Explosions
Oh no the tank has sprung a leak, gas is
pouring out of the car, run generic action hero, run! The car is going to explode!
Have you ever seen something like this in a movie? Isn’t it just ridiculous?
I bet you just said yes…heck I’d wager my pay check on it. Want
to know why you think its ridicules? Because everybody subconsciously knows
that explosions can’t kill them.
What? Explosions can’t kill you? Yes! And I can illustrate
my point through a two basic everyday facts that when put together makes it
obvious why explosions can’t kill you. Fact 1; when you wave your hand
quickly through a fire, it does not burn you. Fact 2; when a bomb explodes it
blasts fire out at amazing speeds.
You get what I’m saying? Well, if not let me lay it
out for you. When a bomb explodes the fire that will fly past you can’t
hurt you because it’s passing over you so fast. So when you see people
in movies running away from the bomb, you’re actually watching a naïve
misconception. In reality you’re much more likely to survive such an explosion
by running towards it.
Don’t believe me?
Try it yourself
(Editor’s Note: Yes, that’s true, and actually, if you dive deeper into this interesting topic you will realize one very important truth about explosions. By considering that the flame moves past you too quickly to burn you, you can further imply that a smaller explosion resulting in fire moving at slower speeds, will hurt more than an incredibly large explosion resulting in fire moving at subsonic speeds. But, on a more serious note, you will realize that the temperature of the flame in the case of an explosion is usually so high that even being exposed only momentarily to the extreme heats could burn your skin off and maybe even vaporize you. And the extreme heat isn’t even the leading cause of death. An explosion is not just fire, it is an outwards force. This force sends pieces of the casing, as well as pieces of nearby objects, hurtling outwards at tremendous speeds. A small piece of cardboard can easily fragment your skull and kill you at these high speeds. So in the process of delving deeper into why explosions don’t kill, I have discovered that they do. So, you’ll just have to decide for yourself…)
