Can’t we just imagine it as a really strong wind that knocks you off your feet?
In: 2
I deal with explosives and demolitions for a decade or so now.
Short answer: yes it is a really fast wind that knocks you off your feet (and a second wave caused by the low pressure left behind by the shockwave collapsing back in on itself… think of it as kind of an [echo](https://bestanimations.com/gifs/Bunker-Buster-Bomb.html)). However that wind is moving faster than the speed of sound and isn’t a nice constant breeze. it’s moment of inertia (how long it takes to hit you and transfer its energy to you) is a fraction of a second. It’s delivering ALOT of energy to you in an extremely short amount of time. It’s less like a really strong wind and more like getting hit by a rocket train if you’re close enough. It was designed to destroy concrete and you, my friend are not made out of concrete.
Long version (still simplified):
There are a few ways a shockwave can kill you.
First is just through pure physical force. If you’re close enough, that can cause crushing injuries, and if you’re really close will impart enough energy into you to blast you apart because it’s force exceeds the break strength of the materials you’re made out of (keep in mind that High Explosives like C4 are made specifically to have a shattering effect on steel and concrete… both of which are much much stronger than meat and bone).
Second is a triple whammy to your brain. When the blast hits, it propels your head upward and away from the explosion. Very quickly. Your brain isn’t connected to your skull, so the first stage is your skull (which is moving) impacting your brain (which doesn’t know it should be moving). As your neck reaches its limit, it stops your skull. Your brain is still moving so it runs into your skull. Very quickly. Particularly once you’ve lost consciousness, your body (with the assistance of the return-wave) then acts like a spring and mostly returns your head to its original(ish) position, again pretty quickly. Once it stops, your brain crashes into the front of your skull again.
Third is through lung/ other soft tissue damage. This relates directly to point number one, except it can occur much further out than where the force is enough to blast a person apart. Your lungs are pretty fragile. When I do Minimum Safe Distance calculations, there are several different constants I can use in the formula to determine safe distance for various things. One of them corresponds to eardrum rupture, another corresponds to lung barotrauma where the shockwave will actually pop the bronchioles in your lungs. This results in an injury called “blast lung” which is a pretty awful injury that takes a while to die from.
You can also get killed by fragments and debris, but that’s technically separate from the shockwave.
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