system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are smaller animals generally able to survive high falls with little damage compared to humans?

I just saw a mouse fall from the top of my stair case to the bottom and still manage to run away, pretty much unharmed. This was a 18 foot fall at least, which would I imagine would cause a couple of broken bones to a person. How is this? Why are smaller animals generally better at surviving high falls compared to us humans?
gpt
You and the mouse accelerate exactly the same, at 9.8 m/s^2. Therefore, falling from the same height, you and the mouse would hit the ground at the same speed. This means the mouse caries a FAR lesser momentum than you, since momentum is the product of your mass and velocity. Since your mass is much greater, and the velocity is the same, your momentum is much greater.

The change in momentum can be approximately stated as the product of Force and time. Since the amount of time you guys are slowed down by the impact is the same, and since a much greater change in momentum must be delivered to you to stop you, you must experience a MUCH greater force than the mouse does.

Since the force on lesser mass organisms is much less than greater mass organisms, they're able to survive equally high falls much more easily if they have the same structural rigidity/ resilience.