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How exactly do bombs hurt people?

B

BigToque

Lifer
Maybe it's just that I don't understand how much of a force explosives have.

The way a bomb works (in my mind) is that through an explosion, air is pushed out with a very large force in every direction.

What I'm wondering is, if you don't get hurt by the flames/heat of the explosion, why are you not just thrown backwards?

Or does the injury come from the fact that different parts of our body do get thrown back, just in different directions depending on where the person is in relation to the explosion (with enough force that limbs can separate).?
 
I would think that its a combination of flame, heat, and the air being pushed. I am sure that the air moving from an explosion would be very fast, obviously fast enough to seperate limbs.
 
Internal bleeding is not your friend.

Ruptured organs = bad.

Not to mention getting impaled, shreaded or amputated by debris from the explosion.
 
Originally posted by: BigToque
Maybe it's just that I don't understand how much of a force explosives have.

The way a bomb works (in my mind) is that through an explosion, air is pushed out with a very large force in every direction.

What I'm wondering is, if you don't get hurt by the flames/heat of the explosion, why are you not just thrown backwards?

Or does the injury come from the fact that different parts of our body do get thrown back, just in different directions depending on where the person is to the explosion (with enough force that limbs can separate).?
Click to expand...

Your first line is right. An explosion creates a compression wave in the air that moves outward. If the force is great enough, the shockwave can do incredible amounts of damage. Not to mention that if there were objects in the path of the wave (or embedded in the bomb itself) before it hits you, you will be hit by those objects as well causing further damage.

Don't think of it in terms of being hit by a cushion of air. Think of it in terms of being hit by a bus covered with lots of sharp objects moving at high speed.
 
I just googled "shrapnel". I figured it was just the shell fragments and whatever else could be moved with the explosion.

I had absolutely no idea bombs were packed with little ball bearing type objects. Those are all little bullets when the bomb goes off.

This thread definitely clears some things up for me. It's not necessarily just the force of the explosion, but everything else around you that essentially becomes a bullet as well.

That's a very destructive weapon.
 
It depends on the type of bomb.

There are 3 basic types.

Shrapnel causes wounds by flying bits of "stuff"
Incendiary, burns you
Concussion. pressure waves reptures internal organs.

Some devices use only 1 method, some a combination.


You then have the nuclear devices which causes all three

 
Originally posted by: BigToque
I just googled "shrapnel". I figured it was just the shell fragments and whatever else could be moved with the explosion.

I had absolutely no idea bombs were packed with little ball bearing type objects. Those are all little bullets when the bomb goes off.

This thread definitely clears some things up for me. It's not necessarily just the force of the explosion, but everything else around you that essentially becomes a bullet as well.

That's a very destructive weapon.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah. Look up what a claymore is. It's basically a box packed full of small marble sized ball bearings backed by explosives with the sole intent of turning a human into swiss cheese.

The suicide bombers in the middle east will strap boxes of razor blades, paper clips, ball bearings, ect to themselves to create massive amounts of bodily injury to their targets when they trigger off the bomb.

Nasty nasty stuff.
 
Originally posted by: YoshiSato
It depends on the type of bomb.

There are 3 basic types.

Shrapnel causes wounds by flying bits of "stuff"
Incendiary, burns you
Concussion. pressure waves reptures internal organs.

Some devices use only 1 method, some a combination.


You then have the nuclear devices which causes all three
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the nuclear bomb itself does not contain shrapnel... Sure, things become shrapnel, but that's not the same as it being part of the bomb...
 
Even if you escape the heat and the flying shrapnel, the shockwave doesn't just knock you down, it propogates through your body. A weak shockwave will give you memory loss and stir things up inside you for a while, a strong one will probably cause enough internal damage to kill you.
 
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
Originally posted by: YoshiSato
It depends on the type of bomb.

There are 3 basic types.

Shrapnel causes wounds by flying bits of "stuff"
Incendiary, burns you
Concussion. pressure waves reptures internal organs.

Some devices use only 1 method, some a combination.


You then have the nuclear devices which causes all three
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the nuclear bomb itself does not contain shrapnel... Sure, things become shrapnel, but that's not the same as it being part of the bomb...
Click to expand...

Well even so, if your in shrapnel range of the nuke you have more to worry about then bits of flying metal.

1 million degree plamsa is a bigger problem.
 
Originally posted by: Schadenfreude
You do realize, that a .50 cal bullet can rip your arm right off even if it passes by, never 'physically' touching you?
Click to expand...

sounds like something for mythbusters
 
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