How Does a Tug-of-War Accident Sever Somebody’s Arms?
I recently learned that the game of tug-of-war can sever arms when the rope snaps. How is this possible? What does that look like? What physical mechanism makes this possible? Wouldn’t everybody just fall backwards?
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I’ve personally witnessed two people lose their hands at the same time while playing tug-of-war. The physics behind it is simple. These two wrapped the rope around their hand in a game that was roughly 50 people vs 50 people. The tension in the rope was likely thousands of pounds which wants to straighten the rope. The straightened rope hyper extends the joints and tendons in your hand. As their teammates witnessed what was occurring, they freaked out and released the rope which caused the rope to pull out very quickly. The high tension and high friction just slices through muscles and tendons.
Edit: The rope didn’t even snap.
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