Overpressure bombing effects (or why Zarqawi still had a face after the bombing)

http://www.alternatevoice.com/blog_archives/000148.html ^

[Pukin Dog]

One of the least understood phenomena of a bomb blast is overpressure. Everything in the blast perimeter is subject to a sudden and profound increase in air pressure. This wave of blast overpressure declines rapidly the further it travels. A person 10 feet from a bomb blast will experience nine times the overpressure of a person 20 feet away. But it gets messy and unpredictable. A person who happens to be standing between the bomb and a strong wall is subjected to more blast effect because solid surfaces reflect the blast wave.

You, as you read this, are subjected to normal air pressure of 15 pounds per square inch, depending on how close you are to sea level. The rapidly expanding gases of the bomb push the air out of the way generating air pressures of as much as 700 tons per square inch in the immediate area. But even on the outer perimeters of the blast area overpressures can be deadly.

The human body contains two principal air-filled spaces -- the lungs and the nasal cavity and attached sinuses. A human subjected to a bomb blast wave instantly has hundreds and perhaps thousands psi of pressure pushing on these cavities. A mere 15 psi above normal is considered the threshold for possible lung injury, so imagine what happens to those near the epicenter of a bomb blast.

The chest caves in. The lungs inside it are compressed violently in on themselves -- so violently that the entire network of pulmonary vessels connecting them to the heart and the rest of the body are sheared off.

When the instant of blast overpressure passes, the lungs suddenly re-expand, like a crushed rubber ball rebounding in the hand of a strong man. But now they are filled with a huge volume of blood, blood that should be flowing to the heart and other parts of the body.

Blood that would normally return to the heart through the left ventrical has now overwhelmed the lungs. No blood in the left ventrical equals no blood in the heart equals no pulmonary output to the body. Blood pressure -- zero. The body is instantly starved.

Up above, in the skull, at the same instant, the overpressure works in another way. The nasal and sinus cavities implode. That part of the skull called the cribiform plate ruptures, snaps and may be thrust upward into the base of the brain.

[garyhope]

Wow! This sounds almost as bad as being incinerated in a big tall building after it was hit by an airliner filled with jet fuel flown by a group of insane, intolerant Islamofascist fanatics.

And it's almost as bad as being crushed to death by a large collapsing building or being forced to leap to your death from a 90 to 100 floor building by intense flames caused by a jetliner crashing into your office.

Is it as bad as having your head chopped off by a backwards, barbaric, POS Islamofascist pig? Or being stoned to death by your own family because you were forcibly raped by a member of your own family?

[Tijeras_Slim]

5 psi overpressure at the Nevada Proving Ground in the 50's. Don't mess with rapidly moving air.

[Rabid Dog]

This thread is beautiful!

[Grampa Dave]

Good news re the Hamas thug/enforcer/murderere getting Zotted by Israel.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060608/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_air_strike_4

"GAZA CITY, GAZA Strip - An Israeli airstrike Thursday killed the top Hamas enforcer in the Gaza Strip."

[ohiobushman]

DING-DONG THE PR!CK IS DEAD,THE WICKED PR!CK IS DEAD!!!

[Dinah Lord]

Thanks for posting this, PukinDog.

Poor DUmmies, their widdle bwains suffering from "psychic overpressure" because the United States had a REALLY good day in the War On Terror and they have to face the fact that we ARE going to win it...

[Pukin Dog]

It just works, baby.

[Aggie Mama]

I heard the general say that too. I expect the gory pics & video will be on YouTube within the next week.

[COEXERJ145]

IIRC, that house was part of shot Teapot Apple-2 which was a civil defense structural effects test.

[IronJack]

This creates such a lovely, enchanting scene ... one I can play over and over in my mind as I hum The Battle Hymn of the Republic and watch the liberals implode in impotent fury.

[tomzz]

I'll tell you something funny here. A 44 mag is an overwhelming pistol cartridge but a totally mediocre rifle cartridge in terms of powder and energy, and a 30:06 will produce more of a pressure wave.

But the funny thing is, that the thing being left out of that equation is lethality, and things like muzzle energy and velocity are only marginally related to lethality. At normal hunting ranges, and the vast bulk of all game animals are taken inside of 100 yards, a 44 mag will kill more efficiently than any normal 30-caliber rifle cartridge.

[the_Watchman]

I realize that Anton Brown of Good Eats says that "Stuffing is Evil". However, that picture begs for a roll of fresh bacon sticking out of his mouth! Heck, if we're gonna get Al Jazeera upset we might as well do a good job of it.

[MHGinTN]

I love it when a terrorists 'comes together'. Just think, one second this demon was enjoying his bloodlust and likely planning whom to murder next, the next second he's staring at the ultimate evil about to torment his evil hide for the rest of eternity! Sweeeeet!

[1rudeboy]

Maybe he was outside taking a dump, in which case the shock wave ejected his waste before the resulting vacuum rammed it back into every orifice of his body. One can hope.

[Chicos_Bail_Bonds]

Did you have to put a shot of Olbermann in there?

[Tijeras_Slim]

Yep. Some of the houses are still out there, along with other structures that were used for effects testing.

[chiefqc]

Some day is just does not pay to get out of bed. Sure glad he choose to get up.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

That was back in the day when Olbermann was cool.

[VOA]

Anyone who watched the video of the bombing should note that while Zarqawi's
hideout was destroyed, houses surrounding it were left intact, along
with any people they might have contained.

Not that I'd want to be Zarqawi's neighbor when the bombs went off...
but seeing the debris mostly go straight up and dust blast down the open streets...
PRICELESS.

And just as surgical as possible in the real world.

[tomzz]

I'll believe we're starting to take this thing seriously when they start burying these guys in boxes along with the bodies of pigs, with their asses pointed towards Mecca. Moreover, it seems obvious that the guy in charge of a place like Gitmo or Abu Ghraib should be a hog farmer on general principles.