I just saw a video of trout being dropped from an airplane to stock mountain lakes.
So I was thinking, if I was suspended in water (let’s say I was in the middle of a 4m di. water balloon), and I was dropped from an airplane (let’s say 50m above the water), would being suspended in water help ease the impact of hitting the water? Or would it be more like a water balloon hitting concrete?
In: Physics
It would be like a water balloon hitting concrete.
Water is incompressible, so when the balloon hits the water, the internal water would transmit the impact forces to your body almost immediately. This means you would still experience a very high force of impact.
Hitting water at high speeds can be similar to hitting a solid surface because of surface tension and the incompressible nature of water. The high impact velocity would make the water’s surface behave more like a solid for an instant.
The water inside the balloon would distribute the impact forces around your body, potentially mitigating some localized injuries (like breaking a limb), but not enough to avoid serious trauma.
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