Would you jump or burn?

[Aksannyi]

If they were above the impact point they could have reasonably assumed that rescue was impossible, there was no passing several of those floors at least from what I can tell, so they'd have been waiting for the fire to overtake the whole building if the building hadn't just said fuck it and collapsed. Either way, they were screwed it just would have been longer if the buildings had been able to withstand the impact.

[The Stig]

I'd be too pussy to jump. So I'd probably wait for help or attempt to stay away from the fire if I didn't know it would collapse.

Otherwise, thinking about it now, I'd try grab like a sofa or something and jump with it, hoping the sofa would absorb most of the fall as it lands, and I'll be somewhat injured but alive, to be landing on something "soft".

[Gredival]

Feel like testing it for us?

Troll physics... sort of.

When you travel with a moving object, you acquire the directional velocity of that object. If you were in a truck flatbed passing under a bridge and you hurled a basketball straight up in the air, it would travel in an arc, not just go up and down, because it has forward velocity from the truck and not simply upwards velocity from your toss. It's like the scene in Spiderman 1 where Peter jumps over a bridge by simply jumping straight up in the air on a moving train.

Similarly when you are hurtling downwards, on a chair or a plank or whatever, you are acquiring your own independent velocity. What kills you is the force with which you hit the ground (which is effected by speed) and the rigidity of the ground that redirects that force into your body. Now you could theoretically slow yourself by jumping upwards, however with how tall skyscrapers are, it would be impossible for a normal person to generate enough lift to substantially reduce the force of impact to survivable levels. Not to mention that you need to attach yourself to the chair in some way to have the contact necessary to jump off from it, and I foresee difficulty in doing that

[Caiyuo]

so a lot of chairs?

[Lucienne]

so a lot of chairs?

If you throw down enough chairs, you can build a tower and climb down safely.

[hey]

Troll physics... sort of.

When you travel with a moving object, you acquire the directional velocity of that object. If you were in a truck flatbed passing under a bridge and you hurled a basketball straight up in the air, it would travel in an arc, not just go up and down, because it has forward velocity from the truck and not simply upwards velocity from your toss. It's like the scene in Spiderman 1 where Peter jumps over a bridge by simply jumping straight up in the air on a moving train.

Similarly when you are hurtling downwards, on a chair or a plank or whatever, you are acquiring your own independent velocity. What kills you is the force with which you hit the ground (which is effected by speed) and the rigidity of the ground that redirects that force into your body. Now you could theoretically slow yourself by jumping upwards, however with how tall skyscrapers are, it would be impossible for a normal person to generate enough lift to substantially reduce the force of impact to survivable levels. Not to mention that you need to attach yourself to the chair in some way to have the contact necessary to jump off from it, and I foresee difficulty in doing that

Wait, wait, wait, wait. That could actually work for a (much) shorter fall?

[Xno Kappa]

so a lot of chairs?

I lol'd.

[Khajit]

Come equipped with one of those flying squirrel suits in my briefcase then glide from building to building. What did you think I'd have work crap in there?

[Gadritan]

I keep a parachute under my desk just for times like that. Seriously though, 60 floors? You have no chance.

There's been quite a few skydivers that have survived free falls from 6k-15k feet.

It's possible~

[Khajit]

You'd have to land the proper way and the real problem if you survived initially is the fact that the building is going to bury you pretty soon afterwards. Plus really who's going to bother to check your pulse after you land? Best bet is to put parachute decoys around the office so that noone else takes your one.

[Callisto]

hell I work in a one-story building and I still bring a hang-glider to work every day, just in case

[miokomioko]

For that troll-physics thing, you would need to jump while holding onto something with a significant amount of mass in order for your jump to not just accelerate the object downward... right?

[Thuronn]

I'd set myself on fire till all my nerves were destroyed. Then I would jump and I'd have a painless freefall to my death.

[Boyiee]

A lot of people die before they hit the ground or at least lose consciousness. Jumping to your death is instantaneous and painless.

As for people wanting to burn, you probably wouldn't make it to the fire itself before you died from smoke inhalation. Most people don't realize that smoke is fuel, and is quite hot. As you breathe it in you burn the inside of your lungs, the hotter and closer you get the higher the temperature. It will become extremely painful before you even make it to the fire, and you will either suffocate or collapse prior to reaching it, also resulting in a painful death. Excruciating is a better term. If you did try to make it to the fire, it would be quite difficult because the temperatures in the rooms with and around the fire would be 1000+ degrees and you'd burn before reaching it, especially in the case of a fire with an accelerant like jet fuel. Fire death isn't all that quick, but once the nerves are burnt through you should be good.

The best place to be would be one of the floors involved in the explosion it self where the planes hit. Instant death with no choice of jump or burn. I'd probably climb up a few floors and if the building collapses it collapses. Growing up with some religion in my life would make me not want to end it myself, and rather let the building fall on me... which should be painless, as it would be death from either the fall or the crushing, so should be instant.

I knew a firefighter who ran out of air inside a structure fire, and had to make a choice of waiting for someone to find him or taking his pack off and trying to exit by holding his breath/taking a s few deep breaths as possible. He ended up taking 3 deep breaths, and had to go through intense therapy from severely damaged lungs for a few years. He said he never experienced something as painful as the hot breaths he took.

[Militant]

I'd have to personally say I think burning to death is one of the worst "realistic" ways to go. Let's say you weren't running into a fire into a building, and collapsing prior like Boyiee said. I just can't imagine being conscious and freaking out for that minute or so while engulfed in flames. I've (as well as many of you I'm sure) have seen a person burned to death once or twice on the internet and believe me they were moving for quite a while. Drowning or suffocating I think would be slightly better, because you simply lose consciousness after freaking out for a few seconds. When you burn to death, depending how covered in fire you are, you might be engulfed for a bit before your oxygen supply is cut off, and I would imagine you would feel a fuck ton of pain before the fire made it's way up your body, and cut off your oxygen. Even then, you'd still be in excruciating pain for what? A good minute or two before you completely die?

[Soupbowl]

Jump.

[Qalbert]

Run lightweight pro, no fall damage.

[thestalkmore]

i dont think that the new york city medical examiner's office is employed by god. man does not get to decide what suicide is in the eyes of the lord. you sir are perpetuating satans will and shall now suffer the same fate as those who were to scared to see the light and forced themselves to jump.

Laziest troll ever.

[Ksandra]

for the troll jump- we need mythbusters to test that, I'd like to see it.


ontopic- I'd probably burn/suffocate/crashwiththetower/whateverhappensfirst

I have a huge fear of heights, and I'd imagine by the time I'd have any ounce of courage to jump it would probably be too late anyway.

[tyven]

in anything similar to the 9/11 situation, as boyiee pointed out, you die from the smoke inhalation before you burn.