What is it about being shot that actually kills people?

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: daveymark
It depends (in the case of bullets) on how big the bullet is, how fast it's going, and where it hits you. Speed (muzzle velocity) is the most important factor; we learn from physics that kinetic energy, i.e., destructive power, increases arithmetically with mass, but geometrically with velocity. Thus you have more to fear from a rifle than from a handgun. Slow, small caliber bullets, and knives, too, for that matter, rarely kill anybody immediately, unless they sever a major artery or pierce the brain, and even then death often takes several minutes. In most such cases, death results from blood loss, brain damage, or (in long drawn-out cases) from infections such as gangrene resulting from contaminants borne into the body by the bullet or knife. An abdominal wound can result in mortal infection from fecal matter seeping out of the intestines.

Large bullets, and small bullets that travel very fast, such as those from an M-16 rifle, can kill almost instantly, mainly by reducing the region of impact literally to hamburger. They also generate something known as "hydrostatic shock." The body is composed largely of water and as such may be viewed as a hydraulic system. Liquid being noncompressible, the shock caused by the high-velocity entry of a large projectile (don't you love this technobabble?) is transmitted throughout the body, causing widespread organ damage and disruption of nervous functions. Even a wound to an arm or leg can be fatal in some instances.

There are numerous variations on the above, most which are undoubtedly familiar to readers of detective stories. Hollow-nosed bullets, for instance, flatten on impact and bulldoze their way through the body, making death almost certain, since the massive damage they cause is virtually irreparable. I could go on, but you get the basic idea.

Text

excellent post.
i'd like to add, a hit to the medulla oblongata will be an instant, drop to the floor, kill.

 

[Eeezee]

It might take several bullets to kill someone, unless they know where to find a ton of medkits. Then they'll be okay.

 

[Eeezee]

"World War Z" actually has a good way to think about death.

You die when your brain dies. Your body is like a machine, and every piece functions in order to keep the brain alive. If one or several parts fail, then your brain dies, and thus you die. If a bullet punctures a lung and you don't get help, you'll die.

The bullet itself isn't what kills anyone, it's the aftermath. If a major artery or organ is hit, your chances of surviving go way down.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: gamepad
OP: Pics of scar on your hand to prove it

damn, tough crowd!

20 or so years, many more injuries to my hands (can't tell you how many times I've scuffed up, scraped, cut, burned, etc.) - the human palm is an amazing thing. Only have a tiny faint white spot now. Same goes for the 5 inch gash on my shin from a broken gatorade bottle that was in a garbage bag I was carrying to a dumpster about 20 years ago - barely any scar there. And the huge patches I had from falling off a bike into gravel on my elbows - those are pretty much gone too.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: mitchel

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: daveymark
Large bullets, and small bullets that travel very fast, such as those from an M-16 rifle, can kill almost instantly, mainly by reducing the region of impact literally to hamburger. They also generate something known as "hydrostatic shock." The body is composed largely of water and as such may be viewed as a hydraulic system. Liquid being noncompressible, the shock caused by the high-velocity entry of a large projectile (don't you love this technobabble?) is transmitted throughout the body, causing widespread organ damage and disruption of nervous functions. Even a wound to an arm or leg can be fatal in some instances.

See, THIS is what I'm asking. INSTANT death, as in do not pass go, go directly to the pearly gates...

The ONLY time you can reasonably expect "instant" death from a bullet is if you hit the person in the head or in the cervical vertebrae (the vertebrae in the neck) and sever the spinal cord, and even then it's not guaranteed.

ZV

Or a large enough bullet that it basically blows off half your body.

Or if you want to suicide, aim for the heart and shoot a couple of times. That's a guarantee death.

Heart shot is pretty close to guaranteed death, but it will take 30 seconds or so even then while you bleed out.

ZV

 

[Scarpozzi]

If you ever get a chance to see what a bullet does to ballistics gel, you'd understand. It's not quite the same as stabbing yourself with a knife. Not to say that's really too much better for your well being.....it's just not as blunt as a bullet, on average.

If a knife is able to penetrate and cut flesh as it goes into you, it makes a much cleaner entry and exit. Bullets, while usually smaller tear into flesh and this tearing causes a larger area to be affected by it, thus it results in more trauma.

Your vital organs may not cease to function, but will lose capacity when damaged. This capacity loss will cause different functions of the body to backup like the lines at a soup kitchen in New Jersey on Thanksgiving.

Of course, blood loss is the other major contributor. As you lose blood, you get weaker and slip into shock. This will cause eventual loss of consciousness and by then you'd better be in a hospital or ambulance.