Why does catching someone or something falling in most cases negate or reduce the injury/damage applied to it? Shouldn’t it be almost just as damaging, just a few feet further up?

Question

Why does catching someone or something falling in most cases negate or reduce the injury/damage applied to it? Shouldn’t it be almost just as damaging, just a few feet further up?

In: 2

Answer 1

let’s change perspective, imagine throwing a ball against a trampoline, the trampoline stretches on impact with the ball, absorbing the motion energy of the ball and distributing the force. on the other hand, in the case of grabbing a falling person, the body of the person who grabs it absorbs part of the force of the falling body, distributing the force of impact.