Hang time: could you use a hose pipe to break a fall of 10 metres?

By Jonathan Hare2009-07-01T00:00:00

Source: Shutterstock

On screen chemistry with Jonathan Hare

In the 1988 film Die Hard we see Bruce Willis escape his assailants by jumping off the top of a tower with only a fire hose wrapped around his waist to break his fall. To help us discover what might happen to him we need to consider the material properties of the hose pipe, but first we need to do some calculations using a few basic physics equations, to work out the forces on Willis.

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