Re: Would you hit the ceiling in a free falling elevator?

Hello Darren.  I am glad to hear from you and love these types of questions. 
Keep asking them, you have an entire universe to explore.  Sorry the answer
took so long in coming. The Holidays were busy.  
Q.	Would you hit the ceiling in a free falling elevator?

A.	Yes

The explanation goes back to the year 1589 and a man named Galileo.  In his 
dispute with common beliefs of the time, he proposed revolutionary ideas about mass,
gravity and their relationship with one another.  These ideas were refined
and put to a classic formula in about 1684 by an English physicist named Sir
Issac Newton.  Newton laid the foundation of 3 laws of physics that explain the
reactions taking place in your question.  The physical laws in place concern many
factors, such as gravitational force, gravity, acceleration, mass ect.  An entire
area of study is devoted to these forces called mechanics and in your question
specifically relates to kinetics.

Lets look at your situation.  In Newtons 3 laws it is correctly stated that a mass
will maintain a given state of energy (such as that of motion) unless an energy of
opposite direction is applied to it.  To list this in some sort of order the following
is taking place.

1.	The elevator is attracted to the earth.
2.	You are attracted to the earth.
3.	The elevator has the force of a cable pulling in the opposite direction with
	sufficient energy to overcome the attraction of the earth.
4.	The elevator floor applies a like force on you and so both are traveling up
	at a given speed.
5.	Suddenly, the cable snaps and the opposing force of the cable is removed from 
	the elevator.  The elevator begins its plummet to the earth.
6.	However, you (not being a physical part of the elevator) are still traveling
	up.  That is until the elevator ceiling comes into contact with you and changes
	your direction.

This explantion is only a vague coverage of a few of the forces acting in the problem.
Consider this, Newton also shows that all objects apply a force of equal amount on
each other which is proportional to their mass and vicinity to each other.  In other
words, when you are standing in the elevator, you are exerting a given amount of 
downward force to the elevator floor.  The elevator floor is exerting an equal amount
of upward force on you.  Therefore, you are what can be called "at rest".  So, even
if the elevator is not moving from one building level to another, there is still an
upward force being exerted on you.  Suddenly, the cable breaks and the elevator 
plummets downward. How would you finish this chronological order of events taking place?
Thanks for writing.  Study hard.