Building Height

Will the height of the building from which the penny is dropped affect the outcome?

Some useful search keywords might be:

  • kinetic energy
  • potential energy
  • terminal velocity
  • free fall

You would think that the taller the building the faster the coin will go, therefore the taller the building - the more dangerous the falling penny would be. Once the coin has reached its full velocity using all its potential energy, the coin will go no faster. In conclusion the building, in theory, only needs to be a height that will allow the coin to reach its full terminal velocity.

How will the velocity of the coin change as it falls from the building?

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License