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You are here: Home / Science / If you dropped a penny off the top of the Empire State Building, would it leave a hole in the sidewalk?

If you dropped a penny off the top of the Empire State Building, would it leave a hole in the sidewalk?

March 18, 2020 by Karen Hill

We’ve all heard the story of the penny falling from the top of the Empire State Building and slicing its way through a parked car (or a pedestrian) below.

It never happened, no matter what Jimmy Doofus in the fifth grade may have told you. Have you ever dropped a coin into a wishing well or fountain?

You’ll notice that it doesn’t drop straight down to the bottom, but zigs, zags, and flutters all over the place, often landing quite a distance from where you thought you were dropping it.

The same thing happens in air. Because of air resistance and the penny’s not-very-aerodynamic shape, a dropped coin flips, dips, and spins during a free fall, slowing the speed of its fall substantially. In fact, pennies fall slowly enough, —just under 80 mph—, that people standing below could potentially catch them, though doing so would likely hurt their hands.

And as for the person who dropped the penny, their clean criminal records would be pretty banged up as well (since dropping anything from the Empire State Building is highly illegal).

A penny would only reach a high enough speed to cause damage below if it were falling in a vacuum, or staying perfectly on edge all the way down—a virtual impossibility, unless you customize your coin by adding weight and stabilizing fins.

Related Facts

  • Would a Penny Dropped From the Top of the Empire State Building Fall Faster When Dropped Flat or On Edge?
  • Would a BB Dropped From the Top of a Tall Building Kill Somebody If It Hit Them On the Head?
  • What Is the Tallest Building In the United States and Is the Empire State Building the Tallest Building?
  • Can you catch a baseball dropped off the Empire State Building?
  • Could a Penny Dropped off a Skyscraper Really Kill Someone?
  • How did architects and engineers decide how tall to make the Empire State Building?

Filed Under: Science

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Can you catch a baseball dropped off the Empire State Building?
Next Post: How far is a “Roddenberry” and how much shorter is it than a light year? »

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