I think it’s a pretty straight forward question, but to further explain it a bit, if someone’s falling from like a 10 story building, and they were hit perfectly from the side, and slammed into a solid wall, could the two additional forces cause enough of a difference in their decent to save their life?
In: Physics
Mostly no, kinda yes. (Depending on the specifics of the “wall” you’re thrown into.)
Basically, the quote *“It’s not the fall that kills you; it’s the sudden stop at the end.”* hits the nail on the head… one way to view your scenario is basically as the difference between “falling off a motorcycle at 80mph and skidding for a while” versus “falling off a motorcycle at 80mph and hitting a wall”.
There is a difference!
If you fall off a motorcycle, then gravity is (relatively slowly) pushing you into the ground and friction is gradually slowing you (horizontally) down rather than some concrete median *suddenly* slowing you down. (Though road-rash can/will still be a major pain.) Basically, the more you slide the slower you will eventually be when you hit whatever is in front of you (and/or until you skid to a halt). (Though, there will probably be a “Why not ‘catch’ you gradually instead of shredding you against a wall?” for whatever Superman “saves” you, though.)
In a less-gradual-grind-more-fast-push scenario, though, the “hit perfectly from the side” scenario you mention is a bit like falling off a motorcycle and then being t-boned by some cross-traffic… basically you’re just subject to EVEN MORE impact trauma unless the push diverts you,*deus ex machina* style, into some sort of softer more survivable cheese-graters and/or medians.
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