5 ms·
A grown blue whale weights about 1/50th of the submarine (~200 tons vs ~10k tons) and is quite a bit squishier. But maybe that would still be enough to knock s
by speedybird 5y ago
A grown blue whale weights about 1/50th of the submarine (~200 tons vs ~10k tons) and is quite a bit squishier. But maybe that would still be enough to knock some submariners around and cause some injuries? I'm not sure.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoIf you hit a 60lb object while driving your car you'll know.
- VWWHFSfQ 5y agoIf you're driving a ~3,200lb Honda Accord, sure. But the mass difference at the scale of 10,000 tons is a lot different. Especially under water.
- adwww 5y agoI think the weight difference is more like hitting a badger with a fully loaded semi truck.
- 542354234235 5y agoThis sounds like a job for the Mythbusters.
- Chris2048 5y agoBut the dynamics of large things change, because the bond-strength of metals don't scale up as you build bigger things. Also, this happened underwater, so the harder-to-displace water would give more resistance ("inertia"?) to the whale maybe?
- InsomniacL 5y agoA grown blue whale is about 1/5 the length of the USS Connecticut. If a submarine crashed in to a whale, it would not only have the forces of trying to accelerate the mass of the whale, it has to accelerate an object with a large surface area under water. Aerodynamics vs hydrodynamics might skew your perception of the forces involved.
- Tuna-Fish 5y agoWell no, because it will be less of "submarine crashes into a whale and pushes it forwards" and more "submarine swims partially in whale". Compared to the forces involved, living tissue just isn't that strong.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- detritus 5y agoInterestingly, there was this a recently.. https://www.newsweek.com/mizushima-whale-death-photos-japan-ship-strike-1632925 https://www.newsweek.com/mizushima-whale-death-photos-japan-...