WEBVTT - Could you outrun a fireball? 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.000 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:14.000 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.599 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:21.040 have you ever outrun an explosion every single morning? Yeah? Yeah? 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.119 Ever been chased by a fireball? Yeah? Every afternoon? It 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:27.360 kind of seems like that way at times, right, I mean, 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.360 because we were just constantly hit over the head with 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.360 this image of people out running explosions, out running fires 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:37.800 and fireballs. It's I mean, as long as you are 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:42.640 consuming action films and action oriented TV shows, it's everywhere. Well, 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.479 even dramas have a bit of you know, fire spewing 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:47.760 forth from time to time, and well like, yeah, I 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.040 think you were mentioning even even Breaking Bad, right, which 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.080 is considered has been considered the pinnacle of television in 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:58.360 recent years. Yeah, Breaking Bad will dip into a couple 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.440 of the tropes that you see when it comes to fireballs. Um, 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:06.280 specifically I'm thinking about Walt and I hope this isn't 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.679 a spoiler. This is early on in the series. This 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.720 is when he kind of takes a turn down the road. Um, 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:14.880 this is right after he shaved his head and he 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.360 is dealing with a drug dealer named Tuco, and he 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:22.560 has brought to the drug dealer something called mercury fulminate 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.440 which is inexclusive. Now the drug dealer doesn't know this, 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:28.360 thinks is the back of meth. What does Walt do 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.440 when he feels threatened, He throws a little piece of 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.280 this ampleca boom like the you know, the windows are 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:40.000 blown out, there's a big fireball um and it's done 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.720 to great effect, right, because at that very moment you 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:46.320 love Walt even more because of his science smarts and 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:50.400 his ability to create this um, this sort of chemical 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.360 combustion that gets him out of a jam. In reality, though, 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.560 with this work, yeah yeah, I mean, you'd have to 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:02.400 have like a stick of dynamite along with the mercury 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.000 fulm in it, and it just wouldn't be nearly as interesting. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:06.520 You have to sit there and wait for him to 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.480 like stick a dynamite, and yeah, it's not not very 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.000 cinematic um for me. One of the earliest examples comes 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.320 to mind. Uh. It's probably from Predator, where not only 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.720 does uh does Schwarzenegger out run the explosive device that 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.840 the defeated predator sets off on its risk. Uh, it's 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.840 like apparently a tactical nuke that goes off. Essentially, they're 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.440 in the jungle. In the jungle, which is also key 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:34.600 as well discussed, you know, roots and trees and everywhere, 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:39.040 he's able to outrun this this tremendous detonation. Uh. And 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.000 you know he's not in the sequel, but he's supposedly survived. 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:44.840 Now I'm taking this from TV trips dot Org. They 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.280 say a time bomb, super weapon, crash car, etcetera is 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.040 about to explode. The heroes run as fast as they 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.400 can and try to leap behind shelter just as it explodes. 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:58.120 Often features a cool shot of the heroes diving towards 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.919 the camera. And when I read that initially, I kind 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.639 of felt that sort of mirrorner on motion, Like, yes, 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.520 I know that I've seen that trope so many times 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.680 that I feel the motion of that sentence. Indeed, I 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.960 mean another one too, is, of course, the the badass 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:20.160 walking away from the explosion. Explosion sets off. Generally, you 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.560 know it's the the guy or gal in your action 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:27.119 film is so in control of the situation. Uh, they 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.760 know there's about to be a tremendous explosion. They know 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:31.880 that they're safe, or they just don't care. They're that 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.080 they're that awesome, uh that they just walk They're just 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.120 walking and it's exploding behind them and they don't even care. 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.040 Maybe they're even lighting a cigarette. Breaking bad has another 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.160 example of that. Yes, in fact, it's the Salamanca Terror twins. 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:49.040 Oh yes, those guys definitely badasses. And I believe that 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:50.840 they one of them is smoking a cigarette and then 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.440 they ignite a truck and they walk away. And in fact, 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.200 there's a YouTube video that features this clip of them, 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.440 and it's the title of it is cool guys look 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:05.040 at explosions. Indeed they were. They were pretty cool and collected. 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.120 And you know that you mentioned them mere neurons. And 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.680 I think that's you know, when we watch somebody that's 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.600 so bad and in control of this situation that they 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:14.680 can just walk away from the explosion. I mean, that's 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:16.640 who doesn't want that in their life, to have that 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.359 kind of control, that kind of detachment from from the 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.560 stresses and explosions, uh, literal and metaphorical in their life, 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:25.920 which is why you may want to break out a 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:31.080 little board game called Fireball Island. Ah. Yes, I fondly 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:35.560 remember this uh board game published by Milton Bradley, which 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.440 I had. I received it for Christmas, I think one 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.640 year and uh, you'll you'll have to check out the 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.760 commercial for this on include a link on the landing 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.600 page in this episode because it was this brilliant like 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.320 three D board. It's it's essentially an island, like a 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.520 volcanic island, and impossibly, even as a kid, I knew 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.560 this was just made no sense. Uh, but some ancient 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.159 civilization has built this like demon shaped temple thing on 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.320 top of the volcano, like you do. And then this 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.080 thing would turn and it would spit fireballs red marbles, 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:11.119 uh down these different pathways, and of course the people 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.520 playing the game are trying to move their little dudes 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.120 along the pathway and I think they were collecting treasure 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:17.800 and if the marble came down and hit you, it 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.159 would knock you all the way back down towards the beginning. 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.240 But but yeah, even then, I had a lot of questions, 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.480 like what is this fireball? We're out running? Is this 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.960 just is this lava? Is this is this flame? Is 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.560 it is it an explosion? What's going on here? What 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:33.599 am I trying to out run? Why in the commercial 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:35.839 is their actual flame coming from the ball and mine 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.880 is just a big marble no flames. Um. I was 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.599 looking at this on eBay. They are fetching up to 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:46.440 three hundred bucks ones that are intact with all the pieces. Wow, 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.400 that's that's pretty impressive. I wish I knew where mine was, 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.720 right all right, So we're going to discuss this and 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.240 today's episode. Now, we're not going to get into the 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.920 fancy magical fireball idea, but we're going to get into 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:05.000 sort of are equally magical and fanciful almost subconscious ideas 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.560 about explosions and fire. Most of us do not encounter 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.760 wildfires or explosions in our daily life. We encounter on TV. 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:14.839 We kind of get this idea about how they work, 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.240 and we take for granted the uh, the the reactions 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.000 that are taking place. So first we're gonna talk about wildfires, 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.080 then we're going to talk about explosions, and we're going 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.600 to talk about our ability or inability rather to outrun 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.320 either of these forces. Before we launch in, I want 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.120 to ask you, Robert, because this is a kid sort 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:37.000 of dinner party question. Uh, what is your relationship to fire? 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:43.080 My relationship to fire? Uh? Currently? Um, the lighting of 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.480 stoves with a little click click thing, um, the lighting 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.800 of candles when necessary. Uh, And that's pretty much pretty 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.520 much it, because I have these memories as a kid 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:57.600 and my my babysitter, who is um giant hippie, loved her, 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.800 but she would have us um put our hands through 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.240 the candle to see if we could exert some sort 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.800 of magic force on it and not burn ourselves. So 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.919 that's sort of my first memories of that and trying 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:10.960 to capture and harness fire. And I think it's one 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.320 of the reasons why when we see these tropes we 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:16.800 get sort of excited, not just because of the mirror neurons, 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:20.640 but because it calls back to something primal, like, yes, 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:25.720 here's this this element and could we in fact walk 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.240 away from it if it were to try to consume us. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.560 I mean I definitely. I remember being into like matches 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.520 and fireworks at some point when I was a kid, 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.200 and I mean like the fire. The flamethrower is another 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.560 example of something that like from a kid level, like 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:45.560 sci fi action movie level, like flamethrowers are awesome, but 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:47.720 then if you look at the reality of flamethrowers that 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:53.120 they are hillacious, awful devices, awful weapons. Um, So there's 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.080 always a divide between that. But we can't help. But 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.400 but but find something magical in the flickering flame. So 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.400 let's kick up with wildfire. Um and let's we're just 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.160 gonna throw it out there. Humans versus fire speed? How 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.280 does it? How does it pan out? Well? First, let's 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.040 look at a human. According to the National Council on 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.520 Strength and Fitness, the average human can run at a 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.200 speed of fifteen miles per hour kilometers per hour for 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.040 a short period of time. Okay, and as far as 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.000 records go, the world's fastest runner, Hussain Bolt, has clocked 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.160 nearly twenty eight miles per hour or forty kilometers per 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:31.600 hour in the hundred meters sprint. Okay. Meanwhile, our friend, 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.840 the wildfire travels its speeds up to fourteen miles an 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.200 hour or twenty three kilometers an hour, and it does 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.479 so by consuming everything in its path, for naturally occurring vegetation, 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.800 to homes or even human beings. So in a short 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:48.640 term race without any complicating factors, the average human probably 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.600 has a slight leg up, and more gifted runners can 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:56.720 probably smoke the fire completely. But it's those complications, uh 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.720 that are that are definitely worth taking into account when 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.240 trying to outrun a wildfire, right because these don't occur 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.520 in a vacuum as we know. So complicating factors would 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.959 include the fact that you're probably running through unfamiliar terrain, 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:13.600 right if you're out in the forest, you probably don't 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.360 know it like the back of your hand. Um, So 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.240 that can add to the confusion when you're trying to navigate. 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.360 In addition, a thick fog of smoke could be rolling 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.760 through the area, making it hard to determine the best 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:31.960 path forward, particularly when the wind shifts direction right and 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.480 there's the heat from the fire because it turns out 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.679 that many more people die from smoke inhalation and dehydration 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.120 than from actual burns. So all of these things are 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.360 making this this uh, this mays through a natural disaster 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.439 that much more difficult. Yeah, and there's just so many variables. 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:54.240 Like I can't help but think if you were if 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.760 you were trying to to map and program the movement 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:00.640 of a wildfire, and say a board game or computer game, 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:02.360 there there would just be so many barreals, so many 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.400 dice rolls would have to take place because because just 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.400 the slightest change in the wind, for instance, can alter 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.480 the course of the fire. Suddenly it's it's moving. Uh, 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.880 it's moving to your left, etter to your right, etcetera. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.079 And then you have to take into account the fuel 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.320 that it's consuming. You have grasses that are that are 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.720 burning easily on dry, hot windy days, branches, twigs and 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.400 leaves that are serving as as as as a tremendous fuel, 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.360 creating more heat. And then you have dry tree bark 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.160 that can carry the flames up to the tree tops, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.640 burning more material and causing the fire to break and spread. 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.440 So it's, uh, there's there's so much chaos in the system. 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.800 It's it's difficult to map, certainly difficult to map on 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.040 the ground dealing with all of these complications. And yeah, 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:53.679 you can try to be strategic about it. So if 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.120 you could figure out which way the fire is moving, 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.840 and you situated yourself parallel to it, this is called 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.280 the flank of the fire, then that puts you in 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.040 a much better position as opposed to say, in front 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.719 of the fire, which is kind of like a dot um. 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.040 Another thing you could do is you could look for 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.880 a path with little or no vegetation. So a rock, 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.400 gravel or dirt path would ensure that you're not surrounding 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:23.439 yourself with tinder. All of those dry branches and twigs leaves, 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.320 that would create a little bit more forced um tinder 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.320 there for you, and then you would want to move 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.320 downhill if you could. That's because the fire will burn 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.600 faster uphill, you know. That's because the flames can easily 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:39.080 reach more unburnt fuel in front of the fire, and 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.840 then radiant heat preheats the fuel in front of the fire, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.280 making the fuel even more flammable. And that's not to 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:49.400 say that any of these strategies are a guarantee of safety. 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.200 In the house Stuff Works article Can You out Run 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:56.280 a Fire? By Alston Cooper, she points out that the 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.920 Yarnell Hill airs on a wildfire in June two thousand 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.600 killed nineteen members of the Granite Mountain hot Shots. And 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.920 the hot Shots, of course, are they have advanced strategies 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.679 and they are experts in maintaining um the fires and 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:16.280 extinguishing them. So what happened during this particular wildfire is 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:20.120 that the wildfire was aided by fifty mile per hour 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:24.040 or eighty kilometers per hour down drafting winds of an 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:28.920 approaching thunderstorm. We're talking about covering one d yards in 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:33.040 nineteen seconds. And the firefighters who were in a box 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.840 hand and were trapped when the fire essentially rushed into it. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:40.360 They we're talking about a dangerous and at times unpredictable 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.680 force here. It's not not the fire in your heart, 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.400 it's not the fire on your barbecue. This is a 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:51.520 This is fire that is quite literally wild, consuming materials, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.839 shifting around, and it's easy to get caught in the 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.400 wrong place at the wrong time. Indeed, all right, we're 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.320 going to take a quick break. When we get back, 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.080 we're going to look at what it would take to 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:14.559 outrun an explosion. All right, we're back out running an explosion. Possible, impossible. 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.360 I think you will find it is the latter of 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.480 those two options, despite again how often we see it 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.560 done in our TVs and movies. Let's start with just, uh, 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.800 just getting down to brass tacks here. What is an explosion? 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.520 What is an explosive? Even um, All explosives are little 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.480 more than elements that burn or decompose at an incredible speed. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.880 Um and explosions occur when a large amount of energy 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.520 is released into a small volume of area in a 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.040 very short time. So it might be hydrothermal, uh, you know, 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.000 naturally occurring in the earth. It might be chemical arising 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.160 from say a man made explosion, or it might even 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.880 be nuclear. Now, the reaction produces a massive amount of 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.280 heat and gas in a very short period of time. 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.760 An explosive chemical action breaks down compounds into highly compressed 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:07.440 gases as well as heat resulting from compound molecules being 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.400 blasted apart. Then the gas expands rapidly and the heat 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.720 speeds up individual gas particles to increase expansion speed even more. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.720 And this rapidly expanding gas is called a pressure wave, 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:23.120 and it's key to any explosives destructive power as the 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.480 pressure If the pressure wave is fast enough to break 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.360 the sound barrier, it also generates a powerful shock wave. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.280 So anytime you have a land explosion, a real life 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.520 land explosion from hand garnades took a dynamite exploding car, 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.960 you name it, Uh, you're gonna have a situation where 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:44.280 the blast can just almost instantaneously burned skin, tear apart, limbs, 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:49.080 propel objects and shrapnel through the air. Um, it's a 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.960 it's it's a dangerous situation and and uh again, we 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.320 often sort of fall into a magical way of thinking 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.440 about the explosion as just this sort of blast, this 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.000 this big fiery thing that happens, and not this this 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.600 this really fast chemical reaction that just sends out this 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.440 pressure wave. Yeah. To illustrate that, let's look at a 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.400 C four explosive. Now, this is typical typically used by 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:15.960 the United States Armed Forces, and when it is detonated, 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.160 gases are released from the explosive at the rate of 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:23.720 twenty six thousand, four hundred ft per second or eight 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.360 thousand fifty per second. Yeah, which means that if you 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.600 are within twenty four thousand feet of it, your toast 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.600 within just one second. So that really I think that 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.760 shatters the illusion pretty quickly, unless you're watching the Flash 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.520 or Superman or something. It's it's putting it outside the 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.840 normal range. Now, some other explosives like a pipe bomb, well, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.200 the U. S Department of Homeland Security says the minimal 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.200 safe distance from a five pound or two point two 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.960 kilogram bomb pipe bomb is twelve hundred feet or three 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.600 hundred sixty And then you'll see as the size of 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.400 the bomb goes up, so to just the since that 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.680 you should be away from it. So a fifty pound 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.520 briefcase bomb you should be about eighteen hundred and fifty 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:11.600 feet away or five hundred sixty four a tractor trailer 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:16.880 bomb that would be about nine thousand, three hundred feet 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.760 or two thousand, eight hundred that you would want to 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.840 be away from it. So again the question arises, could 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.440 you get from point A to point B this safe 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:30.400 zone in any of those scenarios, And it's just not likely. 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.560 Even if you are Usain Bolt, who could cover two 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:40.040 hundred meters in nineteen seconds um, which is about thirty 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.880 four ft per second, that's still not gonna get you 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.280 to where you need to be. Indeed, I mean pretty 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:50.520 much the only scenario that even works from any kind 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.720 of film or actions situation would be if there's a 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.960 timer and you're you're not out running the explosion itself, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.600 but your your character is attempting to it to that 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:05.239 uh that that manium that minimum evacuation distance before it 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.199 goes off. But even then, the minimum evacuation distance is 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.840 just the range at which life threatening injury from the 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:17.200 blast or fragmentation hazards are unlikely. Uh So, a person 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:21.479 within the safe zone of uh surrounding this explosion. They 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.959 can still suffer injuries, they're not life threatening. You can 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.240 still get hit by shrapnel, you can still be knocked 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.720 down by the shock wave. Um, all of that is 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:35.879 still in play, which could significantly uh impact your badass 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.160 walk away from the explosion, right because the badass walk away. 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:42.000 You don't tend to see the hero or the anti 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:46.360 hero with pock marks of you know, damage done by 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:50.400 the shrack knowledge, hearing loss or anything. No, they're completely intact. Um. 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:55.160 So yeah, again, abbous, but this is not very realistic. 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:59.160 Even the countdowns and we see them depicted in TV 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:03.119 and film aren't being true to the actual time that's passing. Yeah. 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.360 And and it goes without saying a lot of times 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:07.639 when you have a really cool explosion in a film, 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:09.719 you end up kind of seeing it in slow motion anyway, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.000 so you get this kind of false idea about what's happening. 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.439 You do see like this fireball expanding, and uh and 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.600 you know, we just we just don't. Most of us 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:21.080 do not have explosions occurring in our daily life and 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.760 have any kind of real, uh you know, real down 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.480 to earth understanding about what's happenings as far as the 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:29.919 chemical reaction goes well, and if you did, you probably 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:34.320 would have a pretty strong case of PTSD. Right. Um, 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.440 So this, this unfortunately is the reality for some people. 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.840 And we were talking about this earlier. Probably one of 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.960 the more realistic depictions of explosions is something like the 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.119 hurt Locker, where they do quite a bit of really 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:50.760 good camera work to try to bring some sort of 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.080 very similitude to what is happening on screen. Yeah, they 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.119 did a great job at also making you feel that 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.080 bombs and particular really the explosive devices that they were diffusing, 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:06.400 our nasty weapons, these are not these are not fun explosions. 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.359 And it gets into that flamethrower are discussing earlier. You know, 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:13.000 there's just there's this huge disconnect between the cool explosions, 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.640 the cool weapons that we encounter in our our our 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:20.040 fictional media, versus the generally hillacious reality of their use. 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.480 All Right, we are going to take a break. When 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.600 we get back, We're going to attend to some listener mail. 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:38.199 All right, we're back. Indeed, let us call over the 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.200 robot here and uh and catch up on a little 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:43.800 bit of listener mail we received so many great comments 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.560 from you guys and gals, and you know, sadly we 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:48.920 we don't always have time to h to read them 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.720 here on the podcast, but today we have changes. Indeed, 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.160 all right, we have an email and I'm not gonna 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:58.720 share her name because she did not say whether or 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.360 not we could share it, but she's said, hey, guys, 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.480 have you ever researched how second hand embarrassment works? Because 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:06.760 I suffer from it pretty bad and I can't find 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.359 a lot about it scientifically. And I thought that was 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.520 that's really interesting. We have an upcoming episode on our 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.159 to do list about shame. And it it also made me 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.240 think about empathy. And I know I've mentioned this before, 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:24.320 but there's a book called The Empathy Exams. It's really great. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.240 It's a bunch of essays that deal with empathy and 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:32.320 how it frames our world and even how it affects 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.760 our bodies, our health. So guys check it out if 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:38.119 you'd like. All Right, I have another bit of listener 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.119 mail here. This one comes from an anonymous listener or 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.520 listener that wishes to remain anonymous. Says, Hi, Robert and 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:45.880 Julie stumbled upon your podcast by accident, and I'm glad 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.719 that I did. It's quite interesting, to say the least. Recently, 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.399 I've been catching up on some episodes and I just 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:52.720 finished listening to the one you did about the zen 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:55.720 of pain, and one thing came to mind. I have chronic, 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.000 almost constant pain right next to my right shoulder blade 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:00.639 as well as in my right at hand. It's not 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.440 something I enjoy by any means, far from it. However, 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:05.960 the things that seemed to help me with it are 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.560 certain exercises uh there. They were prescribed by a professional, 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:12.960 which also caused pain, quite a bit of pain, putting 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:15.280 a lot of pressure on my shoulder blade to the 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.440 point of almost crying out with pain. But this helps too. 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:20.960 For some strange reason, I also know a few other 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:23.159 people who feel the same way about some of the 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.680 pains they are having. From extremely unscientific observations, it would 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.440 seem as if physical pain not only helps us reach 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.000 a liberation for from our guilt and other bad feelings, 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:35.639 but also from physical pain. I just thought it was 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:37.919 interesting observation and wanted to share. Maybe you could do 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.400 an episode on that too in the future. Keepon podcasting 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.280 and have a wonderful day. An anonymous listener from Canada. 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.399 I don't know that we had talked about pain in 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.639 terms of transformation in a more positive way before, but 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:56.000 that's an interesting angle. Yeah. I mean I have noticed, 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:58.679 like in just doing stretches and stuff, and if I have, 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:02.320 you know, ultimately you know, minor sores going on with 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:04.400 my with my muscles. Like sometimes you end up going 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.280 into a position or a stretch that you're you are 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:10.919 causing a bit of tension there, but your the tension 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:14.640 is kind of combating another lingering pain. It's indeed, there's 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:16.840 a there's there's a there's a lot of complexity in 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:21.160 uh in in the the the pain pleasure system. That's 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:23.719 what I think is interesting about yoga. Um not so 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:25.639 much that sometimes you feel pain, and in fact, if 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:27.440 you feel too much pain, you should definitely back off. 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:30.720 But when you're in a pose and you're pushing yourself, 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:34.720 there's a level of discomfort that they yoga teacher will 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:39.600 often say, is your opportunity to dwell with that discomfort 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.479 and not keep pushing it away, but sort of meeting it. 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:46.720 And a lot of the discomfort in your in your 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:49.520