When you fall from a height, a small roof for example, what softens your fall more? A matress lying on the floor or one up in the air (different possibilities, 4’/10cm, 7″/2m, at jump level) i.e. held up by two people?

Question

When you fall from a height, a small roof for example, what softens your fall more? A matress lying on the floor or one up in the air (different possibilities, 4’/10cm, 7″/2m, at jump level) i.e. held up by two people?

In: Physics

Answer 1

What kills you is not the fall from height but the sudden stop at the end. What you want to do is to extend that stop to be a longer more gradual slowdown. So the sooner you start slowing down the more softened the fall is. However there needs to actually be something slowing you down. Having a matress under you falling with you is of no help. However if there are people trying to hold the matress up in the air they will slow you down all the way to the ground so you hit the ground very soft if you hit the ground at all.