Who would be more likely to survive a fall from a roof, someone who's 6'4" tall or someone 4 feet tall?

Question

Let's assume the taller one is about 60 pounds heavier. Do taller people have thicker bones to survive a fall?

Answer 1

The height doesn't matter; the weight does.  Death from heights has about a 50% death rate at 30 feet. Force equals mass times velocity so twice as much weight would be twice as much injury.  The broken bones wouldn't be lethal as much as the internal injuries.

Answer 2

The 4 foot person would be more likely to survive

Answer 3

I don't think taller people have thicker bones or anything, it depends on their calcium levels...but i definately think the 6'4 person would more than likely survive as opposed to the 4 foot person. I'm only assuming this because someone who is 4 foot seems to be  more fragile..since everything is smaller.

Answer 4

onto concrete or on grass/dirt/shrubs?

Answer 5

Their proportions being equal, the shorter person would be more likely to survive.

This is because the force of impact is proportional to weight, which is proportional to volume, which is proportional to the CUBE of linear size.  Meanwhile, tensile and compressive bone strength is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the bones, which is proportional to the SQUARE of linear size.

Thus, as the person gets larger (all other things being equal), their bones get stronger at a slower rate than the forces they will have to endure in a fall.  This is also the reason that small insects are able to lift more than 50 times their own body weight.

Answer 6

Depends on how tall the roof is from the ground.

If it is like an average business building, no one could survive.

Height and weight has nothing to do with who will survive.

Answer 7

Is anybody wearing a parachute?