If you drop a penny from a tall building like the Empire State Building, it will fall so fast it can penetrate a human skull and kill someone.
A penny reaches terminal velocity of only about 30-50 m/s due to air resistance. At that speed, it cannot generate enough kinetic energy to penetrate human skin or cause serious injury, let alone fatal injury. The mythbusters TV show famously tested this and confirmed a dropped penny cannot kill. The myth may stem from confusion with heavier objects.
Reception
Sources
- Snopes: Penny Drop Myth REFERENCE
- Mythbusters: Penny Episode REFERENCE
- Snopes: Penny Myth PRIMARY
- Wikipedia: Terminal Velocity REFERENCE
- Scientific American: Falling Penny REFERENCE