If I drop an ant 30 miles from the sky, will it die when it hit the ground?

No.

no..but you will die trying.

IMPOSSIBLE - THE SKY IS FLAT!

No, because it will be dead long before it hits the ground. From that altitude...LOL

This.

Last Edited by Apotheosis Rex Khristos on 05/22/2010 01:37 AM

yes, it will freeze to death upon being released.

You'd have better luck with a cockroach.

It does not have the mass to be annihilated on impact.

This.

Sure it does. It doesn't have the speed or correct aero-dynamics to die though. Basically the ant will reach its terminal velocity, which won't be very fast, and will continue to fall at that speed. It will slow down as it hits more wind resistance.

Ants breathe through their skin, and do not require much oxygen to survive for long periods.

It is likely an ant dropped from 30 miles up would survive. It would not be much different than dropping it from 30-40 feet.

And no it would not burn up in the atmosphere. The most likely cause of death would be freezing. Past 20 miles up its REAL cold.

Exactly LOL 150,000 feet+ sure sure

+ radiation.

Not if it has wings...hehe.

It will freeze to death before it hits the ground.

The mass is what fucks something up in a fall.

Actually the little fugger would probably explode from the lack of pressure

A cockroach will live. It'd probably live if launched into space.

"15 million years later, a frozen cockroach finally thaws and revives on a desolate world to finally meet its destiny..."

Unlike us, insects are exoskeletoids, they have excellent resistance to low pressure environment.

I stand corrected then :)

you fucking guys

Long before that. Thirty miles is 18 miles out of orbit.

...repopulating the earth and evolving into the next sentient species.

I just did some calculations, and based on the terminal velocity x approx. weight, divided by air pressure (measured as a function of resistance against average slipstream rate in knots) - it becomes certain the ant would be lucky to hit the ground at all.

In fact, it could be several years before the ant hit the ground, if he were lucky, because of updrafts caused by temperature inversion at the 8-14 mile mark in the atmosphere.

That is also why jet planes fly to a certain height, as they get more natural lift in this slipstream with less effort, and can fly faster.

The ant may be held aloft above this slipstream, as his weight x velocity is insufficient to superceed terminal velocity required to counter the updraft naturally endemic to this slipstream.

Interesting but very, very weird.

Exactly, and don't forget the friction from the air that will limit the maximum speed. Poor ant is doomed anyway

Ah, but thats the wrong answer, although the facts may well be correct. Because it would be dead before it hits the ground, not when it hits the ground. LOL

Not if it's wearing a parachute.

30 miles up, is in space.

It's 100 miles to you reach orbit.