Maryland: How was a toddler saved from the 15th floor balcony

There were many ways to describe a 2 -year -old toddler survived by a 15 -storey -free fall from an outdoor balcony in a bush in Maryland’s County. But every discussion quickly gives its place to the question: How was it saved?

« The first thing to realize is that it is not the fall, but the landing, » said Apette Hosoi, a physicist and professor of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute.

Hosoi teaches fluid mechanics, which, he said, covers the mathematics needed to study the way people fall. For more than 10 years, it has made the « natural fall » of suburbs.

In general, he said, the boy’s light weight and the landing point helped. « This bush absorbed a lot of energy for this child, » he said, talking to the Washoghton Post.

Toddler was injured but not lethal

Shortly after 2 pm Last Thursday, police and injured carriers were called to fall at Enclave Apartments, a complex of three high -rise buildings in the White Oak section of Montgomery. They treated the boy and transported it to a nearby hospital with injuries involving a broken foot and multiple internal injuries, according to police. They described the wounds as « life -threatening » and said the child was expected to survive.

Hosoi said that the basic type – that the force equals the mass – to accelerate it transfers an advantage to infants. This must be weighted against the power of a person who falls against the atmosphere – larger for adults and is calculated by multiplying a « constant resistance » to the square of their speed.

And a large factor is the top speed, or the maximum speed at which a person reaches when he falls from afar. Hosoi said that 15 floors were not enough for the child to reach their final speed and that it was falling with a rough 40 -mile/hour appreciation when it reached the bush, compared to what would be about 60 miles/hour for an adult.

And all these factors, Hosoi said, do not calculate how much of the child’s kinetic energy was absorbed by the bush.

If a plane mouse falls survive

Another way to see it, Hosoi said, is to take a step back and think of animals that are smaller than humans. « It turns out that there is a crucial size here – and it’s a rabbit, » he said.

Hosoi estimates that if a rabbit falls off a plane and landing on the soil or on something softer, the rabbit has a 50% chance of being injured. Beyond that, he said, you can consider the animals and humans smaller or larger than rabbits.

« The rabbit is the marginal case, » Hosoi said. « The mouse survives. The smallest rabbit survives. Larger than a rabbit probably leads to injury. « 

The child was lucky to land in the bush

Joshua Abzug, a pediatric orthopedist at the University of Maryland’s medical center, said the child was lucky to land where he landed.

The bushes were relatively small – one meter or less – but had strong branches inside them. And the size of the bushes, Abzug said, probably didn’t matter as their composition.

The branches probably absorbed the energy of the child falling and delayed it. One way to see it, Abzug said, is that the damage to the branches replaced more damage that could have happened to the boy’s bones and internal organs.

Abzug said a « softer » shrub may not have slowed him enough before he hit the ground.

« As these branches turned and broke, the power went there. They absorbed energy and slowed the child, « Abzug said.

Abzug also cited the child’s light weight – and the laws of physics – saying that it was not as quickly as an adult would fall.

One thing that is quite stable during falls, he said, is that people are trying to correct themselves as they fall, so that they land in their face and their hands to be spread out. Abzug said that as the child was falling, he probably did the instinctual thing by orthodox and halt the fall with his hands – as if he thought he might have just fallen while walking on the floor.

Bell to parents

Abzug, who is also a deputy chief surgeon at Maryland University Hospital, sees up to 150 children a week between his hospital and his outpatient clinic. Many have been injured by falls – by swings, in playgrounds, by trees and, more rarely, by windows or roofs. Even more rarely, he said, are children who fall from apartment balconies.

He emphasized that parents should always have in mind how strange and kinetic the children are – and take measures to prevent them from falling from any height. This includes the existence of locks in the windows, locks on the sliding doors and, depending on their age, the removal of children from trees, monkeys and other things far from the ground.

Katie Donnelly, a Pediatric Emergency Doctor at the National Children’s Hospital in Washington, said that parents sometimes overlook how a child’s natural curiosity can bring great falls to the game.

« The kids will push railings, climb, jump on them – being children. And from there they can easily fall, « Donnelly said. « The kids are smart and can climb things and go over things, » he said. « They are quickly and determined. »

Donnelly said parents should assume that no falls more than a few meters is safe and that any fall above one floor can be lethal.

Central Photo Source: Dan Morse/The Washington Post