This evening, Laura and I listened to Tom Petty's "Free Falling" and became curious about just how far he free falls during the song. First, a little research: The terminal velocity of a sky diver is approximately 55 m/s . The acceleration of gravity on Earth is 9.8 m/s^2 . The song is 4 minutes and 15 seconds long. However, Tom Petty only starts free falling at 1 minute and 9 seconds into the song. And now comes the math: Tom Petty is in free fall for 4 minutes + 15 seconds - (1 minutes + 9 seconds) = 3 minutes + 6 seconds . He takes 55 m/s / 9.8 m/s^2 = 5.6 seconds to reach terminal velocity. He travels (9.8 m/s^2 * (5.6 s)^2) / 2 = 154 meters before reaching terminal velocity. Assuming that he stops free falling at the end of the song, he free falls for a total of 3 minutes + 0.4 seconds * 55 m/s + 154 m = 10 kilometers . We can only conclude that he jumped from a passenger jet at a cruising altitude of about 33,000 feet. Ouch.
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