What will happen if you drop a skittle off the Empire State Building?

Can it kill some one?

Because of the low terminal velocity, you might break some skin, depending on the updrafts around the Empire State and how the skittle tumbles while it falls.

The Straight Dope did the calculations for a penny :

"Given 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."

"This 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."

"On 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."

"Thus 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."

"Would a penny dropped from the Empire State Building kill someone on the ground?" : http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_225.html

And MythBusters tested it in Episode 4 of their first season, and came to same conclusion.

"A penny's terminal velocity is too low for it to penetrate human skin - let alone penetrate concrete or asphalt - even when fired from a rifle."

"MythBusters (season 1) : "Penny Drop, Deadly Microwaves, Radio Tooth Fillings" " : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(season_1)#Penny_Drop

ABC News asked University of Virginia physics professor Louis Bloomfield, who wrote about the "penny myth" :

"Bloomfield has heard about the myth so often he tackles it in his latest book, "How Everything Works." "

" "They're thinking of a world without air ... but air resistance is a big deal for little things. It slows down leaves, it slows down raindrops and it slows down pennies." "

" "The penny is heavier [than a raindrop] but it flutters as it comes down. It's very unstable in the air." "

" "Pennies, they're not aerodynamically stable ... they catch a lot of wind ... basically they're safe," "

"At our request, Bloomfield concocted another test. He filled a large weather balloon with helium and attached a penny dispenser to it that spits out pennies one at a time. He launched the balloon hundreds of feet into the air and then a remote control device released the pennies and he ran around trying to catch them."

"He didn't actually catch any of the pennies, but was hit by several of them, one time on the chin. "It was like getting hit by a bug ... it was noticeable, but nothing more. I was just disappointed I hadn't caught the thing," he said. "I didn't catch it because I'm a bad catcher and it was a windy day, but basically these things are just fluttering down." "

"But his balloon only went up a couple hundred feet -- the Empire State Building is over a thousand feet tall! "Even though we didn't go as high as the Empire State Building, it doesn't matter. The penny will hit full speed after 50 feet or so, and it just coasts," he replied."

"The pennies "reach terminal velocity and no matter how high we put the balloon, they never picked up any more speed." Terminal velocity is the maximum speed a falling object reaches and is determined by the object's weight and air resistance. Because a penny is lightweight and not aerodynamic, air resistance slows it down so much that its terminal velocity is quite slow."

"But not so for many other objects, Bloomfield warns. "Even if they're relatively small, if they're aerodynamically streamlined -- like a ball point pen -- they'll reach the point at which they're going a couple hundred miles an hour, and that's dangerous," he said."

"Can a Penny Dropped From a Building Kill a Pedestrian Below?" : http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3131332&page=1

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