In the soon-to-be-released film Skyscraper, a war veteran with a prosthetic leg sprints across the arm of a construction crane, launching himself in a seemingly insane jump toward the broken, open window of an adjacent building. The building is ablaze, and his family is trapped in a 240-floor building, above the fire line.
鈥淢ost scenes and many entire movies defy the laws of the current universe. In this case, the movie鈥檚 director was either lucky or had done his homework.鈥�
Dwayne 鈥淭he Rock鈥� Johnson plays the hero in the epic leap, and his movie Skyscraper already has the internet talking. After the release of earlier this year, skeptics immediately began to question the jump鈥檚 feasibility and had everyone asking: Is this humanly possible?
麻豆原创 Physics Professor Costas Efthimiou had the same question 鈥� along with strong initial doubts. Efthimiou teaches a popular class, Physics and Film, in which he examines science at work in science fiction, thriller and superhero movies. His classes have included studies of well-known scenes from flicks such as Armageddon, X-Men and Black Panther.
Running the Calculations
When Efthimiou sat down to carry out the calculations from Skyscraper, he was surprised to see the laws of physics do, in fact, allow a window of opportunity.
A jump like the one in Skyscraper requires a very specific combination of horizontal and vertical speeds, says Efthimiou, whose work on the topic is published in Physics Education. 鈥淢ost scenes and many entire movies defy the laws of the current universe. In this case, the movie鈥檚 director was either lucky or had done his homework,鈥� Efthimiou says.
鈥淕iven the character鈥檚 peak physical conditioning, professional discipline,聽mental strength,聽personal motivation and determination,聽the laws of physics assert that he has a real shot at making this jump.鈥�
Efthimiou estimated the crane in the movie to be roughly 20 meters in length, enough distance for a person to reach a horizontal speed of 9 meters per second, or approximately 20 miles per hour, before leaving the platform. Efthimiou found that if vertical speed reaches between 3.667 meters per second and 5.467 meters per second, which implies that the peak elevation is achieved between 0.686 meters and 1.525 meters above the crane, the jump is humanly possible.
Efthimiou asserts that the horizontal and vertical speeds needed for the jump would be comparable to a professional sprinter and a professional basketball player, respectively.
鈥淭here are a number of factors working against our protagonist in this scenario: his age,聽psychological stress, not having proper running shoes, not having past training for this particular jump,聽to name a few,鈥� says Efthimiou. 鈥淗owever, given the character鈥檚 peak physical conditioning, professional discipline,聽mental strength,聽personal motivation and determination,聽the laws of physics assert that he has a real shot at making this jump.鈥�
Reviewing the Formulas
Efthimiou intends to be among the first to watch Skyscraper following its July 13 release, and he plans to review his formulas once additional footage becomes available. He鈥檒l include the Skyscraper study in his fall classes.
鈥淧eople feel excited when they can explain what they see,鈥� says Efthimiou. 鈥淗owever, when I teach my students physics I always tell them聽that science is objective and should not allow their feelings to dominate over reason. They must scientifically verify any claim.鈥�
