Stuck Inside of a Plunging Elevator

This is one of my greatest fears, and one that, thankfully, is unlikely to happen, due to safety features, and brakes and counter weights. But can you imagine? According to scientists, if you’re in an elevator that’s hurtling towards a solid floor, the best thing to do would be to lie flat on your back on the floor. This would spread out the G forces evenly throughout your body and make the impact feel less severe. If you remain standing, several things can happen – a) your organs would still keep moving at the same falling velocity of the elevator and be wrenched around if not completely torn free, b) the kinetic force of the impact would travel up your legs and shatter them and probably some other bones too, and c) the final stop might cause the elevator car itself to come apart, causing grievous bodily harm.

If you find yourself in an elevator that’s dropping down to the ground floor in a hurry, you’d better hope that the safety features kick in. If not, then pray that the elevator sits snugly in the shaft so that the pillow of air below the car slows the fall and the broken elevator cables below provide some cushioning.