The Penny Problem

The research regarding this topic has been completed. Still, only logically can the outcome be deduced. To view this paper online, click here. Alternatively, a PDF version of the paper is available here. Read what a few people have thought about this subject (Note that their responses have not been edited for clarity or misspellings, only for unnecessarily offensive language):

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If a penny fell off the Empire State Building and hit a person in the head, do you think that they would be killed?*

Yes Age:
No
Comments:

The Results
Outcome Age Comments
No 15-25 Hell no, I dont care what anyone else think
No 15-25 No way. For Christ's sake haven't you heard of the experiments done by <name removed - my partner>. He has proven it to the world!
No 15-25 Uh... is it a clean penny? can I write my name on it? hmmm.... I wonder what kind of pennies there are in Europe... -Jagoo
No, I guess not 17 Well, at one time I was naive, but now I have realized certain aspects of life. However, some are more difficult than others to act upon. In this instance, I now realize that the penny in no way could kill a person. It may hurt a little, but I doubt if it would be deadly. This has come indirectly as a result of the research. By comparing terminal velocities with other, greater and lesser massed objects, a penny could not possibly fall faster than around 8 m/s, which is not deadly.
No Over 60 damn it crazy ace
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Well, the person wouldn't be killed if they weren't on earth or if the gravity was a very smallere number like 2.2m/s2 but since you are probably basing this question upon earth, they would die, if the penny was made of copper or a substantially equal metal. otherwise, i would say yes
NCD
No 26-40 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Yes, of course it would. Its a freaking penny falling all the way from the Empire State Building. I would know, I took calculus with Lola.
No 15-25 I would hurt a lot though.
Status: RO
Yes Under 15 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 It would depend on whether the penny fell down with the face of it perpendicular or parallel to the ground.  If the face was parallel then continuous gusts of wind could easily cause it's force to to be depleted i.e. F=M*A.  However if it were dropped in windless conditions where the face was perpendicular to the ground it would most assuredly kill a person if it struck them in the head.  If it fell with the face downward in a windless condition...I still think it would have enough force to kill a person.  F=M*9.8 m/s  The skull is not dense enough to withstand a blow from any hard object that fell from the height of the Empire State building.
No 15-25 The equation for terminal velocity is the square root of (2mg)/(DrA) - where m is mass, g is acceleration due to gravity, D is the drag coefficient of a penny, r is the density of air, and A is the cross sectional area of a penny. The drag coefficient is about .5 for spherical objects and as high as 2 for irregular objects. I will assume that the drag coefficient for a penny is .15 (this takes into account its flat and edge surfaces). I gave the penny a surface area of a sphere with a a slightly smaller radius than the penny has. The penny will be spinning as it falls and thus will not fall exactly as a sphere would, but it will not fall edge-wise the entire way either (or face-wise for that matter). With these values... the penny will have a terminal velocity of 35.1 m/s - or about 79 mi/hr. If you think a penny traveling at about 80 mi/hr will kill you, then you're crazy. It might really really hurt, and break your skin, but you would not die.
Yes 15-25 it actually depends on which floor u threw it off.
and **** physics. its summer, hotdammit!
Yes Over 60 It really depends on the size of your ***** I think
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 No because the computers will crash in the year 2000 Leaving us clueless about the answer and anything else in general.
Yes 15-25 This is my theory:
They ****** will/would DIE because the poor mother ****** would be hit by this ****** penny and this penny would rip his right brian from his left brain and he would die, oh yes, he would DIE!
Yes 15-25 Last time I tried. . . .
Yes 15-25
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 I'm making this guess totally by something I heard a long time ago, which is that a penny dropped from that height can be embedded 6 inches into the sidewalk. That oughta have enough force to go clear through a guy
No 15-25 I really dont think so.. I think we need to go talk to dubson, and then use his resources to conduct an experiment.. Then.. and ONLY then will we know for a fact that a penny falling off of the empire state building would NOT kill a person
Yes 15-25 Well....actually it all depends on if the person on top of the empire state building was wearing underwear or not...if they weren't, then it would kill them; unless of course the guy who's going to get hit with the penny is wearing skis...Dynastar of course. That's what will really happen.
'The Fonz'
Yes 15-25 :p for the victim
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 Unless there was zero wind shear, and dropped edgewise without any type of spin, there is no possible way. Injur, definately. Kill, no.
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Prob'ly...
Yes 15-25 It's gotta be like a bullet right? It probably depends on how thick your skull is. Although from what I've seen of this web page it would probably kill you all. Oh well.
No 15-25 No, unless the penny was spinning about its primary axis of inertia (an axis perpendicular to the large, circular faces). If it were spinning fast enough, gyroscopic stabilization of the object may lend sufficient stability to maintain the penny in an attitude that would minimize aerodynamic drag. In such a situation, it could be foreseen that the penny would not have reached its terminal velocity by the time it reached the pavement below, and would be traveling at a rather large velocity, possibly large enough to cause major injury or death it hit somebody. Or, the answer would be 'definitely no', if the penny were merely dropped from the railing around the observation deck, and hit some poor 4-year-old who happened to be walking by underneath it, looking for someplace she could find a decent view from the top without being hoisted by her mother.
Yes 15-25 Yes (calcul the cinetic energy)
Yes 15-25 Cuz the person wouldhear it coming, going "WHHOOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!!!" and look up at it, then it would hit them in the eye, and go through their head. Really, I swear, it happened to me once.
No Under 15 I don't think it would kill anyone. My nutsack stretches all the way to the bottom of the empire state building, and one time i held my nuts out over the edge of the empire state building and dropped them over the edge. My nuts hit some lady on the shoulder and it really pissed her off, but it did not kill her. I know that my nuts are heavier than a penny so, i definetly think that based on past experience, that a penny would not kill anybody.
No 15-25 ever heard of air resistance dumb ass, TGFAR,
Yes 26-40 I s there any question?
Yes 15-25 Would you have a penny in the US we only have pennies in the UK and a few of our Sister countries! SkumSuck@GlobalNet.co.UK
Yes 15-25 That's one question I was always curious about
+++++++++++++++++++++++++NENNIE15@aol.com
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Due to air resistance, the penny should reach it's terminal velocity in only a few seconds if it is falling face parallel to the ground, and in less than six stories even if it is falling face perpendicular to the ground. Because of air currents, it is likely to fall in some combination of these two ideals, but still should not be able to kill anyone. Try this experiment (but don't blame me when you get kicked out of the amusement park). Go on a free fall ride at an amusement park. Place a penny in one hand. Note that while your hand shields the penny from air resistance, the penny's velocity and acceleration are almost identical to yours. Then pull your hand away. If the penny was laying flat, it is likely to decelerate so quickly that you can hardly see it as you fall past it, if it was standing in your hand you may be able to catch a glimpse of it. This show of air resistance's effect on a penny should clear up your doubts as to whether the penny could possibly kill someone.
Yes 15-25 Let's try it.
No 15-25 Grant, you are such a crazy guy! I don't know about your question, being an english major, but it's a scary thing to ponder. Remind me to not walk near tall buildings. Love, Missa
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Must be...otherwise ya wouldn't ask ;-)
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 I dont think a penny's terminal velocity can pack enough wallup to kill someone, unless they are old and soft. jiggs@bwn.net
No Over 60 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Assuming it was dropped, not thrown (which wouldn't make much difference anyway), and ignoring air resistance (a penny is fairly aerodynamic so this shouldn't throw us off much, unless, of course, its going to hit terminal velocity at some point, I don't know the terminal velocity of a penny though so I'll ignore that, might throw me off though) and lets figure that the Empire state building is about 300m tall and a penny weighs 5g (which may be off by quiet a bit). I figure, and I may have done a lot of things wrong but I think that the penny would have a bit less than a Neuton of force. So I'd have to say no.
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 The terminal velocity of a penny probably isn't all that great. Especially because the imperfections in the penny would probably cause the penny to turn end over end and slow down.
Yes 15-25
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40
No 26-40 Another stupid myth that will not die. I got it as a kid and now my son has brought home the modern version. His teacher says the penny would cause a small crater. Give me a break. For those of you who are sucked in by this myth: PAY ATTENTION TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU. Play in the wind with your hand out the car window. Hell, hold a penny out the window. Geez people, the world is an interesting place -- by now you should have a gut feeling for the penny thing.
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 the terminal velocity of a penny is about 15 mph. You can test this by setting the wind resistance equal to the gravitational pull. To do this tie a fishing string to a penny and put it out the window as you drive. When terminal velocity is reached the string will be at am angle of pie over 2 (45 degrees). You will be going 15mph
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 No, the velocity of the penny would not be great enough to cause severe damage. It would sting a great deal though.
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 . . . BUT ONLY IF THE PERSON HAD NO SKULL AND THE BRAIN WAS EXPOSED!!!
Yes 15-25 But only if the person had no skull.
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 41-60 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 It reaches terminal veolicty quickly because of the surface to mass ratio.
No Under 15 HELLL NO all u freaks who do think so screw you!
No 15-25 Yes - if i lived in a vaccuum...

No if the assumption is this is on earth under normal weather conditions - The terminal velocity of a penny is somewhere between 30-60mph... which is like throwing a penny with a good deal of force at someone near by you.. hurt a bit perhaps.. but wont kill.. Now, penny would be significantly more dangerous if you tied something to the end of it to stablize its flight path... like a toothpick?? might reduce the coefficient of drag significantly and double or even tripple the the terminal velocity.. which would mean 4x or 9x the energy in the penny as it made contact...
No 26-40 And this is the best proof:

"I don't think it would kill anyone. My nutsack stretches all the way to the bottom of the empire state building, and one time i held my nuts out over the edge of the empire state building and dropped them over the edge. My nuts hit some lady on the shoulder and it really pissed her off, but it did not kill her. I know that my nuts are heavier than a penny so, i definetly think that based on past experience, that a penny would not kill anybody."

plus, it made me laugh.
No 26-40 You're embarassing Galileo & Newton. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! 9.82m/s2....air resistance...ya gotta remember the high school physics.
No 15-25 Definitely would leave a lump though.
Yes 15-25 Yes. If you break the problem up and determine what the terminal velocity would be if the penny was falling on its face(which you can get a crossectional area of) and then determine what it would be if it was falling on its edge, maybe you could determine some upper and lower bounds for the penny's terminal velocity. After getting an approxcimate value, you could use that to see how much psi the penny would be exerting when it hit the person. I think you would be rather suprised when you compare the value to the strength of a person's skull. The psi of the penny is a very imporant factor in this problem. A large blunt object traving at 30mph might not kill you but there are some smaller metal objects that would.
Yes 15-25 If you aim on killing a person with a penny: The key lies within spinning it at a high RPM (like a 50xCD-Rom) and then letting it go with the edge of the penny facing downward. This way a penny will remain stable and won't flutter. There would be far less air resistance and therefore the penny will fall faster. Also the impact will be more dramatic, since the mass of the penny is concentrated on a thin line instead of a round area. This way it would be more like splitting a skull rather than smashing it. (this even works if there is wind) For people, who didn't get it: imagine a frisbee. PS: There are no pennies in Continental Europe-we got cents; If the gravity on earth would be higher, the air-pressure at see-level would be higher too -> more air resistance -> no effect;
No 15-25 Doug's always right!
No Under 15 No it wouldnt because think of hail it falls and from a alot farther and there alot bigger and it doesnt kill alot of bastards
No 15-25 NO! A penny weighs 3.1 grams. Using a Cd of 0.3 (resonable for this problem), and assuming that the penny fell edgewise all the way down (which would give it the maximum velocity at impact) the projected area would only be 19 mm^2. Then setting using the forces of gravity and drag, to find the impact velocity, one can show...Knowing that the Empire State building is 381 m tall, the penny will strike the ground at approximately 5 m/s or 11 miles/hour.
No 15-25 It depends! Is this a classy or trashy HOOKER throwing her life savings off the top of the empire state building?
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
  26-40 What size battery thrown off the Empire State building would kill someone? Would it have to be a D cell or would a triple A do it?
No 15-25 umm NO you can not kill someone with a penny falling off the empier state building i already read the conclusion and its a NOOOOO!!!!!
check it out......CONCLUSION-reject the hypothesis and instead accept that a penny falling at terminal velocity will NOT kill a person.........Straight from the experts!
No 41-60 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Is it a Canadian penny? If so it probably wouldn't hurt a damn thing!
Yes Under 15 Yes, because the penny keeps accelerating at 9.8meters per second per second.
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 Anyone who says "yes" shouldn't be aloud to reproduce or vote.
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 because there is a maximum speed that the penny could achieve in free fall. I believe that this would nit be fast enough to kill someone.
Yes 15-25 It would hurt like hell, but it wouldnt kill you unless you have a mushy democrat head. At the paintball field that I play at, they limit muzzle velocities to 280 feet per second. Thats about 190 mph. It can hurt getting hit at that speed but I have never had more than a welt. Supposedly, if you crank up the speed, you can actually break the skin. According to research that I did on the net, terminal velocity, the fastest speed at which an object falling will go due to aerodynamic drag, of a falling penny is about 200mph. Thats not much faster than a paintball. Yes it could hurt, and potentally break the skin, but go through a persons skull? Only a democrat!!
No 15-25 Should their data be correct, I'd think not. Honestly, I think the real issue is how fast must a penny go before it punctures the skull; and how is it affected by its landing head, tails, or side, as well as its rotational velocity, date of mint (1982 density or not,) age of individual (softness of skull,) hair style (cusioning agent,) and intent of the thrower. Only then can we really know for sure.
Yes Over 60 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Terminal Velocity isn't just a dos game
No Below 15 No it wouldn't because the amount of gravity is equal speed wherever it is dropped, it will never speed up higher than usual. Also the penny may create a drag. ??
No 41-60 Great Physics Question!
Yes Under 15 YOU KNOW WHAT? I LIVE RIGHT NEXT DOOR. LETS GO SEE
IT WORKED! I PROVED YOU GUYS WRONG!!
Yes 15-25 go f**k yourself
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 And why the hell not? It's so damn high, you could prolly drop a friggin' sliver of metal and it would kill someone
Yes 15-25 when someting falls from a high point like the Empire state building the penny will build up a velocity that is great enough to puncture the skull of a human head. and you people are wrong in saying that it cant because yall are stupid s@#t heads
Yes 26-40 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 Great Physics Question!
No 26-40 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 ok first of al all you little a****le dont know s**t it would abviously injure the bastard it landed on quite well but it wouldnt kill ihm u dumb f***s and it would also depend on the height it was dropped from it says fell of the empire state building not off the top of it learn to read u f****n lil bastards
No maybe if the pennie was dirty though and it cut you, you might get infected and die
Yes 41-60 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 oh my god it cant f*****g kill you if you think it can your a stupid ass licking hornse f*****g s**t head!
No Over 60 not a chance sonny...
No 26-40 Great Physics Question!
Yes 41-60 Great Physics Question!
No Under 15 Great Physics Question! Because of the wind it would hit the side of the building
Yes 41-60 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 No they have a low terminal velocity and would only sting pretty good not penetrate
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 ma=-mg+b(v^2) //F(total)=F(gravity)+F(air drag)
a =-g + (b/m)(v^2)
Hence:
- the smaller the mass -> the less gravity has an effect on acceleration.
- acceleration decreases as velocity increses
Finally:
- only a maximum velocity can be reached(terminal velocity), which is not very fast.
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 41-60 The penny would start to tumble. Way too much air resistence to do any damage.
No 26-40 Enuff already...lets try it!
No 41-60 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 It would kill you damnit
No 15-25 Wow! thats very interesting a couple people say yes a couple people say no, but what is the rite answer? The terminal velocity of a penny of my understanings is apx 15mph, and do you think thats enough to kill some-one? Hell no! Mabye if you dident have a skull. I have another sugestion for all you who dont beleive me yet go to www.google.com and search "Myth Busters" download a little video clip and watch for yourself ;) And yes it wouldent kill some-one! Personaly ive always wanted to drive a tow-truck off the tip of the empire state and hop out of it and see its terminal velocity, alright well, I tried to clear things up
No 41-60 I'm thinking that even if the penny fell in a vaccum and landed edgewise, it would probablly do little more than break the skin... of course the vaccum probablly would.
No 26-40 It depends from what country the penny came.
No 15-25 NO everyone is an idiot who thinks so...people are ignorant
Yes 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 15-25 Good question. Probably not, but I think it would hurt like Hell though.
Yes Over 60 Great Physics Question!
Yes 15-25 it seems that many people dont understand physics... in f=m*a the "a" isn't gravity when saying the force on someones head. the a comes from the penny decellerating when the penny hits the skull. assuming the penny does not go through the skull, this would mean that the penny goes from its terminal velocity to zero in a distance of about a centemeter.( or a lot less). And there is no "if its sideways". The penny will naturally take the path of least resistance, meaning it will have the face perpendicular to the ground. the terminal velocity would then depend on the force acting on the skinny side of the penny, and also slight drag forces on the face of the penny. assuming the upper limit on the force on the penny can be set by viewing it as a rectange, the bottom side of which is the 2d projection of the side of the penny, we can approximate the force of the air on the penny. The dimensions of this box would therefore be 2cm by 1 mm (by what I found online) or an area of 200mmsq. An equation for approximate terminal velocity is : v=sqrt(2*m*g/c*density of air*a) where c is the drag coeficient, which we will assume is 1. Penny weights varry depending on when they were made. We will assume the weight is 3.1 grams. the density of air is about 1.2929 kg/m^3 from this we can calculate the velocity which comes to be about 235 m/s (plug it in...i could be wrong). For this to come to rest in one centimeter, assuming a constant force, 235^2=2*acceleration*.01m therefore acceleration =2,761,250m/s^2...a huge accleration. f=ma=3.1g*a=.oo31kg*2,761,250m/s^2=8559 Newtons. I'm sure a skull can not withstand that. However, The brain might not be delecate enough to be harmed by a penny, even though serious injury would result. Also If you assume the person is french, these calculations would be off, since the skull thickness would be about 8 centemeters instead of 1. In this case the survivability rate would be high. Also the terminal velocity higher up would be less...therefore it would have a different velocity on impact than otherwise assumed, since it would have to be decelerating to match the instantanious terminal velocity
Yes 26-40 Yes, it COULD kill a person: of shock over why would anyone throw money at him/her - is this a bribe, is this a warning??? What could it beeee, what could it beeeee? A down payment for a hitman?
Other than that, if the receiving head belongs to a placid person with no existential drama, no way the flying penny could kill.
No 15-25 I catch falling penny's professionally for a living and have not been hurt yet, except for the eye thingy that time.
No Under 15 Great Physics Question!
Yes Under 15 It would accelerate to high speed and embed itself in someones brain, hemoraging and killing.
No 15-25 Great Physics Question!
No 41-60 Great Physics Question!
No 41-60 Common myth...A penny simply does not have enough mass, inertia or terminal velocity to kill someone...maybe a cut or bruise
Current Statistics:
Yes: 43.7%
No: 56.3%

Note: This is not a scientific poll. Only those individuals coming to this page and who felt the need to vote have done so. Nothing prevents multiple voting and as such, this poll can not be interpreted to accurately reflect the beliefs of any population in general.

*Question previously phrased: Do you think that if a penny fell off the Empire State Building and hit a person in the head that they would be killed?