In the olden days there was the 'pedestrian-killing penny' myth.
It said that you might kill a pedestrian down below
by throwing a penny from the top of the Empire State building.

In Boeing's recent mishap with the 737-Max's escape door,
an iPhone was blown out of the plane.
The owner went searching for it on the ground,
and found it beside a pavement, undamaged,
and still open on the email he had been reading.
(Bless Apple's Find My app for it)

So the question:
Could an iPhone dropped from 5000 meter conceivably kill a pedestrian?

Related question: How does an iPhone fall?
Horizontal? Vertical? Fluttering randomly?

Jan
(My guesses: 1) No. And 2) The iPhone will fall stably rotating
about its long axis, like a loose wing of a children's toy plane)
Feel free to disagree.

On January 9, J. J. Lodder wrote:
> In the olden days there was the 'pedestrian-killing penny' myth.
> It said that you might kill a pedestrian down below
> by throwing a penny from the top of the Empire State building.

Depends on the target. I'd wager it's unlikely to
make a dent in Thomas Heger's head.

> Related question: How does an iPhone fall?
> Horizontal? Vertical? Fluttering randomly?

Unclear.
However, you'll be glad to hear, another old chestnut has
been unwrapped:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0143-0807/16/4/005/pdf

--
Rich