Australian Man Jumps From 4th Floor Balcony After Argument With Girlfriend

[Sisaketmike]

Least 40ft drop.... no ta, I think I will pass on a 4th floor jump.

Jumping from 4th floor is only 3 floors high : rather 27 ft than 40 ft.

Sure it could kill you (falling from a sidewalk could too)

but if you don't fall head first it's very likely not to kill you.

So you think a person is more likely to survive a 4th floor fall than die unless he hits his head?

Interesting theory.

Let's do some calculations to see what speed he hits the ground at.

Distance of fall: Assuming a 3 ft balcony railing and 9 ft per floor let's assume a total distance of 30 feet = 9.14 meters

Time of fall = 1.365 seconds

Velocity of impact = 13.39 m/s = 48.2 km/h

He's hitting the ground at 48.2 km/h

Now how much damage could hitting concrete at that speed do?

Assuming the jumper weighs 80kg I input the variables into a car crash impact calculator. I had to guess the distance traveled "d" after impact until complete rest would be about 5cm (0.05m) (human flesh and bone depression upon impact if impact was flat). This would depend a lot on which bodyparts hit the ground first. Changing this variable has a large bearing on impact force "F".

Here's the results of the calculation:

16 tons is a pretty large impact force. That would seem to be more than enough to kill.

Perhaps some people with better knowledge of physics would be able to comment.

Here's the link for the crash impact calculator: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/carcr2.html#cc2

You have the impact velocity correct: 43.8 ft/sec ( times ) (3600sec/hr / 5280ft/mile) = 29.8 miles/hr

But I dont think the car crash scenerio applies here because the car is going to absorb alot of the force.

I just went over the chapter on collisions in my physics text and in this case it would be an inelastic collision and the type of force is called an impulse force, like a bat hitting a baseball.

The impulse force = change in momentum/ change in time.

Momentum = mass x velocity

So the momentum equals 176 lbs x 43.8 ft/sec = 7568 lb-sec

If the impact change in time were 1/10 sec then the impulse force is 37 tons,

Thats 7568 lb-sec/.1sec=75680 lbs/2000= 37 tons.

As you can see from the impulse force equation the force is about the change in time.

If you use the 5 cm distance in your post then the change in time = .16 ft/43.8 ft/sec =.0036 sec

Then the impulse force would be 7568 lb-sec/.0036sec =1051 tons !

It's not just sad that lots of foreigners are doing that suicide trip. It's also very sad that some are writing posts 'doing the Math'. That he survived at the scenery doesn't really mean that he will survive. Is there any update how many broken bones this poor guy has, or inner bleeding?

Being in a wheel chair for me is worse than being dead. We should start to think why so many people are doing this. This country is and never was the land of smiles. The Thai society is based on wrong, or even no information how many Thais are killing themselves in one week. Better we don't know it.

Instead of talking about problems like that at home and at schools, it's like somebody would lose face if they did so. This tradition is not really helpful for those who don't see a way out. We foreigners already lost more than face,doing weird things here and making jokes about this Australian man isn't very human.

What I could understand from some Thai citizen, foreigners have lost their credibility.

Would some people make this poor guy's tragedy to a joke, if it would have been their brother, sister, or any relative? I doubt it. So please let's just think about that also foreigners come into strange situations here,and nobody to talk to. Their "rented full service wife" could do so much damage to them that we should be thankful not to be in such a situation.

A forum like that should make all of us understand how difficult it can be to live here, or even trying to. So it's not about the impact how fast he hit the ground, it's more the question why he did it.

I hope his jump will prevent some others from doing this; we're all living in the same world.

Edited April 18, 2010 by Sisaketmike

[tropo]

It's not just sad that lots of foreigners are doing that suicide trip. It's also very sad that some are writing posts 'doing the Math'.

............

A forum like that should make all of us understand how difficult it can be to live here, or even trying to. So it's not about the impact how fast he hit the ground, it's more the question why he did it.

.............

I hope his jump will prevent some others from doing this; we're all living in the same world.

Thanks for the ramble.

Let's clear up some of your confusion.

1. The reason why he jumped is pretty common here in Pattaya. Getting f....d over by a bargirl. No mystery there.

2. It is not difficult to live in Pattaya. I've lived here 4 years and I would have to say that living here is too easy if anything.

3. We were "doing the math" in an attempt to determine from which height a person must jump in order to do the job properly. There's no point in causing permanent diabilities because many injuries can be worse than death.

The guy who dived out of the Jomtien Tower a few year ago knew what he was doing. These "sympathy" dives are ridiculous.

Edited April 18, 2010 by tropo

[Rinrada]

No consideration for the poor sods who might be stuck in Patti waiting for Thai Airways (or any other) to get them a flight home (ash way)...who just happened to "walk on bye" underneath looking for an alehouse to drown their sorrows at having to spend more time in......etc... ....need to sign on....

[tw25rw]

Suicide from a 4th floor?? It is probably a cry for attention.

You think he might have been thinking "I'll break all my limbs and maybe my spine and possibly end up brain damaged, but at least she'll see I'm unhappy".

[Changian]

You think he might have been thinking "I'll break all my limbs and maybe my spine and possibly end up brain damaged, but at least she'll see I'm unhappy".

Maybe he was following the 'How Thai are you?' topic on the main board and wanted to up the stakes and go for the ultimate in irrational thought processes. +5 points for him anyway.

[morrobay]

I just want to add that the change in time ,the impact time is sort of an unknown here.

If it was .23 sec then the impulse force = 7568 lb-sec/.23 sec = 32904 lbs

32904lbs/2000 lbs =16.4 tons.

Also this impulse force is right out of the book.

Its also an unknown ,or at least another problem ,how this force is going to be distributed and its particular effects in this case.

Is it possible that you forgot to take your medication?

No I forgot to convert weight to mass: weight = mass x acceleration due to gravity, 32ft/sec/sec

Correction: in my two posts for the momentum calculation I mistakenly used his weight instead of his mass.

weight=mass x acceleration, so his mass = weight/g That is 176lbs/32 =55

So all my values for tons are a little over 3 times too much. momentum=mass x velocity

The momentum correctly is 55lb x 43.8ft/sec = 2409 lb-sec. so in the case of 1/10 sec impact time

the correct impulse force would be 2409lb-sec/.1 sec=24090 lbs, 24090lbs /2000lbs/ton=12 tons

[tropo]

No I forgot to convert weight to mass: weight = mass x acceleration due to gravity, 32ft/sec/sec

Correction: in my two posts for the momentum calculation I mistakenly used his weight instead of his mass.

weight=mass x acceleration, so his mass = weight/g That is 176lbs/32 =55

So all my values for tons are a little over 3 times too much. momentum=mass x velocity

The momentum correctly is 55lb x 43.8ft/sec = 2409 lb-sec. so in the case of 1/10 sec impact time

the correct impulse force would be 2409lb-sec/.1 sec=24090 lbs, 24090lbs /2000lbs/ton=12 tons

So we weren't too far off in our calculations. I'd like to know what percentage of jumpers could survive such an impact.

[tropo]

Suicide from a 4th floor?? It is probably a cry for attention.

You think he might have been thinking "I'll break all my limbs and maybe my spine and possibly end up brain damaged, but at least she'll see I'm unhappy".

I wouldn't be surprised if the only thoughts going through her head were alonog the lines of: "what an idiot".

Edited April 19, 2010 by tropo

[Rimmer]

I think we have done enough 'damage control' on this poor guy.

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