How would putting a blanket over a rope or chain under tension (i.e. pulling a truck out of sand/mud) work to reduce the risk of it flying out and hurting someone should it snap?

Question

Awhile back I helped pull a couple of guys who’d gotten their truck stuck in the sand out using a couple of heavy cargo straps that I had in my truck.

One of the guys put a blanket over the straps and said it would dissipate the energy should the straps snap. It sounded plausible to me, but curious if it’s a legit claim.

In: 72

Answer 1

The blanket helps in 2 ways. The first way is the blanket spreads out the impact of the small thing moving at high speed. It can be demonstrated with a rubber band. This assumes the blanket is heaver than the rope.

snap a rubber band on your bare skin = ow

snap a rubber band on a hoodie you are wearing = barely feel it

now if a chain snaps a blanket won’t help as much with spreading the impact because chains are heavier than blankets, however the blanket will still help because it will provide wind resistance to slow down the chain so essentially the air is now absorbing the impact through friction.