Banana death?

Sinque said:
I don't think you can just add speeds like that :p
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Hmmm why not?

I think the banana could potentially be lethal... If aimed correctly so that it doesn't just slide off, and continue in the same kind of direction, there would have to be a force exerted on it by your head to decelerate it in that direction, even if it did splat out. I think it would have to be pretty quick though (unless if it hit somewhere like your eye lengthways)
 
Well an average banana of 125g traveling at 180mph (80.5m/s) will have 405J of kinetic energy which is a fair amount. (E=0.5*m*v^2)

looking here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_energy it's comparable to the energy of a .38 Special round.

However and it's a big however, most of the energy would be used in splatting the banana as it's a lot softer than your skull. I bet it'd bloody well hurt though and I wouldn't be up for standing in the way of it. It'll also start decelerating as soon as it leaves your hand, by the time it hits someone it could well have lost a good amount of that initial energy.
 
even air can kill if it's travelling fast enough. A Banana would have no problems killing you. No idea what speed it would need to go though, I would imagine pretty darn fast.
 
I think a banana could kill you if it was travelling fast enough. Imagine one moving at 10,000mph hitting you square in the face. At those sorts of speeds the fact that it's soft is almost irrelevant.
 
I agree with the OP; enough speed, and that banana gets lethal.

Isn't it like hitting water? Slowly dunk your head in, quite pleasant. Jump off that bridge in Bristol, that mess knocks you out on impact then you drown.
 
Cyanide said:
Unless it's frozen I can't see it ever doing any real damage
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Indeed. You may get a bruise if it's still in it's skin, but that's about it.

The banana will never be able to get up to a fast enough speed, the air resistance will overcome the velocity and it will slow down quickly. It's too light to carry much momentum or energy.
 
If it was thrown by bananaman after eating a banana then maybe the banana could kill you, leaving a banana shaped hole through your chest. banana.
 
Freefaller said:
Indeed. You may get a bruise if it's still in it's skin, but that's about it.

The banana will never be able to get up to a fast enough speed, the air resistance will overcome the velocity and it will slow down quickly. It's too light to carry much momentum or energy.
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But we're obviously talking purely hypothetically. Terminal velocity exists obviously (as I'm sure you're aware ;)) but a big enough cannon/catapult could accelerate it to far faster than its terminal velocity. It'd slow down to terminal velocity eventually, but if it hit you while travelling above it, you'd definitely feel it.

A banana in freefall would probably do no damage at all.
 
I also reckon that by the time the banana gets a speed fast enough to kill you it's so soft (even unpeeled) it'd start to fall to bits from the air resistance.
 
I've just thrown a banana at a colleague.

I've got a pretty good throwing arm yet despite my best attempt it did not kill him :(
 
p4radox said:
But we're obviously talking purely hypothetically. Terminal velocity exists obviously (as I'm sure you're aware ;)) but a big enough cannon/catapult could accelerate it to far faster than its terminal velocity. It'd slow down to terminal velocity eventually, but if it hit you while travelling above it, you'd definitely feel it.

A banana in freefall would probably do no damage at all.
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Ok, but surely if the banana is subjected to such high force to propel it at a speed conducive to causing human tissue damage, unless frozen (and potentially even when frozen), wouldn't it disintegrate instantly? ;)
 
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