What If You Fell Into Niagara Falls?

we're not sure how you did it but you got yourself a date not sure where to take her how about Niagara Falls one of the most romantic destinations in the world that's equal parts stunning and budget-friendly watch those hands now now we don't mean on her we mean on the boat there are very specific safety regulations aboard the boat to prevent you from ending up overboard and a few short minutes away from a 56 foot drop now I know what you're thinking surely no one has survived such a fall right before we answer that question let's brush up on our geography where exactly are the Niagara Falls Canadians everywhere may be disappointed to hear but their natural claim to fame actually spans over bits of the United States as well as Canada in fact Niagara Falls is part of a three waterfall group that borders between New York State and the province of Ontario the largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls also known as the Canadian Falls were these smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie entirely within the United States impressively the Canadian Falls measured 2,200 feet across with an average drop of a hundred and eighty eight feet while my Agra Falls aren't the largest waterfalls in the world it is thought to be the world's fastest moving about twenty eight million litres or 700,000 gallons of water travels down Niagara Falls every second this power can therefore produce large amounts of electricity today it produces about one-fourth of the electricity for the state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario that's enough to power over 3.8 million homes on top of that Niagara Falls is also said to provide 20% of the United States fresh drinking water it's other claims to fame include the fact that the New York State Park holds one of the oldest Flags still in existence captured in the war of 1812 by the British the flag still stands on display at Old Fort Niagara and of course there's the fact that Niagara Falls is the honeymoon capital of the world yeah you heard me right known for its romantic grandiosity it's often cited as the world's 8th wonder I wouldn't advise that you tell your date that just yet it might scare her off being that this is your first date and all but how do these Falls come to be according to geologists this natural wonder formed around 16,000 years ago during the last ice age as the glaciers in the area began to melt this allowed for water from the newly formed Great Lakes to carve a path through the Niagara Escarpment to the Atlantic Ocean although this seems like a long time ago scientists consider Niagara Falls an infant in comparison to other geological phenomena locations like the Great causeway columns in Ireland and KPG boundary in the Netherlands are more than 60 million years old why the Niagara Falls are a measly 16,000 the first reference of the Falls is said to have come from an account by Samuel de Champlain who met the indigenous Iroquois people in 1604 in fact the word Niagara is derived from the Iroquois and word Oni gara which means a thundering noise not a far-fetched name if you ask me you may want to get your eardrums checked after this boat ride however the first real documentation of the Falls came in 1678 from the French explorer Louis Hennepin who called the natural wonder a fast and prodigious cadence whatever that means people began to visit the attraction in the early 1880s and by 1885 the Niagara Falls State Park in New York was established and put on the map but the Falls greatest claim to fame arguably has nothing to do with its beauty rather it's more well-known for the people who have achieved or at least tried to at least great feats over its waters take the tightrope artists that crossed the entire three waterfalls in 2012 he received the go-ahead from both the Canadian and US government's but of course he had to carry his passport upon entry to the Canadian side of the Falls or David Copperfield who pulled the escape stunt of a lifetime strapped to a raft lit on fire you'll want to brace yourself for this one Copperfield would only have 60 seconds to escape from a yellow steel box that covered everything from his head knees suspended over wrap that was yeah you guessed it lit on fire with only a minute to escape until he was swept away into the rapid waterfalls Copperfield was meant to escape from the steel box and ride upstream on a jet ski that is until the raft tipped over the Falls but just when everyone thought that all hope was lost Copperfield emerged hanging from a helicopter just a few feet above the rapids and he loves to tell whoever will listen that his hair was dry the whole time before you get any adrenalin driven ideas you should know it's completely illegal to descend the Falls and on the off chance you survive the fall from over 160 feet you can expect a hefty $10,000 ticket according to statistics of all the people who've willingly sometimes even unwillingly descended the Falls about 50% of them survived some people descend without any protection whatsoever while others are reported to have been a little bit more should we say creative take Annie Edson Taylor the first known and recorded person to have descended the falls and survived interestingly enough her vessel of choice was a barrel her motives are reported to have been purely financial however she never made money from the adventure and then there are the miraculous stories of people falling into the rapids without any protection and coming out alive take the young 7 year old boy Roger Woodward who in 1960 went over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls after his boat capsized after being rushed to the hospital he was released after three days with nothing but a slight concussion but of course the young boy wasn't find a ticket worth thousands of dollars but Kirk Jones a man who descended the falls in 2003 can't say the same recognized as the first person to have luckily survived the drop without any protection or aid the story goes that Jones decided that day to swim 100 yards until he reached the Falls he may have been among the lucky few have walked away with his life but it came with a 23 hundred dollar fine and a banned for life from entering Canada and then there's the quirky story of a man and his best friend a turtle yeah you heard me right in 1930 Sonny and his owner George faithfully descended the falls one day and you guessed it a barrel somehow the 150 year old turtle survived the drop George wasn't as lucky so by now we've set the record store you can survive a fall into Niagara Falls but the odds aren't in your favor experts deduce that the feat only has a 25 percent success rate but look at it this way you now have tons of stories to share with your date not only will she be entertained but we're certain she's gonna be impressed by your brains too wait what are you doing I'm pretty sure that's not what you're meant to be doing look at the signs no this isn't worth it for a selfie it's not gonna impress her that much no watch out okay remain calm yeah that's not gonna work here the current is far too strong all right listen up we're gonna guide you through how to survive a fall over Niagara Falls or any big waterfall listen carefully your life depends on it first things first and I know this is hard but stay calm there isn't very much time between now and the drop so every second counts as I said unless you're Michael Phelps with super human capabilities there's no way you're swimming upstream those Rapids above the falls are known to be over 25 miles per hour and get even faster over the brink at almost 70 miles per hour just before you go over the edge take a deep breath prepare yourself by falling feet first to avoid head injury as you're falling tighten your muscles and wrap your arms around your skull to protect it just before you enter the plunge pool tightly press your legs together and shut your eyes and mouth to make yourself watertight for reference think of these summer olympics and how the professional divers tighten their bodies before going into the water now brace yourself now that you've surfaced swim downstream to avoid the falling water it'll be tough since there are lots of bubbles turbulence and darkness down there now it's essential that you get out of these waters as quickly as you can after all we wouldn't exactly describe Niagara as a tropical destination we're talking about waters in the 30 degree fahrenheit range experts estimate that you have about 3 to 5 minutes to get yourself out of the water before you black out from the cold in fact the mere shock of the cold could trigger a heart attack even in healthy people according to experts what truly saves you during a big fall like this is the angle at which you enter the water and if you enter feet first this is how most high divers do it take the world record for highest dive 1 77 feet which nearly matches niagra's 180 foot height and before you ask no we're not going to petition for this to get into the Guinness World Records it also hopes that you're in pretty good shape according to the world high diving Federation an athlete must be at maximum strength in order to succeed at diving because you have to tighten your muscles you need to be able to withstand a great hold despite things like fear and adrenaline which can be achieved through training and great strength if the body isn't at its maximum strength you better believe that the results could be gruesome in 1968 a study titled fatal injuries resulting from extreme water impact revealed the impact from big Falls could crush rib cages rupture heart and blood vessels and caused major organ damage yikes well I guess you're one of the lucky ones only three people who have slipped or jumped into the FASTA any protection have lived to tell the tale you may not have gotten that coveted selfie but it looks like your date is pretty impressed maybe you can convince her to stay next to you for these next few weeks is you recover from your concussion and while you do you can share your breadth of knowledge on how to survive a fall into Niagara Falls or if you'd like to switch it up a bit then check out any of our other how to survive videos we promise it'll be far more impressive than any plain old selfie until next time brainiacs [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 29,644

Rating: 4.8922558 out of 5

Keywords: how to survive a fall into niagara falls, how to survive a fall into waterfalls, David Copperfield, hydropower, honeymoon capital of the world, Annie Edson Taylor, Roger Woodward, World High Diving Federation, brainiac, cartoon, animation, animated, animated story, educational video, what if, infographics, did you know, facts, science, brainiard, what if you fell

Id: Efp7vnIhGGU

Length: 10min 3sec (603 seconds)

Published: Sun May 31 2020