There’s the standard idea which is that you could certainly drown in that water, but there’s also a thing called surface tension. Soil is softer and trees have branches and whatnot to soften and slow your fall (just don’t aim for the trunk) but water has surface tension. Essentially, you have to break the surface before you can actually get into the water itself, and that can be quite difficult if you’re moving too fast. Surface tension can make water just as hard as concrete if you hit it at sufficient speed.
Water doesn’t compress or absorb the impact as well as other materials. We often experience water as this fun thing to jump into and swim around easily.
However, add a little speed as you try to manuever into and around it… and quickly realize water won’t simply glide around you anymore.
You can test this out by slapping the water with your hand and seeing how stronger slaps leads to a bruised hand. We also see this at the lake as people wind surf and ski behind boats. The water doesn’t let them simply sink down, but rather glide across the top as if it was snow or something more solid. We can further explore examples from people diving, and note how high divers land and what happens when it’s incorrectly done.
Here’s another look at the problem with landing in water.
[Live Science: How Did Teen Survive Fall From Golden Gate Bridge?](https://www.livescience.com/33221-teen-survives-fall-from-golden-gate-bridge.html)
Factors that help
* Age – Young Teens and Kids
* Physical – Being very healthy and active
* Impact – Relaxed Body with good positioning
* Recovery – Swim up for air, rescued quickly
* Luck – Less than 2% survive high falls
Ultimately, the reason for landing in the dirt or almost anywhere but water is a few simple things.
1. Won’t drown after landing
2. Absorbs some of the fall
3. Emergency services can find you, and help quickly
Have you ever belly flopped into a pool, or large surface of water?
That stings right, that’s because the water has surface tension, and it hates to be broken apart when something hits it at high speeds.
Imagine doing a belly flop 199 meters higher than you just did, it would pulverize most bones in your body, and rupture a bunch of organs, not a good idea
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