Tadgear's Articles #7: Death by Water

In article 7, I talk about the common trope in video games of water saving you from great falls.

You see it in a good amount of video games. Minecraft, Terraria, The Legend of Zelda. They all have lands of great heights, and the quickest way down always seems to jump into water. After all, it has become its own sport in real life, so why can't these games implement it? The issue is that these games take the jumps to the extreme. Players could jump from 100s of meters above the water and leave without a bruise. This article is going to focus on the real-world consequences of these actions, as well as focus on some special cases.

First, some general background must be given to explain the situation. Energy exists throughout the universe. It is used to change matter's desire to stay unchanging, or inertia. When an object's state is changed though, that energy is expended. It's not gone, it has just transferred somewhere else. When a person jumps, the energy they used to jump is transferred into gravitational potential energy that is used to bring them back down. When that person hits the ground again, that potential energy is transferred out of the body and into the Earth. The person though, upon hitting the ground, bends their knees to soften the drop. That is because they could hurt themselves if they hit the ground with locked knees. The inertia in the body wants the person to keep moving. The bending knees allow the change in state to not be as sudden, slowing the exchange in energy and the toll on the person. Of course, the person can assist with this, but what they land on can also help. All matter in life can compress to a certain point. For example, rubber can compress more than steel can. The compression of the ground can also allow the change of the person's state to not be as sudden.

Uncommon knowledge however is that water has a very low compression rate. Gravity could be 150 times stronger, but the water will barely compress, still being over 99% of the original volume (Perlman 2016). Regular dirt and mud can actually compress more than water. That is why many skydivers recommend landing in an open field over a pond or lake. Many video games get this wrong, and maybe that could have an impact on why it isn't very common knowledge.

Now since that is covered, it is time for some special cases. One thing in particular I want to discuss: cats. Cats can survive great falls even on extremely hard surfaces. How would they respond if they were dropped into some water from a great height? Well, the big niche with cats is that when they fall, they hit the ground with all their limbs out (Nasaw 2012). Their biology assists with this, allowing for more and more of their body to spread out (Nasaw 2012). This lessens the consequences because there is more area for the potential energy to travel through. Humans can imitate this tactic, but it isn't as effective due to our biology compared to that of a cat's. Characters like Steve from Minecraft don't even attempt to imitate it, preferring a pencil dive instead. Despite all of this information above though, there still is consequences either way. The cat still gets hurt when hitting the ground. If a cat landed from a 100 meter drop into water. They will be hurt. They won't be as hurt as a human taking that drop, but it will still occur. Also even if they survive the drop, they still have to swim to land to stop themselves from drowning. Doing such a task isn't as easy with a broken leg, even considering if you know how to swim. The same goes for humans and practically all animals besides marine life. It's a double conundrum that barely anything can survive from.

Overall, don't try this at home. Don't even let your cat try it at home if you have one. Also, the mechanics of water in video games is perfectly justifiable. It adds to the complexity of a game and introduces new and interesting mechanics. Care like that in a game is well-appreciated. Hopefully, even more physics in these games can be played with to continue making the impossible, and hopefully more can be discovered in the real world to make the impossible, possible.

Sources:

Nasaw, D. (25 March, 2012). Who, What, Why: How do cats survive from falls of great heights. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved from bbc.com/news/magazine-17492802.

Perlman, H. (2 December, 2016). Water Compressibility. Water Properties. Retrieved from water.usgs.gov/edu/compressibility.html.

Author's Note

Sources in APA. Knowledge focusing on energy is from school and should be common knowledge.