Have you ever heard of Betty Lou Oliver incident? Betty Lou Oliver is a Guinness World Record longest survivor of elevator fall. On 28 July 1945, an American B-25 smashed into the 78th floor of the Empire State Building in New York, USA. The crash had sent pieces of engine like shrapnel into the building, cutting the cables of the elevator Betty Lou was put in. She fell 1000 ft. downward and finally, the elevator smashed into the basement, and Oliver had to be cut out of the mangled elevator. She could be die but all the lift cables - including the safety cable - were severed and the lift was literally in free-fall.

According to an article in Elevator World magazine, the impact was cushioned by the severed cables piling up inspring-like spiral on the lift shaft floor. The lift was also slowed down by air pressure in the relatively airtight lift shaft. So, in a state of free fall, both Betty and the elevator are weightless, and jointly approaching the bottom of the shaft at the same high velocity. Betty are in a similar position to an astronaut floating around in his capsule or spaceship, unable to stand or get a secure footing on anything without recourse to pull against.

To be more clear, free fall is defined as a motion under force of gravity. Ignoring air resistance and assuming g does not vary with altitude over short vertical distance , free fall is constantly accelerated motion. All object falling near the earth's surface fall with a constant acceleration due to gravity indicated by g .The accelerationg = 9.81 ms-² is always directed downward, towards the center ofthe earth. So to calculate free fall, there are few formula that you can use. Formula that can be used :

v = u + (-g)t
y = 1/2 (u+v)t
y = ut + 1/2 (-g)t²
y² = u² + 2(-g)s

Nurdeanna , Nur Dania Maisarah, Auni Fatanah , Nawwal Nadiah, Aina Suhaiza Mohamad Nazir

Date of Input: 21/07/2022 | Updated: 02/12/2025 | emma