>>>My favorite cartoon trick: being on some sort of platform that falls from a great height, then simply stepping off right before it hits the ground. Cracks me up every time.
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>>I remember when I was a kid being convinced that if i were in an elevator and the cable were cut and we went into free-fall the trick would be to jump just before it hit bottom.
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>That would take away a bit of your kinetic energy, just as the railroad men jump backwards when jumping off a car. Depending on how well oiled your elevator shaft is, it may mean you end as a pancake a millimeter thicker than you would otherwise, or may actually save you a few fractures. Don't elevators have brakes for specially this sort of thing, so if it starts falling it should just block and dig in where it is?

Yes, they do. And even if they did not have these safety brakes, the closed elevator shaft would work like an air cushion or a shoch absorber. Not unlike when you block a bicycle pump.