Can A Penny Falling From The Empire State Building Kill You?

"The Simpsons"' classic bloodthirsty cartoon-in-cartoon "The Itchy & Scratchy Show," of course, isn't the number-one source of accurate scientific information. Nevertheless, it tackles the curious phenomenon of coin-dropping deadliness in the episode "Bart Sells His Soul." In the short "Skinless In Seattle," per hans anders on YouTube, Itchy lures his feline foe to the bottom of the Space Needle.

Awaiting him at the top, Itchy drops a coin towards Scratchy far below (defying a warning written atop that demands "Do Not Throw Pennies From The Tower"). The coin, as it falls, develops a flaming aura, and President Abraham Lincoln's face upon it contorts as though subjected to g-force.

The coin misses Scratchy, but burns a hole in the ground next to him. How much of this madcap action is remotely realistic? Well, not very much at all, it seems. According to Scientific American, coins do not increase in speed exponentially as they fall. Being buffeted by the air slows them down, and ultimately dramatically reduces their terminal velocity (a speed that is reached when the pace of falling no longer increases, per NASA). Depending on how they land, of course, they may well plink off someone's head at the bottom. It's possible to get a good ding, certainly, but you probably won't be killed.

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