So I was looking at another answer and it indicated that polar bears have a bite of 1200PSI.
This seems crazy, even a small force crushing something between the edges of two teeth would generate a huge PSI value.
Why do they use PSI, shouldn’t it be lbs-force (well OK it should be newtons, but that’s another issue)?
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You’re right, a small force crushing something between 2 sharp teeth would generate a high PSI value. And that’s kind of the point. The ability to concentrate force in a small area is more relevant to how dangerous or effective a bite is than the total force. For example, a piranha has a tiny mouth and not that much overall muscle to move it with, but the amount of force compared to its small size lets it easily bite off chunks of food. A blue whale certainly has a large overall amount of force available to close its *huge* mouth, but because the force is already o it across such a large area, it is not talked about as an especially powerful bite.
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