If you go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and drop a piece of paper can you really kill someone?

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zafir

The actual story is that if you drop a penny or coin off the Eiffel Tower you will kill someone - paper will just drift on the breeze.

I don't know where this story came from, it's been going around for years. But given the shape of the Eiffel Tower the coin would most likely hit it on the way down and just bounce. Likewise the wind at the top of the tower would cause the coin to lose speed. So, all in all, anyone hit by the coin might get a bit bruised but not killed.

Pepper

no, paper drifts gently down and does not pick up enough speed to cause harm

gen patton

yes, but only if it's wrapped around a brick.

Mary L

Sure, but only if the paper is wrapped around something like a rock when you drop it! Try this -- take a small piece of ordinary paper, throw it as high as you can, and watch it come down. I think your friend is either misinformed or teasing you.

msspunkransom86

probably not. but i was at the eiffel tower at kings island, and my dad said if you drop a penny it would probably kill someone. and that eiffel tower isnt even the height of the real one.

hopeseeker08

you mean crumpled paper?
i doubt you can kill somebody with that..
why not try an experiment without hurting anybody of course

Spike

No, if you dropped a coin off it wouldn't kill anyone either. After 500 feet it would reach its terminal velocity, thats to say it cant go any faster without an engine pushing it. Terminal velocity is about 125mph so a coin would hurt but not kill and paper wouldnt even be noticed.

Paco

The more common variant of this myth is that if you drop a penny from the Eiffel Tower (or a skyscraper) you will kill someone. Which sounds a little more plausible.
The previous person said that terminal velocity is 125 mph. That is the terminal velocity of a human being in the standard sky diving position. Head down terminal velocity is about 185 mph. At terminal velocity the force of gravity making you fall balances out with the wind resistance. If you sky dive you notice the feeling of stopping accelerating. This gives you a weird sensation of no longer feeling the force (acceleration) of gravity, but still traveling at 125 mph. This simultaneous feeling of weightlessness and extreme speed is the big thrill of free-fall that you can't get anywhere else in life (unless you pay $200,000 and fly in Virgin spaceship).
- A penny does not have a single terminal velocity since the fall is unstable as it flips over and over in the air. Terminal velocities range from 30 to 45 mph. A penny weighs only 2.5 grams. It is not enough speed to penetrate a persons skull, and kill them. It would only hurt. When you are skydiving and you hit raindrops they sting. That's why you wear goggles.
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A piece of paper would never have enough momentum to do anything. A roll of pennies might be lethal.

Jerry 71

Don't commit crimes in France. You'll be in for the hassle of your life and telling them you are American (or Canadian) won't help you. In their legal system, the burden is on you to prove that you are innocent (unlike in the US where the burden is on the prosecutor to prove you are guilty). And we haven't even begun to talk about how you would navigate the French language in a French court (much harder than those dialogues in high school French language classes).

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