Comment by FerretDude on 23/07/2014 at 15:20 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)

View submission: xkcd: Snake Facts

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I think hitting the ground would kill them as well

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Comment by RufusStJames at 23/07/2014 at 15:54 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 direct replies

But i'd be interested in determining whether the cushion provided by every elephant but the top one in the pile would be enough to counteract the force of the top elephant traveling downward at whatever the terminal velocity of said elephant is.

Additionally, stacking all elephants in the world is only feasible if we use a properly balanced stack, so the largest elephant will be at the bottom and the smallest at the top. This being the case, a baby elephant will weigh significantly less than a fully grown elephant, and thus have a lower terminal velocity, whilst also having a smaller area of impact on the pile of elephant goo it will be falling into. Too much math and physics for me to figure out. Sounds like a what-if to me.