Squirrels can survive a fall from any height, at least hypothetically

Ada McVean M.Sc. — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Squirrels, in theory, can survive a fall from an object of any height due to two factors: their size and their mass. A force (such as the force of gravity) is calculated by multiplying mass and acceleration. The acceleration due to gravity on Earth is always roughly 9.81 m/s2, regardless of what object it is acting on. Squirrels are not very heavy—a grey squirrel only weighs about 0.5 kg—meaning that the force acting on a falling squirrel just isn't that big.

Force = mass*acceleration = 0.5 kg * 9.81 m/s2 = 4.9 N