BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / unless...what if the clue IS the speed of the fall?

**Posted by beekeeper** March 27, 2013 11:06 am

ETA To put it simply: he falls far, far slower than he should. Far, far slower.

And its very, very easy to calculate how fast he should have fallen.

ok in my post further down I noted that there is a discrepancy between how fast he should have been falling, given the height of the building, and how fast he actually does fall.

Basically he takes 8 seconds to fall a distance that, in freefall, would have taken him more like 2 seconds.

his makes a big difference to the speed. If he'd fallen 70 feet in 8 seconds, that is not too fast. Its about 3 metres per second or around 6 1/2 miles an hour. I'd say that's totally survivable. He'd probably be semi-conscious and the blood could well be real but so long as he was whisked away (and I don't think what Watson does is really taking his pulse) it would be fine. We know that the ordierlies must have been in league with someone anyway because no emergency services people would ever move a body that had fallen that distance without a neck brace.

He is also nearly upright and flailing for most of the fall, despite falling face first. As I understand it, if you fall face first you land face first. Freefall doesn't give you a chance to turn really.

The latter could simply be that I presume that the actor had a wire attatched to him which meant he was uprightish. Or it could be part of the clue.

Basically, one option is that something caused him to slow down a lot on that fall. Something acted like a parachute to really slow his fall. Something we can't see but which must have been planted earlier in the episode...(I want to say his coat but, awesome as it is, I don't think it would create quite enough air resistance. How cool would it be though if it was his coat!)

Ok I know that this is probably just cartoon physics going on. The fall needed to take 8 seconds for the drama to occur. But I love the idea that physics rescued Sherlock and it woudl not be the first time he'd used maths to get himself out of a conundrum. (his first case used, I believe, trigonometry as the denoument)

(I do really need to check the maths on this but...I'm 99% sure that there is some large discrepancy even if those figures-which I did in my head-are a bit out)

Last edited by beekeeper (March 27, 2013 12:04 pm)

**Posted by anjaH_alias** March 27, 2013 11:37 am

beekeeper wrote:
Basically, one option is that something caused him to slow down a lot on that fall. Something acted like a parachute to really slow his fall. Something we can't see but which must have been planted earlier in the episode...(I want to say his coat but, awesome as it is, I don't think it would create quite enough air resistance. How cool would it be though if it was his coat!)

That´s interesting, because one can see something white around Sherlock´s body when he is falling. There was nothing white before at his body, but as if something is oozing out of his clothes it is to be seen during the fall. I don´t think that it has to do with Benedict Cumberbatch´s real life stunt (why should it be white then and clearly to be seen?), at least I don´t hope so.
To the rest/the speed: It´s extremly ambitious and interesting, but I don´t believe that we have to be mathematicians to understand what happened . I, for one didn´t understand it really (but that could be my problem of course, I was never really good in maths or physics....).

Btw: John is taking his pulse (and the lady had difficulties to draw his hand away from Sherlock´s arm). He is dizzy, yes, but on the other hand a "very good doctor" and we should not forget that everything was particularly staged to deceive him (and some others of course, but definetely and in first line him).

Last edited by anjaH_alias (March 27, 2013 11:49 am)

**Posted by beekeeper** March 27, 2013 12:11 pm

;-) I am guessing it won't be this either but I do like the theory

I'll try and explain again, very simply.

He fell at a quarter the speed he should have. This is not really something controversial. Its based on the idea that all objects fall at the same speed, meaning that if you know how far off the ground he is to start with you can work out how fast he hits the ground. Its physics at a level we are taught at around age 15 in the UK.

He does fall much too slowly. The question is, why? Is it for dramatic convenience (I accept yes, probably). Or is it actually a plot point? In other words, do we, and John, see but not observe?

The only two things likely to slow down an object in freefall are 1. something creating air resistance, like a parachute, or b. something pushing the other way, like a jetpack.

TBH there is a massive hole in this which is where on earth he got a parachute (or a jetpack). That would have to have been planted somehow earlier and I can't remember it being. Although....the sheet? But then he is on the lam, and probably didn't have a sheet to hand.

Last edited by beekeeper (March 27, 2013 12:14 pm)

**Posted by anjaH_alias** March 27, 2013 12:21 pm

Oh, I think I understand now - thanks for the explanation .
I also think it´s very likely for dramatic convenience. And maybe also because the fall had at least three steps or cuts: The first one when he is jumping from the roof (according to Benedict Cumberbatch he is just jumping on another roof at first, one metre down or so, filmed at another part of St. Bart´s). Then the biggest part of the fall along the houseside (at which the actor was hanging at a rope), then the last one or two metres from whereever. So I mean he was not really falling and it could never have that velocity of a falling object, or? Unless you push the fast forward button ;-))

Last edited by anjaH_alias (March 27, 2013 12:25 pm)

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** March 27, 2013 1:12 pm

I actually really like that theory! Never thought about that before...

He does flail his arms quite a lot to slow down his fall and reduce the impact of landing onto whatever it is he's landing into.

**Posted by AndyO.** March 27, 2013 1:52 pm

beekeeper wrote:
Is it for dramatic convenience (I accept yes, probably).

I think it is.
In other episodes similar things happen quite often. Something happens too fast or too slow and it doesn't really have any important meaning.

A parachute is a bit stupid idea. There was not enough time for the parachute to open and help Sherlock slow down and then disappear quickly enough not to be seen by John.

**Posted by beekeeper** March 27, 2013 3:28 pm

Well I am inclined to agree its dramatic effect more than anything.A two second fall would not be nearly as suspenseful. OTOH I thought I'd better post this because if it turned out that this was what it was-and I was at least partly right-I would absolutely kick mysefl.

Andy-"A parachute is a bit stupid idea. There was not enough time for the parachute to open and help Sherlock slow down and then disappear quickly enough not to be seen by John.".

Well obviously not an actual parachute, I mean something that acted as a parachute, parachute as a general noun iyswim but I could have been clearer. There is clearly no parachute opening in the scene. Its rather that he might be doing something to increase the drag.

I've looked at the stills again and there is nothing that looks like a parachute except one thing-his coat is consistently flapping in an odd way above him. But I really can't see anything there to increase drag. And if you were falling 70 feet your coat might well flap a bit.

I've also noticed something else. We see his body falling right up to the point where he is nearly past the first floor. Meaning we are looking at only around fifteen feet or so unaccounted for even if he miraculously falls onto a truck.

One small thing-he doesn't seem that badly injured given the height he's fallen from (and the fact he's fallen onto his face). In fact he seems to move over directly after the fall. His limbs don't seem obviously broken.

I dunno, maybe the one in Jonathan Creek is the best "we dug out the pavement in Whitechapel Road to a depth of fifteen feet and added a concealed trampoline". Or maybe the Doctor was involved.

Or maybe he just had a concealed bungee wire or something.

I don't think moving his limbs would slow him down that much-actually keeping them still but spread out might be his best bet-but you never know, it could be baritsu or something ;-)

Last edited by beekeeper (March 27, 2013 3:34 pm)

**Posted by beekeeper** March 27, 2013 4:01 pm

I am definately reading too much into this I suspect . I doubt the writers sat around calculating the physics of the thing. I doubt they were saying "but after 7 seconds he'd reach terminal velocity anyway.". I bet they just said, "ok lets film it so you can't see he falls into a truck of laundry and rolls off.". But you know, I can hope