Originally Posted by
CB HI
What direction would he have had to been riding to impart a direct impact on his nose on the fence and then transfer all of the force into his neck and spine shoving it directly backwards? What speed do you believe he would have had to been going to impart with such a high degree of force?
My Bachelor degree in physics and work in the field, my postgraduate work in naval nuclear propulsion and engineering (including material stress, welding and failures), as well as having collateral duties as a military and corporate safety officer do provide some insight with this situation.
What are your expertise?
I did not mean to turn this into a pissing contest of who knows more. I was genuinely wanted to know if you had any expertise that led to your assertions. Did you work as a safety officer include training or analysis of accidents such as this?
I have no expertise in accident analysis but I do have a degree in structural engineering and thus know a little bit about physics. Imagine someone riding alongside a fence at 10mph when the downtube-headtube weld catastrophically fails.This causes said rider to veer directly towards the fence at approximately 10mph, perhaps a bit less. This happens so suddenly and unexpectedly that he's still trying to figure out what is happening and is thus still holding on the handlebars. Unable to take evasive action, he runs right into the fence. Let's assume he's 150 lbs and that his face - specifically his nose - is the first point of contact, striking the fence at about 10mph. F=ma and all of that jazz minus whatever give (if any) in the fence - we don't know if it is chain link or something more substantial and unforgiving - and that sounds like a fair amount of force to apply to a nose that wasn't designed for that kind of stuff. Enough to nearly rip his nose off? Enough to push his neck and spine I don't know, but I don't think you have to be traveling at an excessive speed to cause significant damage when colliding with a fence.
Here's something from Harvard Medical School about whiplash:
For example, if you are sitting in a stationary car that's hit from behind by a car moving at just 10 miles per hour, the force from the collision can briefly put 9 Gs of force on your neck (a G is the gravitational "pull" of the earth). It's not difficult to imagine how one or more structures of your neck could be injured under these circumstances.
SOURCE:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsl...ticle/Whiplash