Taking a Bullet? Forget About Getting Up and Running Like in the Movies.
In American action films, we often see directors ramping up the stakes by having the main characters… take a bullet and then get back up, fighting through the pain with an impressive display of bravery.
But hold on, because movies are just movies. In real life, getting shot in any part of the body carries a serious risk of meeting Death. Why? Because a bullet, once fired, can do much more than simply pass through an object.
To illustrate this, a group of scientists conducted an experiment on pig thighs to simulate what happens when a human body is hit by a bullet traveling at 1200 km/h. Here’s what they found.
The bullet penetrates smoothly through flesh…
It’s clear that the bullet penetrates the pig’s thigh very “smoothly”. But that’s not enough to understand what happens inside the body when the bullet goes through.
Therefore, the scientists continued with a similar experiment using ballistics gel—a transparent gel that mimics the consistency of human muscle.
The impact of a bullet is not just a hole in the body.
Clearly, the impact of a bullet is not merely a hole in the body. With tremendous rotational force, the initial hole will expand and then quickly contract after the energy from the bullet passes through.
The rapid elastic energy also explains why a watermelon explodes when shot, rather than just having a neat hole in its side.
This process occurs in an incredibly short time frame, just fractions of a second, leading to a devastating impact. Not only are the surrounding tissues harmed, but the nerves are also damaged, blood vessels are torn, and muscle tissue is shattered.
As a result, gunshot wounds often bleed profusely, especially when arteries are damaged, making the situation extremely critical.
In many cases, a bullet can hit a bone and change direction inside the body.
However, being shot through the body is still relatively fortunate. In many instances, a bullet can strike a bone and change direction within the body, resulting in far more severe consequences.
