I wanna know the truth about this, you know, just in case…
What’s the best way to approach it? Seems like most people in the movies ball up when they jump through a window, but maybe trying to flip through it so your back takes the blow would be better. Or shoulder-first?
And how much would it hurt? What kind of pain would it be? How cut up would you get?
<I Know Nothing>
Well i’de think the balled up idea seems pretty sensible, cos that way your shins and forearms take the brunt of the impact, and protect your head and soft bits.
I expect shoulder first would expose your neck to the glass your shoulder just broke, so i expect that is a bad idea.
Trying to flip, all i can picture in my head is you rotating yourself upside down and then going splat against the glass. and landing on your head at the correct side of the glass ( the side you started on ). or maybe throwing your legs through the glass, and kinda’ impaling your lower back on the remainder of the window.
</I Know Nothing>
Double glazing is pretty tough.
Single glasing aint.
i wouldnt recomend throwing yourself through glass anyway.
“Seems like most people in the movies ball up when they jump through a window,”
They also aren’t going through real glass…Isn’t it a type of sugar-glass?
I worked with someone who, while filming a student art picture, was involved in a tragic accident involving an actor falling through a pane of glass. My memory of the specifics of the incident are not good, but apparently the prop shop gave the director real glass, not the fake stuff, whatever it is made from. The actor ended up paralyzed when a shard of glass lodged in his spine. There were lots of lawsuits.
My advice: avoid going through panes of glass at all costs. Find the nearest door instead.
Yeah…movies use a fake glass that breaks easier and won’t slice you up (which I believe is called sugar-glass as handy mentioned).
I had a friend accidentally put a foot through a window and he got a two inch scar and severed tendons for this bad move. Not pretty at all (I unfortunately saw the whole thing and took him to the hospital). In general if you want to jump through a window either open it first or throw something through it ahead of you and follow a few seconds later. If you have to go through with your body I don’t see how you could do it as a ball. Pretty much feet first, head first or shoulder first. Whatever the case use your arms to cover your face and hope for the best.
Not successfully. One night after far too many beers I attempted to run through a friend’s porch window…head first. The pane of glass fully resisted the attempt, though a beautiful star pattern emerged both upon the glass and circling my head. Needless to say the following mornings hangover was worse than normal.
Throw a chair through it first, then use something else to break up any nasty shards stuck to the frame.
I know this isn’t quite what you’re looking for, but unless it is safety glass (that breaks into cubes), then there’s a significant risk of you getting impaled or lacerated by bits of glass stuck in the frame, particularly as the impact is going to slow you down a lot.
The show “Worse Case Scenario” showed how to jump through a window (in the event you need to escape fire or other bodily harm). The stunt person used a towel or some other suitable fabric to cushion the blow. She draped the towel over her right arm and elbow, she then stuck out her elbow and tucked her head into the inside of her outwardly bent arm. This would create a small contact patch with the glass that would initiate the breakage. Then the rest of the body would follow.
The technique was to run very fast towards the window in the manner I described above and then leap at the window at the last second, transferring all your weight into the glass. As you break the glass with your elbow you sort of roll, leading with your back, through the window pane then landing on the ground outside. Making sure to roll away from the breakage as soon as possible once on the ground.
Friend of mine put her hand through a 12x12 single-pane window in a door. Twenty-odd stitches in her forearm and sheer luck the arteries in her wrists weren’t severed.
Kids, don’t try this at home.
Whatever you do, never jump through a pane of glass. It could kill you. One anecdote concerning this: during the Luby’s massacre in Killeen, Texas in 1991, one of the survivors managed to escape by jumping through a winow pane (first story, into the bushes). He was critically injured for doing so. It’s not something to be taken lightly.
Imagine a pointy-triangular shaped shard sticking straight up from the bottom of the window.
Imagine that the strength of the window and/or panes keep you from going all the way through the window, and instead of landing outside, you fall down on the bottom of the window ledge.
Imagine that pointy shard going right through the fleshy part of your midsection lacerating kidneys, spleens, and ton’s o’ entrails.
The only reason to ever try to jump through a real window is that there is certainty of immediate death if you don’t (e.g., someone’s about to shoot you).
Even if there’s a fire, take the 10 seconds to break the window first with an object or a shoed foot first.
Or, try opening it.
Peace.
I’ve seen sugar turned into a translucent sheet on the bottom of a pan. I’m pretty sure this is what the props shops are doing, in a much better way, to make the windows for the dog to jump through to save Timmy.
Evey notice how the window just shatters away when a 40 lb. dog hits it with only five steps and a jump? Also notice that somehow no one ever jumps through a safety window in the movies. Never. That’s because the sugar “glass” acts more like regular “old” glass ang breaks into shards (which are too weak to do much damage).
Definatly break it first. Glass is hard and sharp, you do not want to go full force through it. In my experience I broke the glass with a wood block first, then went through. I still ended up bleeding a lot from glass scrapnal. Never go through a window unless absolutely nessisary.
When I was 13, I went through a plate glass storm door. I was chasing my brother and he ran through the door. The door swung back and instead to pushing the handle, I hit the glass.
Since I was running, I went right through. After going through the glass, I continued chasing my brother around the house. My mom was on the back porch and she screamed when she saw me. I was cut very badly. I had about a 5 inch-long gash on my knee, I looked down and could see the bone and flexing muscle, it was gross.
I was rushed to the hospital where I got 66 stiches on my chest, (the scar is in a V-shape right below my right nipple) and 55 on my knee. When I ran around the house, I snaped tendons in my knee. Since I was in shock, I didn’t realize how serious my cuts were. I had to have knee surgery and wear a knee brace all summer and I still have tiny pieces of glass in my knee. I also have small scars on my arms and legs.
It wasn’t a nice experience, especially for a 13-year old.
With a chair or other heavy object. Then use a towel or blanket to cover up the shards of glass.
A friend of mine got himself a nice ugle scar on his arm from accidently bouncing himself off a bed and out a 20th floor window (fortunatly he didn’t go off the edge of the building).
Going through a window is no joke.
According to the Knoxville-Darwin theory of evolution, a civilization is better off without the genetic distinctiveness of anyone foolish enough to kill themselves immitating something they saw on TV.
Definetly a VERY bad idea; break the window with something before going through it; I did made my way through a 10mm thick glass door too; full frontal impact, fell over the glasses and rolled down the doorsteps; I find quite amazing that I only have 5 or 6 scars in my body to remind me to be more careful.
As for the “Candy glass” it´s no longer made of candy, they use resins now, much easier to work with. And then again, don`t try to imitate what you see on screen.