Why isn’t a penny dropped from space able to kill you?
In: Physics
When an object falls through air, it eventually reaches a speed were the acceleration from the force of gravity is canceled out by the force of air resistance—it is called terminal velocity. So, this could mean that an object that falls from 100 metres and an object that falls from 100 km hit the ground at the same speed.
The terminal velocity of a penny is at most 80 km/hr. Since a penny has very little mass, a penny moving at 80 km/hr does not have that much momentum, and thus creates less of an impact force. In comparison, a paintball has a muzzle velocity of about 300 km/hr, and a paintball weighs more than a penny. If you can survive beings shot with a paintball, you can certainly withstand a penny impact.
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