The 9 Lives of Shrinking Man

The final velocity of a falling body is the product of its acceleration and the time the body is accelerating. The smaller the person the smaller the risk of getting seriously hurt. Kinetic energy increases as length raised to the fifth power. If a child half your height falls unsupported to the ground, its head will hit with not half, but only 1/32 the energy of yours in a similar fall. In return, we are protected from the physical force of its tantrums, for the child can strike with, not half, but only 1/32 of the energy we can muster. Babies rarely get hurt when they fall over and the seven lives of cats are basically the result of size, agility and the surface area of the body.