On Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:33:50 -0700 (PDT), Joseph DeMartino
 wrote:
>On Sep 23, 4:15 pm, Sue in PA  wrote:
>
>> [How did] Sheridan survive that plunge into a 2 mile high chasm.
>
>Well, the "two mile high" part sounds dramatic, but a two mile fall is
>no more deadly than a fall of a few hundred feet.  Sheridan would have
>reached terminal velocity (about 195 km/h or 122 mp/h for a typical
>skydiver in free fall) in under 20 seconds.  Beyond that it didn't
>matter if he fell one more foot or sixty miles, he wouldn't gain any
>speed or be any deader at the bottom, *based on the distance* fallen,
>than at the point where for force of drag acting on his falling body
>exactly matched the force of gravity pulling him down.
>
>The unknown variables are the gravity and atmospheric pressure on
>Z'ha'dum, how much the atmosphere thickened (or thinned, or did
>neither) as he dropped and what effect the nuclear blast in the city
>above had on conditions in the shaft.  Any number of factors could
>have resulted in Sheridan's speed being markedly reduced before he hit
>bottom, including updrafts from the hotter interior of the planet.
>His survival does seem unlikely, but given some of the skydiving
>accidents people on *this* planet have survived, I wouldn't put it in
>the totally implausible column.
>
>Regards,
>
>Joe
I believe the line "Will you catch me if I fall" contains the
necessary hint... ;-)
Charlie
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