Eli5: why is impalement with rebar more survivable than a shot from a .50 BMG round?

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How is it that a bullet that is 12.7 mm in diameter can kill somebody with so much more bodily damage than a 20mm rebar rod that is impaled through the body? I see stories of people surviving impalement all the time, but a shot with a .50 cal to the same area almost always results in instant death. Shouldnt the bullet just go through its target because it travels so fast?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The bullet strikes your flesh. Your flash has to move out of the way, and very very fast. It gets blasted out of the way. A wave of pressure flies outward violently, moving and smashing your insides as it goes. This wave is concentrated towards the exit wound, bursting out the back and creating a hole significantly more gruesome than the entry.

A stabbing can have its own issues, but really won’t destroy much outside of its path.

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