It clearly shows the brick is braced. If it wasn’t braced the energy would be transferred into motion.
There is no “shock wave” created by any kind of punch. A shock wave requires something to be moving faster than the speed of sound.
Bone is a relatively brittle material. It does not compress very much without breaking. Unless your Three Stooges strike is powerful enough to crush your opponent’s skull, it will do very little to the brain. The kinetic energy will be dissipated in your hands and the flesh on the person’s head.
Where did you get this “double-strike shock wave” idea? Did you make it up? Has anyone in the history of humanity used such a strike to knock someone out or even tried to do so?
You’re ignoring the question of whether you think a brick would be broken by a double-punch.
I’m prety sure a chimp can throw a double punch faster than the speed of sound.
The kinetic energy of the hand was enough to break a brick.And yes, shock waves travel very quickly.
In order to break a brick against a solid object would require a harder striking object. This has nothing to do with the transfer of energy through the skull into the brain because a layer of bone is not remotely similar to a solid cement brick.
A brain is a very delicate organ and simply falling and striking a relatively hard surface can easily knock someone out. The double punch replicates a single punch to the head as if it is braced against a solid object.
There is no goddamned shockwave. Your hand does not move faster than the speed of sound in flesh or bone. Shockwaves are created by an object moving faster than the speed of sound.
Falling and hitting a hard surface knocks you out because your head is MOVING. It stops, your brain keeps moving until it bangs into your skull, and that knocks you out. Where is your evidence that weakly punching someone whose head is held in place will knock them out?
It doesn’t require an object moving at the speed of the shockwave. Tsunami’s move at 600 mph with nothing but shifting tectonic plates or large objects falling into the water. You can tap on a fish bowl and see how fast the wave moves. That’s what happens to the brain.
Really? The head is moving at the same speed as a punch? A boxer hits at 25-35 mph.
A person falling will generate between 1 and 4 mph (calculator here).
You didn’t answer the question. In fact your statement is entirely non-responsive.
So answer the question; where did you come up with this idea? Do you have any cites in support? Do you have any evidence of anyone ever being knocked out with a double punch?
Why do you suppose it is that on a board with this many smart knowledgable people, not a single one thinks you’re right? I would actually like a response to this one–why do you think you’re alone in your beliefs?
Jesus dude. This is embarrassing.
I like your cute little calculator there, though. 
I wasn’t aware of all the expertise in monkey TKO’s but I answered your question about how I got the idea. It’s a simple matter of physics to increase the shock value of a blow to the head (a person falling to the ground) by the 3 or 4 times that speed via a clenched fist. A human skull is only 1/4 inch thick piece of bone. The bones in the human hand are thicker at the knuckle which makes an excellent focal point.
Why you think the force of an open hand breaking a brick will not translate with a clenched fist into a braced skull is beyond me.
We seem to be at an impasse regarding the double punch thing. Maybe it would be helpful to simplify the situation and just talk about identical punches to a skull, braced against a wall and not braced.
In the unbraced situation, some of the KE of the impact will be dissipated into various tissues - the hand and the skull, and some will be used to accelerate the unbraced skull. That latter energy will eventually be dissipated in the muscles of the neck as the head is brought to a halt (if the head doesn’t come to a halt, the discussion is moot!)
As Magiver correctly points out, the energy going into accelerating the skull reduces the contact force of the impact, hence his analogy of hitting a nail suspended from a piece of string. The effect isn’t so pronounced as with a nail on a string since the neck does provide some restraint on the skull - more on that in a moment - but it is real.
In the braced situation, there is no acceleration of the skull and ALL the KE has to be dissipated in the impact. Again, as Magiver correctly points out, this will increase the contact force of the impact, all things being equal. For an identical punch, hitting a braced skull will have a greater chance of fracturing the skull, and also the hitters knuckles, than otherwise.
Where the big disagreement comes in is whether any of that KE of impact is transferred through the skull wall and reaches the brain, without the skull breaking. Let’s not get too hung-up on the strict definition of the word “shockwave” - an elastic wave such as that passing through a Newton’s cradle is real enough, and can do damage. You can spall a flake of glass off the opposite side of a window by hitting it with a slingshot ball, and that’s a compressive elastic wave becoming a tensile elastic wave as it reflects off the back surface.
At this point we’re kind of stuck for cites and have to argue by analogy, and to some extent gut feeling. So why don’t I believe in “shockwave” energy transmission into the brain?
Firstly, a skull is not freestanding - it has a fair bit of restraint from the neck, and some necks are pretty thick. Secondly, a head is heavy compared to a fist, quite unlike the nail hanging from a string. So a pretty good proportion of the energy of an ordinary punch to the head has to be absorbed in impact rather than going into accelerating the skull. We should see that “shockwave” effect with hard conventional head punches, especially to no-neck people. In fact if the shockwave effect were real, “no necks” should be easier to take down than “pencil-necks”!
Secondly a skull is a rigid bone box, and bone is pretty strong and quite stiff. My earlier analogy of a motorcycle helmet was rejected by Magiver so let’s try another one - an upturned ceramic plant pot sized just right to contact the upper skull in a broad ring. Hard, rigid, much more brittle than a skull. Brace it against a wall with head inside and let someone hit it with a punch. IF THE POT DOESN’T BREAK, will much energy pass through to the head inside? I don’t think so, but that’s my gut speaking. I have no cite. Having a half-inch clearance filled with liquid, as the brain does inside a skull, makes the whole “shockwave” thing even more unlikely to me.
I’ve just discovered this forum a short time ago but already I can tell the quality of discussion and argument on here is far higher than any I’ve yet participated in.
Cheers.
But thirdname, you’re ignoring the thousands of boxers and MMA fighters who have been knocked with double punches, whereas I’m unaware of anyone ever being knocked out with a single handed blow. Maybe it’s time you started looking at the facts, rather than your newfangled “physics.”
A boxer wears gloves which eliminate the technique completely. there is no way to transmit energy this way. That is why boxers have to rely on a punch designed accelerate the head into a brain sloshing blow. It has zero to do with what I’m describing. Beyond that, it leaves one completely exposed while the opponent is free to knock one of your arms away which completely negates the effect.
If you want to talk about boxing techniques then I suggest a new thread.
If the pot is touching the head on both sides? that would be just having your head against a large bell. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side when it’s struck.
As for the fluid in the head, it may cushion the movement of the brain mass but it will transmit energy straight through. consider again the tsunami. It will travel hundreds of miles through water and then grind up a coastal city. In order for the fluid layer to be effective in this respect it would have to focus the energy away from the brain. I’d be surprised if evolution created such an ability.
I believe it would be effective because people can be knocked out by falling and striking their head. It is an injury caused by a blow that is many times slower than a boxer’s punch so the logical extrapolation is that it is not the result of the brain sloshing. If the brain sloshing occurred at 4 mph then every boxing match would end on the first punch.
How much force do you hit the ground with if you fall down? What variables might you need in that equation? Think about that for a second–is it only the speed or might you need to know something else? Would a heavier person get hurt more by falling down than a lighter person? How does this translate into punching? How can you increase the force of a blow? Might a heavier person be able to hit harder than a lighter person? What variable can you plug into the equation here that you can’t include with a double punch?
Where does the force go if the brick doesn’t break?
You have created a fascinating and intricate universe.
Are you a truther? If not, you should consider becoming one-I think your understanding of physics would match up well with their understanding of physics.
Do you mean inside a large bell? That wouldn’t be pleasant, but a ceramic pot doesn’t possess the ability of a bell to convert impact energy into sound…
But I think you may have missed the point of my question. Place a strong, rigid open-topped container against a solid wall. Put it up on a stepladder so it’s at head height. A strong ceramic pot is as good a material as any.
Suspend a fragile object within with string, whether this be a brain, or an egg, or a feisty volunteer’s head, said volunteer suspended upside-down. Fill the remainder of the container with water. Volunteer is now holding his breath and having second thoughts.
Punch the container at an orientation so as to drive it into the wall that it’s already in contact with, so that it doesn’t move. Assuming the container doesn’t break, is the object inside damaged? Would an egg crack or implode? Does the volunteer get knocked out? Where does the energy go?
A tsunami is a transverse wave and not a particularly good analogy but I take your point about fluid and shock transmission. I kind of wonder how ibex and all those other headbutting animals get away with it, though! My contention is that the skull doesn’t actually transmit a shockwave into the fluid - it’s rigid enough that all the energy is dissipated in the skull itself, which evolution should favour.
That’s an interesting point! But isn’t it the acceleration of the skull that’s important? Not the 4mph, but how quickly the 4mph skull comes to a stop so the the 4mph brain keeps going and crashes into the skull wall. Hitting hard ground brings the head to a stop in a fraction of an inch. Try walking into a lamppost some day and see how 4 mph feels.
You cite a good fast boxing punch as being 35 mph, but such a punch won’t accelerate the whole head it strikes to 35 mph, and the acceleration will be over a greater distance - a couple of inches or so. The brain-skull impact force may be comparable.
btw Magiver - appreciate you coming back to discuss this. The physics behind your argument is robust as far as I’m concerned - its the mechanics of what actually happens that we disagree on!