Physics Question. I’ve often wondered about this but I’m not sure about what the outcome would be as my answer has evolved. The scenario (Note the criteria can be changed to increase survivability): You’re in an elevator, say the cable snaps and there are no brakes and the elevator is free falling at 32 ft. per second per second. The height is high enough to kill you, say 50 stories or some number. Now is there a possibility you could survive the fall if you are somehow lucky enough to jump up once in the elevator at the exact moment before impact?
What would happen? Is there enough force in your jump to offset a potential death or would you break your neck into the ceiling of the elevator, or if you were lucky enough to not hit the ceiling would you still be killed as you’ve been falling at whatever terminal velocity and you will still hit the bottom of the elevator after it’s impact at nearly the same force as the elevator and all you’ve accomplished is delaying the inevitable by a few tenths or a hundredth of a second? Let’s assume the ceiling is super high, say 10 ft., would that matter?