Windscreen/Breathing question?

Kindness · Jun 24, 2010

Basically there's a scene in my WIP where monsters land on a car and smash the windows (including the windscreen). What would the effect of this be on the people inside the car? Would they be able to breathe okay? (The car is going pretty fast.)

I just remember being in the passenger seat of a car with the window open. We were doing 60 I think, and I couldn't breathe cos of the wind coming in, but I'm not sure if it was the angle or what.

Oh, and the back window is broken too, (so the wind is rushing straight out).

Thanks!

MissMacchiato · Jun 24, 2010

um, wouldn't all the glass shatter all over them? I'd imagine that'd be the main problem if the window was smashed. Are we talking jurrasic park 'stamp on the car' action? you might want to rent it out for monsters smashing cars ideas

Kindness · Jun 24, 2010

Nah, no stomping XD There are these creatures that corrode what they touch, they're about man-sized. They make the windows weaken and smash them, and then try to get at the MC and his mother and uncle, who are inside ><

MissMacchiato · Jun 24, 2010

I think it'd just be terrifying. I don't think it would effect their breathing. Depending on how fast the car is moving, I suppose someone might be dragged out of a window, but otherwise just super scary

Chase · Jun 25, 2010

My mom (an old wife) often repeated the old wives' tale that a person falling to his death from a great height would mercifully suffocate before hitting the ground because "the air would be ripped from his lungs."

Sorry, Mom, but in your son's misspent youth, he was a skydiver. At speeds of around 120 mph (and more in "track" mode) all of us could breathe quite well.

Noah Body · Jun 25, 2010

I've been in helicopters with the doors removed and at 100mph could still breathe perfectly fine. I think if the windshield of a car was removed, breathing wouldn't be a problem... but having big bugs hit you in the face would probably be more problematic.

Drachen Jager · Jun 25, 2010

MissMacchiato said:
um, wouldn't all the glass shatter all over them?

Car glass does not work that way. Good night!

Kathie Freeman · Jun 25, 2010

Drachen Jager said:
Car glass does not work that way. Good night!

Modern auto glass is made to shatter into very small pieces. No big jagged edges, but you can still get cuts and scratches. The laminated winshields of a few years ago proved to be more deadly than standard glass, because a person's head could still go through at moderate to high speeds, and get severe facial and/or neck injuries.

WriteKnight · Jun 25, 2010

Car glass shatters into tiny 'squares' - which fly all over the place at high speeds. Yes, they can still make small cuts to exposed skin, and would conceivably blind you if they hit your eyes.

No problems breathing at all with wind in your face, if you can't believe a skydiver, then believe a motorcyclist.

Kindness · Jun 25, 2010

Noah Body said:
I've been in helicopters with the doors removed and at 100mph could still breathe perfectly fine. I think if the windshield of a car was removed, breathing wouldn't be a problem... but having big bugs hit you in the face would probably be more problematic.

Okay, now that's cool

Thanks everyone! This means I won't have to rewrite the scene ^_^ I'll have them notice a few cuts later, when the rush has died down, but nothing too big

Kindness · Jun 25, 2010

Chase said:
At speeds of around 120 mph (and more in "track" mode) all of us could breathe quite well.

This deserves a cool mention too

RobinGBrown · Jun 27, 2010

While there's no problem breathing at high speeds there is a problem with seeing. Motorcyclists, skydivers, and high speed racers all wear helmets/goggles/masks to protect the eyes. For myself I found that anything over 30-40 mph meant my eyes were tearing (producing tears) so much that my vision became quite blurred.

mtrenteseau · Jun 28, 2010

Kindness said:
Okay, now that's cool

Thanks everyone! This means I won't have to rewrite the scene ^_^ I'll have them notice a few cuts later, when the rush has died down, but nothing too big

This is a picture of a shower door made of tempered glass that shattered. It's a little disturbing because there's some blood, but no actual wounded person.

http://consumerist.com/2010/06/glass-shower-door-explodes-all-over-consumer-journalist.html

This is what happens when a windshield shatters - there are sheets of plastic on both sides that hold the pieces in. If the hit is hard enough, the center of the "spiderweb" might fall in. Side windows could be much messier and more dangerous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windshield-spiderweb.jpg

Sarpedon · Jun 29, 2010

people ought to be able to breathe just fine at any speeds a car can go at.

They used to make airplanes with open cockpits, you know.

Windscreen/Breathing question?

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