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Dropping things from high places

Dan S
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You probably heard about the guy who found the iPhone that supposedly fell out of the Alaska Airlines jet.

an-iphone-supposedly-survived-fall-from-airplane-v0-nrgof7m0p4bc1.jpeg


That reminded me of this Wyler ad from the 60s.

seattle-wyler-zoom.jpeg
 
Zman4eva
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This would be a great ad for Apple.

Meanwhile, someone drops their iPhone 3 feet and it shatters the screen.

broken-iphone-screen-fix-1.jpg
 
sathomasga
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That is impressive. I wonder what surface was on the ground. Soft grass or hard pavement?

(Coincidentally, my strapless Apple Watch Ultra fell off the top shelf in the locker room yesterday. A fall of about 8 feet onto tile flooring. No damage at all as far as I can tell.)
 
Dal Cais
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The fact the phone was on Airplane mode, assisted in it's successful landing
 
Omegafanman
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I would say these get my vote..I imagine their watches also made it….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulović

My favourite is :-
Rear Gunner of SR-Z Jack Worsford. His personal experience must be considered one of the ‘Miracles’ of the War. The Tail of his Lancaster was severed from the Main Fuselage in mid-air. With his Parachute still in the Main Fuselage, Fortunately for him, the Twin Lancaster Tail assembly saved his life, spinning to earth like a Sycamore Seed and after hitting Overhead Cables & Trees he survived to spend the rest of the War in Captivity. https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/airmans-great-escape-4850549
 
Tony C.
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As I have mentioned previously, I have a friend who grew up in Angola, and he recalls a promotion that Certina organized which entailed dropping DS watches from a helicopter, and showing the onlookers that they continued to function! Here's a related ad - yes "only" a 400 foot drop, but onto concrete:

DSheli.png
 
Omegafanman
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Tony C. Tony C.
As I have mentioned previously, I have a friend who grew up in Angola, and he recalls a promotion that Certina organized which entailed dropping DS watches from a helicopter, and showing the onlookers that they continued to function! Here's a related ad - yes "only" a 400 foot drop, but onto concrete:

DSheli.png

Define unscathed …… some new physics at work here … unless boxed for the drop ;0)
 
Dan S
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An Omega SMP300 would do really well at these tests as long as the helium hadn't leaked out of the valve.
 
pdxleaf
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Dan S Dan S
You probably heard about the guy who found the iPhone that supposedly fell out of the Alaska Airlines jet.

an-iphone-supposedly-survived-fall-from-airplane-v0-nrgof7m0p4bc1.jpeg


That reminded me of this Wyler ad from the 60s.

seattle-wyler-zoom.jpeg

Dan should get some kind of WIS golden globe award for connecting the Alaska Airlines near disaster to watches.

👍 👍
 
Walrus
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I read an article about it the NTSB showed up at the scene they actually stated it was not the first time this has happened. I’d like to know the phone case maker and screen protector. Perhaps a watch case could be made out of the same materials.
 
Aroxx
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How long does it take a phone (or watch) to reach terminal velocity?
 
BlackTalon
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Would need to know the dimensions of the phone (plus case, if it has one). Also need to know the density of the phone/ case combo. That allows the coefficient of drag to be calculated. From there terminal velocity can be calculated, and since acceleration due to gravity is a constant rate it's easily to figure out how long it takes to reach that velocity.

Searching around the interwebs, terminal velocity of mobile phones seems to vary from about 54 to 89 m/s. Acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/second sq. Velocity = Time x acceleration, so Time = V/ A. So the time to reach terminal velocity is between 5.5 and 9.1 seconds.

(please note I did this using SI units so those not good with math could follow 😁)
 
Dan S
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BlackTalon BlackTalon
Would need to know the dimensions of the phone (plus case, if it has one). Also need to know the density of the phone/ case combo. That allows the coefficient of drag to be calculated. From there terminal velocity can be calculated, and since acceleration due to gravity is a constant rate it's easily to figure out how long it takes to reach that velocity.

Searching around the interwebs, terminal velocity of mobile phones seems to vary from about 54 to 89 m/s. Acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/second sq. Velocity = Time x acceleration, so Time = V/ A. So the time to reach terminal velocity is between 5.5 and 9.1 seconds.

(please note I did this using SI units so those not good with math could follow 😁)
And to calculate the approximate distance, take half the terminal velocity and multiply by the time. As @BlackTalon noted, this is all pretty approximate, not only because the parameters are estimates, but also because the time calculation neglects drag.
 
Pvt-Public
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BlackTalon BlackTalon
Would need to know the dimensions of the phone (plus case, if it has one). Also need to know the density of the phone/ case combo. That allows the coefficient of drag to be calculated. From there terminal velocity can be calculated, and since acceleration due to gravity is a constant rate it's easily to figure out how long it takes to reach that velocity.
Searching around the interwebs, terminal velocity of mobile phones seems to vary from about 54 to 89 m/s. Acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/second sq. Velocity = Time x acceleration, so Time = V/ A. So the time to reach terminal velocity is between 5.5 and 9.1 seconds.
Now I need a damn drink! ::facepalm1::
 
Pastorbottle
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There could well be other factors that we can never know……for instance, given that a whole tot of stuff got sucked simultaneously out during the decompression event it could’ve entangled with a whole lot of other debris which could potentially have had sufficient drag as to slow its descent, and come loose shortly before impact or even bounced free of the debris upon impact.
We will never know
 
ghce
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Tony C. Tony C.
As I have mentioned previously, I have a friend who grew up in Angola, and he recalls a promotion that Certina organized which entailed dropping DS watches from a helicopter, and showing the onlookers that they continued to function! Here's a related ad - yes "only" a 400 foot drop, but onto concrete:

DSheli.png

Yeah but is that a real test?
Hey my watch survived but I am now a squishy leaky blood bag and if I was alive I could tell the time ::psy::
 
Pastorbottle
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ghce ghce
Yeah but is that a real test?
Hey my watch survived but I am now a squishy leaky blood bag and if I was alive I could tell the time ::psy::
If you were alive, you’d probably have more pressing things to consider than the time!
 
pdxleaf
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Pastorbottle Pastorbottle
If you were alive, you’d probably have more pressing things to consider than the time!

Not if it had a tachymeter.

"Finally, I can use it!"
 
Pastorbottle
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
Not if it had a tachymeter.

"Finally, I can use it!"
Of course that’s assuming you have the piece of mind to press the pusher at both the precise start of the descent and the precise time of 1st impact, then you would also need to know the exact distance of the fall, in order to factor in the elapsed time for an accurate average speed.
 
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