Timeline for Falling elevator filled with water
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 5, 2021 at 19:12 | comment | added | R.W. Bird | I have noticed that boiled eggs often have a pocket of gas inside of the shell. If that is there in a raw egg, it might allow a partial crushing of the shell on impact. | |
| Feb 5, 2021 at 16:11 | comment | added | Ben51 | @NuclearHoagie If your skull was perfectly stiff, allowing no deformation (it isn't) then it's true that the brain wouldn't care about the source of the force applied to the head as long as that force produced strictly linear acceleration (which, in the reference frame of the head, is experienced as a uniform body force). But that's not what generally happens in a car crash or when you get punched in the jaw: instead, the torque produces angular acceleration, which does cause the brain to move relative to the skull. | |
| Feb 5, 2021 at 15:03 | comment | added | Andrew | @ben51 I think this is what was throwing me off. If the water completely surrounds the person, and the person is a similar density, would it still be a question of G-force shear affecting different parts of the body at different times to create a deformation and thus damage; or because water isn't compressible, would it become a question of a shockwave/energy affecting the whole person at the same/similar time and it was a pressure event. This was why I mentioned the lungs originally, big old internal airspace issue. I'll try the egg thing when I get a chance ^^ | |
| Feb 5, 2021 at 14:05 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | You're describing coup and countrecoup injuries, which are pretty common in car accidents or other concussive blows. Some object stops the skull, and then the skull stops the brain, resulting in a bruised brain - the brain is not locked in place by a fluid cushion. I don't see how the water makes this any different from a car crash or any other sudden stop - your explanation of why the internal organs will be OK actually doesn't reference anything outside the body. | |
| Feb 4, 2021 at 21:30 | history | edited | Ben51 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
empirical test
|
| Feb 4, 2021 at 21:11 | comment | added | Ben51 | @NuclearHoagie Organs are modeled as small bags of water inside the big bag of water. I maintain the g-forces are not generally a problem. If your body was an empty shell with a few organs floating around, you'd be right. But it's basically all made up of stuff that is very similar in density and compressibility to water. If your brain was really going to smash into your skull, it would mean the fluid between the two would have to go around to the other side of the brain. But it doesn't want to go that direction any more than anything else. So brain does not smash skull. | |
| Feb 4, 2021 at 21:04 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | I'm not sure the bag of water assumption is a very good model. G forces kill because the body is not accelerated uniformly like in a gravitational field. The elevator and water might be able to withstand high G's, but there's no way to transmit that massive force to your internal organs without something breaking. Bones will snap, arteries will tear, your brain will slam into your skull, organs will get rearranged. The only thing holding your organs in place is a bunch of meat, which doesn't perform great under high G's. | |
| Feb 4, 2021 at 20:46 | history | answered | Ben51 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |