What happens to the body in an explosion?

Gas-containing sections of the GI tract are most vulnerable to primary blast effect. This can cause immediate bowel perforation, hemorrhage (ranging from small petechiae to large hematomas), mesenteric shear injuries, solid organ lacerations, and testicular rupture.

What happens to a human during an explosion?

High explosive blasts can cause skull fractures, fractured bones, head injuries, or any traumatic injury (open or closed injuries, chest, abdominal, pelvic injuries, amputations, spinal injuries, and any others). Structural collapse and entrapment can cause crush injuries and compartment syndrome.

Can a body survive an explosion?

The human body can survive blasts of sudden pressure of 20-40 psi, but it's not the only thing receiving that pressure. The pressure radiates outward from the blast in all directions. When it leaves a vacuum behind it, air from the surrounding atmosphere moves in to fill that vacuum.

Why do you open your mouth during an explosion?

Explosions create waves of increased pressure, followed by negative pressure, which can be extremely damaging to ears and internal organs. Keeping ones mouth open is said to equalize pressure, therefore reducing internal damage.

What does it feel like to be in an explosion?

An explosion can feel like a blow to the chest, a sharp, strong hit that leaves a victim gasping for breath afterward. But there is no evidence that thermobarics pull the air out of the lungs.

What Explosions Do to the Body

Can you hear after an explosion?

“Most damage to the outer ear will not affect a person's hearing,” says Bernstein. “Exposure to loud blasts to the outer ear though could reduce a person's ability to localize sounds, in terms of where the sound originates.”

How far away can you hear an explosion?

Note: Depending on atmospheric conditions, the sound of the explosions may be amplified and heard up to 50 miles away.

Should you breathe out during an explosion?

Keep your mouth open and breathe in small intervals. The most lethal aspect in an explosion is not shrapnel or heat, it is the blast overpressure. The blast wave travels at supersonic velocity and severely affects the air-filled organs like lungs, kidneys, and bowels.

What causes death from an explosion?

The most common cause of death in a blast event is secondary blast injuries. These injuries are caused by flying debris generated by the explosion. Terrorists often add screws, nails, and other sharp objects to bombs to increase injuries.

What happens to hearing after an explosion?

Blast exposure effects on the auditory system can include peripheral hearing impairment, tinnitus, auditory processing disorder, and vestibular impairment. The blast wave, or a secondary or tertiary mechanism, may result in ossicular separation in addition to TM perforation, resulting in conductive hearing loss.

What is the most common organ injured in underwater explosion?

Similar to air blast, the gas-containing organs are by far the most affected in an underwater blast exposure. Occasional lesions of the liver occur [21, 22], but the majority of injuries occur in the lungs and intestinal tracts through spalling of epithelium and microvasculature into air spaces [23–26].

Can you survive an explosion underwater?

However, an underwater explosion transmits pressure with greater intensity over a longer distance. If you stood outside of shrapnel range for an exploding hand grenade, you'd likely remain unharmed. If you stood at the same range to an underwater explosion, the pressure wave would probably kill you [source: Landsberg].

Can you outrun an explosion?

The simple answer is: No, you cannot outrun an explosion. But it may depend on how close you are to the explosion when you start running. And how fast you are. A C-4 explosion, for example, is virtually instant.

What happens to a human in a nuclear meltdown?

A meltdown is considered very serious because of the potential for radioactive materials to breach all containment and escape (or be released) into the environment, resulting in radioactive contamination and fallout, and potentially leading to radiation poisoning of people and animals nearby.

What causes the most damage during an explosion?

The air blast shock wave is the primary damage mechanism in an explosion.

How fast does an explosion travel?

Gas explosions can either deflagrate or detonate based on confinement; detonation velocities are generally around 1700 m/s but can be as high as 3000 m/s. Solid explosives often have detonation velocities ranging beyond 4000 m/s to 10300 m/s.

What to do during an explosion?

If There Is An Explosion:

Take cover under sturdy furniture, or leave the building if directed to do so by emergency responders. Stay away from windows. Do not light matches. Move well away from the site of the hazard to a safe location.

What are the 5 requirements for an explosion?

Do explosives provide their own oxygen?

Explosives must contain a fuel and an oxidizer, which provides the oxygen needed to sustain the reaction. A common example is ANFo, a mixture of ammonium nitrate, which acts as the oxidizer, and fuel oil (the fuel source).

Can sound explode a human?

A loud sound can build up enough pressure to cause the eardrum or even internal organs to rupture or explode. Sounds above 150 dB have the potential of causing life-threatening issues.

Can you go completely deaf from an explosion?

NIHL can also be caused by extremely loud bursts of sound, such as gunshots or explosions, which can rupture the eardrum or damage the bones in the middle ear. This kind of NIHL can be immediate and permanent.

How loud would a sound have to be to destroy the universe?

Converting the energy of 1,100 decibels to mass yields 1.113x1080 kg, meaning that the radius of the resulting black hole's event horizon would exceed the diameter of the known universe. Voila! No more universe.

How loud is a explosion?

At closer ranges, one observer felt that 115 dB (11.25 Pa) was “loud”. Another, biased from many years of explosions testing, estimated that 125 dB (35.6 Pa) was loud enough to gain attention of an unprepared witness.

Why can't you hear after an explosion?

As the ear is the organ most sensitive to blast overpressure, the most frequent injuries seen after blast exposure are those affecting the ear. Blast overpressure affecting the ear results in sensorineural hearing loss, which is untreatable and often associated with a decline in the quality of life.