The Empire State Building Penny Drop: A Harmless Myth

A popular urban legend claims that dropping a penny from the top of the Empire State Building can kill a person below. This myth has been perpetuated through media and conversations, but scientific analysis and experiments show it to be false.

The Empire State Building stands at 1,250 feet, and the idea is that an object dropped from such a height would gain immense speed, potentially becoming lethal. However, physics tells a different story. When an object falls, it is subject to gravity but also to air resistance. For a small, light object like a penny, air resistance quickly brings it to its terminal velocity, around 25 miles per hour, which is not fast enough to cause serious injury. According to HowStuffWorks, a penny’s light weight and tumbling motion prevent it from reaching deadly speeds.

The television show MythBusters tested this myth by dropping pennies from various heights, including from a helicopter at 1,000 feet, and found that pennies could not penetrate ballistic gel, which simulates human flesh, as noted in Brainly. No recorded incidents exist of anyone being killed by a falling penny from a skyscraper, and the likelihood of a penny hitting someone is low due to wind and the building’s design. This myth persists because it combines the allure of a famous landmark with the fear of falling objects, but the physics reveals that the danger is exaggerated.