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410 kilometers (254 miles) above the Earth.
That's where the International Space Station floats.
Oh my goodness,
I think I'm going to be sick.
Oh my goodness,
I think I'm going to be sick.
What if
you happened to be all the way up here,
but suddenly fell off
and had to skydive down to Earth?
What would happen?
The highest skydive in the world
happened from 38 kilometers from Earth.
The skydiver reached a speed
of over 1,300 km/h (834 mph)
and was in freefall
for nearly four minutes and 20 seconds.
Our jump from the ISS
would be 10 times as high as that one.
What would happen once you jumped off?
Well, once you jumped off,
it wouldn't be a simple descent
down to the ground.
That's because the ISS
is moving at 27,600 km/h (17,150 mph).
That's around 30 times faster
than a commercial airplane.
And if the ISS is moving at this speed,
you would be too.
So instead of going straight down to the ground,
you'd be circling the Earth
while moving at this velocity.
You could potentially circle it for years
before your velocity decreased enough
to descend down.
But since we only have a couple of minutes
left in the video,
we're going to give you a jetpack
with just enough fuel to stop the velocity.
Ah, much better.
But just because we've stopped you
from going so fast
doesn't mean this skydive would be any easier.
Thanks to Earth's gravitational pull,
you'd now be thrust towards the planet's surface
instead of around it.
As you plummeted down to the Earth's surface,
you'd be moving at over 2,000 km/h,
depending on your weight.
And at this speed,
you would be experiencing over six G-forces.
During the longest skydive ever,
the diver involved
experienced four G-forces,
That's comparable to a pretty intense roller coaster.
And fighter pilots experience
six G-forces when flying their jets.
But that takes a lot of practice
and only happens for short periods.
Suddenly experiencing six G-forces
with no prior practice
would feel like the most intense
thrill ride of your life.
And this would only be the start of your speed.
As you move through Earth's atmosphere,
your momentum would continue to increase.
You'd be moving so fast
that you'd compress the air in front of you,
causing it to heat up
to temperatures as high as 1,600 °C (2,900 °F).
As you continued heading toward Earth,
you'd be experiencing more
and more G-forces.
This would be like having eight times
the amount of gravitational force
you'd typically experience on Earth.
This kind of energy
would likely cause you to lose consciousness,
your blood vessels would burst,
and your organs would be shifting around.
This pain would be incredibly excruciating.
But if you could hold out for just a bit longer,
your velocity would begin to slow down
as the density of the air increased,
giving you more resistance.
If you somehow managed to
wake up around this time
at around 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level,
you could deploy a parachute.
And now you could
enjoy the sights as you come down to Earth.
Just remember that once you land
you'd need to get medical help immediately.
You'd likely have some internal bleeding
and maybe some broken bones
due to all the gravitational pressure you just experienced.
But what if
you weren't lucky enough to have a parachute
and fell out of an airplane without one?
Well, that sounds like a story for another WHAT IF.