unbreakable, so it would break. I doubt the pieces of the object would continue to be immovable, so bits of the immovable object would be flying everywhere. Serves it right for being so stubborn and not moving.\n\nIn the case of theft, the unstoppable force would either come back later with a bigger screwdriver, or steal the keys.
64850
A correction to the first answer. The formula terminal V = SQRT(2W/(Cd*R*A)) is correct, as it expresses the fact that W is balanced by the drag force V^2*Cd*R*A/2. However, for two same-sized smooth balls of different materials, only W changes; Cd stays the same. The air density R depends only on altitude.\nSince air density increases with decreasing altitude, the terminal speed decreases during a fall. If dropped from high enough, the actual fall speed, which initially = 0, increases until the (decreasing) terminal speed is reached, and then the sign of the net force (gravitational + drag) changes so the falling ball slows. For the remainder of the fall, the terminal and fall speeds both decrease, but the fall speed is slightly faster. This speed difference provides the net upward force to slow the ball.
71702
If the only factor involved in this would be gravity, the bullet would come back down at the same speed as it went up. But since there are other factors (friction, air, etc), the bullet would come down with less speed than it went up.\n\nThe same would happen with the place where it was fired, it probably wouldnt land on the same spot, since other factors have an effect on the bullet trayectory.\n\nchech the link from digg and wait for the episode of Mythbusters where they solve this myth ...
1030122
Both would actually fall at the same speed in the absence of air resistance.  Therefore, the apple would fall faster.  \n\nHowever, on the moon, when the astronauts dropped a feather and a bowling ball, they hit the ground at the same time.  \n\nIt would seem that the bowling ball should fall faster since gravity is pulling on it with more force.  But, with the more mass, comes more inertia, which meas it resists being pulled more than the feather.  So, the feather is pulled less, but it resists less as well, so because of that, they will fall at the same time.  The relationship between the force of pull and the object's inertial compensates exactly so that all objects fall at the same rate.
412208
it can either increase the speed of the fall by reducing the air resistance or decrease it by creating more air resistance. think parachute and missle.
1163141
yes .. in vacuum, all items will fall at same rate... it is the rate at which the gravity acceleration attacts everything to the center of teh Earth. But you might have a queation, that if the acceleration  is same then why different things weigh different... \n\nweight =mass X acceleration of gravity (9.8meter/second^2) and mass is the one which is a measure of matter in a body makes the difference... so if you let a 5kg weight and a 5,000kg weight fall in a vaccum, they will fall at the same rate and will reach the ground at the same time.
626154
You would impact between the 2nd and 3rd second after the cable broke, so you would want to jump 2 seconds after the break. However, considering the calculations involved, you would probably end up as a heap of screaming bloody mess at the bottom of the elevator shaft before you figured the answer out. Besides, there's no telling if jumping really works.
828602
What do you mean "surely"?  Where do you get that notion that this is a sure thing?\nBasically, the pancake collapse means that each floor above would come crashing down on the one below with enough force to instantaneously break its support, and then the falling debris gets increased by the weight of this new floor, making the lower floor less likely to resist collapse as you go down.\nAn 8% speed reduction is actually quite a lot.
1119591
i don't think you could since the rate of deceleration when the ball is thrown up would be the same as the rate of acceleration as the ball falls.
598399
Yes.  The full coaster may go down faster, but would lose momentum at the next upswing.  An empty coaster would reach the top of the next hill without the hindrance of gravity.
200103
If there is no wind speed, no other gravitational pulls present, no magnetic interference, and you throw it perfectly perpendicular up, then it will fall at the same place.\n\nIf you are riding in the passenger seat of a car going 20 mph, and you throw a ball out your window straight out, the ball will have an initial forward speed of 20mph.\n\nThe same concept applies in your question.  Let's say when you look up, the earth is rotating to the left.  When you throw the ball in the air, its initial direction will go a little to the left, but you won't notice it cause you are going a little to the left as well.\n\nHopefully that helps a little bit.  It's a little hard to explain without pictures.
796124
you will have to be in one point in the building to hear that the object will sound like a "musical scale going" down as it drops... but since objects on free fall accelerate, you would hear the 'musical scale going down" only at a very short time...\nso when you listen, listen carefully...
499168
When the glass hits the hard concrete, there is an immediate and absolute loss of momentum (sudden impact).  When the glass hits the soft carpet, the glass slows down less quickly, therefore there is a less sudden change in momentum.\n\nBest wishes.
1064188
You're in a 750,000lb piece of metal that flys through the air.  Even if it is not that important, wouldnt you want to take every precaution to prevent any slight bit of chance of crashing?