BECAUSE I HAVE NO LIFE AND THIS IS REALLY BOTHERING ME…

The prevailing theory on Tumblr on how Sherlock survived the fall was that he managed to land in a laundry truck.

Benedict Cumberbatch is 1.84 meters tall and by using his body you can measure how far from the building he would have had to jump to make it into the truck. Roughly 7.32 meters.

Sherlock is standing on the Pathological Department of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. Google Street View shows what appears to be Routemaster double-decker buses which are 4.38 meters tall. The building therefore is roughly 14.6 meters.

You can use Pythagoras’ theorem to calculate the distance which is 16.33 meters. FYI: The World Record for men’s long jump is 8.95 meters and that was done with a running start. Sherlock flopped over the edge with no horizontal directional speed. I don’t think it’s possible for the laundry truck theory.

EDIT: how much time he had to “steer” towards the truck while falling.

Time = √ 2(height)/gravity

Time = √ 2(14.6m)/9.8 m/s²

Time = √ 29.2m/9.8 m/s²

Time = √ 2.98 m/s²

Time = 1.73 seconds

Sherlock was falling for 1.73 seconds.

Question: Can you jump off a 14.6 meter building and land in a truck full of laundry 7.23 meters away in 1.73 seconds?

EDIT 2: no one will read this because the post has been carried away by reblogs but I never said the body would fall in a straight diagonal line. I was just measuring the distance from the roof to the truck. Though now I realize I didn’t factor in the height of the bed of the truck so 16.33 is really useless. Disregard! Carry on.