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[Phys-l] Almost Killed by a Falling Grapefruit



Does everyone know this story?

The great catcher and Brooklyn Dodger manager Wilbert Robinson thought he was
the greatest catcher ever, and bragged that he could even catch a baseball
dropped from a great height, like from an airplane. To test him, aviatrix Ruth
Law was hired on March 13, 1915 (during spring training) to drop a baseball from
her plane onto the beach at Daytona Beach, where Robinson was poised to catch
it. Unknown to him, Casey Stengel, a practical joker, gave Law a grapefruit to
drop instead. When it came hurtling down, Robinson managed to get right
underneath it, holding his glove over his head and, of course, when the
grapefruit hit it splattered all over him, and he thought his head had been
split open by the baseball. Only when he saw how all his players were roaring
with laughter did he realize a joke had been played on him.

What's the approximate terminal speed of a grapefruit dropped from 525 feet?

Laurent Hodges