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Daniel,
James. “Father and Daughter Rescue suicide Jumper as
He Lands Next to their Sailboat under Golden Gate
Bridge.” Capital Bay. The Samaritans, 22 May 2013.
Web.
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"The
Charlie Daniel Editorial Cartoon Collection | I
Can't Decide Whether to Jump or Wait for the Bridge
to Fall." Omeka RSS. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014
<http://kiva.lib.utk.edu/omeka153/items/show/991>. |
Suicide
When it
comes to such a spectacular piece of engineering,
oftentimes the negativity is not thought of. When
Chief Engineering Joseph Strauss designed the bridge
he said, "The Golden Gate Bridge is practically
suicide proof. Suicide from the bridge is neither
possible nor probable." Unfortunately the Golden Gate
Bridge is the number one suicide site in the world.
According to Blaustein, "The toll is about two deaths
per month, over 20 annually. The highest number in
recent years was in 2007, with 35 deaths." This heart
breaking number has lead to some simple calculations
of why not to jump of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The
Physics of Taking A Leap
After these few calculations, we can determine that if a person was to jump off of the Golden Gate Bridge, they would have about 3.7 seconds to think about how stupid their decision was. They would also reach a final velocity of 36.26 m/s, but not quite fast enough to reach terminal velocity. Assuming the person falls parallel to the water and that they would compress about 0.23 meters, then when the person hit the water they would impact with a force of 214,337.5 newtons. According to UCSB Science Line, the tensile strength of bones breaking is around 130,000 N per sq meter. In conclusion this means jumping off the bridge is not a safe or fun idea. It will result in serious injury or even death! Don't try it!