Why does the iPhone “survive” a fall from a plane, but yours breaks when it falls out of your pocket?

Last week, an Alaska Airlines plane was involved in a strange incident. Shortly after takeoff, the door of one of the cabins fell off, creating a hole that caused the explosion. depressurization airplane and suction of various objects, which flew away, causing confusion and horror among the passengers. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but some people admitted that they lost their personal belongings. Some have yet to emerge, others have been found in incredibly good condition, such as iPhone 14 pro with a barely noticeable scratch discovered shortly after the incident by a man walking in the area. It’s strange that this could happen, because many of us know what it’s like to throw away a cell phone that breaks when it falls out of your pocket. How did he survive? iPhone that fell from a plane?

Since then, many people have asked themselves this question, so physicists and engineers took up calculations. There is actually an explanation for why a cell phone is more likely to suffer serious damage when dropped from a pocket than when dropped from a pocket. thousands of meters high.

Of course, it is important to consider that the iPhone that fell from the plane was also lucky. It is not infallible. It is normal for an object to fall from such a height to suffer some damage. But the truth is that there is no denying that physical This also works in your favor. Let’s see how to do this.

The role of gravity acceleration

Of course, when an object falls down, as in the case of an iPhone falling from an airplane, acceleration of gravity plays a fundamental role. Essentially, it increases the speed of falling. That is, the speed is equal to the initial speed at which it was thrown, plus the fixed acceleration due to gravity, multiplied by time. The formula will be v=vo+gt, where v is the final velocity, vo is the initial velocity, g is the gravitational acceleration, and t is time.

However, there is another factor in such a high drop: air resistance. This works in the opposite direction. That is, although the acceleration of gravity accelerates an object, windage this stops him. However, there comes a moment when they equalize and neutralize each other, so that the speed remains constant until the end of the fall. This is known as top speed and the iPhone was lucky that it fell from a plane, since it doesn’t matter whether it falls from a height of 4 kilometers or from the roof of a building. At high altitudes there is not much variety, since the speed does not rise above the maximum speed.

In an article for Middlephysical Rhett Allen Calculated the approximate final speed of a phone falling from an airplane. This, according to his calculations, will be approximately 27 meters per second. He also calculated what the speed would be if he fell from a man’s height: about 5 meters per second. It doesn’t make sense then that it might break if it fell out of your pocket, but not if it fell out of an airplane. Or do you have it?

The fate of the iPhone that fell from the plane

The iPhone was found in a field, among the bushes. For this reason, perhaps it did not fall directly to the ground, but softened a little earlier. That is, this would be the beginning brake before impact. This is where deceleration speed comes into play, so the object slows down. And since force equals mass times acceleration, if acceleration decreases, so does force. In this case, assuming that the bushes are measured about 50 centimetersthe final effect will be approximately 137 newtons, according to Allen’s calculations. It’s not too much, so it will most likely hold up.

At the moment, there are two important factors that saved the iPhone that fell from the plane. On the one hand, air resistance, for which it does not matter that he fell from such a height. He reaches top speed Which isn’t that crazy either. On the other hand, the possibility braking distances most importantly, thanks to the bushes.

But in fact there is another factor that is not a matter of chance: pressure. If an object breaks when dropped, it is not only due to the force with which it hits the ground. This also affects pressure. It is equal to the force divided by the surface area. That is, we already have the impact force, but the pressure it will exert on the object depends on its surface. The larger the surface area, the lower the pressure. And the phone that fell from the plane was an iPhone. It is light but wide, with large surface. Therefore, it is less likely to break than a smaller item.

This is very understandable if you think about the people who walk with snowshoes. If they walk straight with their feet, they drown. On the other hand, snowshoes that are longer, like the iPhone, put less pressure on the ground, so they don’t go deep into the snow.

The iPhone that fell from the plane was lucky, but physics also saved it. Anyway, just in case, try never to fall. From any height.