Originally Posted by
Bill
Reason they fell so fast....since it's some advanced scientific city, I speculate they are really heavy and have some form of accelerating function.
If say, they're relatively simple, you could say they provide acceleration only one particular direction. Strapping them on upside down would mean it counter acting against gravity, making them reasonably light, if not almost weightless.
If you teleport them in the reverse orientation, then they add to gravity's acceleration. Add the fact that it can be made of dense material, you can obtain the penetration force depicted in the episode.