No, a coin falling from the Empire State Building cannot kill a pedestrian and is unlikely to even penetrate the skin. When an object falls to earth it gains speed, eventually reaching the point where its weight matches the drag from the ari and it stops accelerating. That’s called its Terminal Velocity. The mass of a penny coin is only about one gram, so its terminal velocity would only be about 67mph.

Uploaded on Feb 11, 2011

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Published on Oct 23, 2015

There are several facts and fictions associated with New York City's Empire State Building, like that one about a penny dropped from the top having the ability to kill someone on the sidewalk.

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