# How many straws would it take to break a camel's back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562 "2006-04-28T06:53:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/1 "2006-04-28T06:53:36Z")
Since an experiment on a live camel would likely put the animal rights folks in an uproar, just a rough estimate would satisfy me. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/2 "2006-04-28T07:47:48Z")
If the straw is travelling sufficiently fast, one straw will do it. It would probably be necessary to carry out the procedure in vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/3 "2006-04-28T10:43:38Z")
1. Definitely 42. I see you didn’t specify size or material of the straws, so the answer is (always) 42. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/4 "2006-04-28T11:36:35Z")
The load capacity of a male bactrian camel is [240 kg](http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/x1700t/x1700t05.htm), _ie._ 240, 000 one gram straws. I don’t, however, know about African or Europea … _AAARRRrgggghhhhh_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/5 "2006-04-28T12:16:14Z")
Just to nitpick, the saying implies that the addition of the weight of a single straw would break the camel’s back, not that the weight carried was _made up of_ straws. Although there’s no reason it couldn’t be, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/6 "2006-04-28T14:25:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > If the straw is travelling sufficiently fast, one straw will do it. It would probably be necessary to carry out the procedure in vacuum. It would probably be necessary to carry out the procedure in a hurricane/tornado. Witness photos of straws driven thru./into wooden telephone/power poles. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/7 "2006-04-28T15:19:27Z")
Is anyone else thinking “Mythbusters” ? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/8 "2006-04-28T16:41:10Z")
According [to this](http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et1094/et1094s8.html) an 18 x 14 x 36 bale of straw weighs about 55 lbs (about 25 kg.) **SentientMeat** has helpfully pointed out that a male bactrian camel can carry 240 kg, (about 9.6 bales.) Since one bale of straw measures about 5.25 cubic feet, that means the male bactrian camel could carry about 50.4 cubic feet of straw. I’ll leave it to someone else to work out metric equaivalents. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/9 "2006-04-28T16:44:44Z")
Well… I think I’m smarter for having read this. :smack: …only on the SDMB… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/10 "2006-04-28T19:13:14Z")
Actually, the load capacity is not the same as the backbreaking capacity. The quoted load capacity of 240kg is just how much weight a male camel normally can walk around with. It’s going to take quite a lot more weight to actually snap the spine of the animal. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/11 "2006-04-28T20:05:11Z")
Yes, but then the weight-bearing area of the load becomes the critical factor, and the phrase provides no information about that: if the straws are loaded onto a saddle comprising an extremely sharp knife (_ie._ an area of less than 1 mm[sup]2[/sup], maybe a few hundred will separate vertebrae. Spread evenly (over, say, 1 m[sup]2[/sup], and the camel will be squashed to a pulp by literal billions of straws before the vertebrae separate. ---
**Author:** ![curious11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@curious11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious11)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/12 "2014-05-12T23:13:30Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > Actually, the load capacity is not the same as the backbreaking capacity. The quoted load capacity of 240kg is just how much weight a male camel normally can walk around with. It’s going to take quite a lot more weight to actually snap the spine of the animal. THIS! Also, the animal’s back is not similar to a rigid piece of material that will sustain weight X and then fail at weight X plus weight of one straw. The animal’s back is made of muscle, connective tissue, and bones. I’m sure one of the animal’s back muscles would fail prior to the back breaking, causing the animal to fall over and no longer be in position to find the back breaking weight. Or the leg could buckle leading to falling over, same deal. I think we should stop using the camel idiom/phrase entirely in favor of the more binary operation of the “drop that overflowed the glass”. If you ever played with water and filling glasses, the meniscus fills and then one drop, sploosh! I found this thread by searching instead of starting a new one. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/13 "2014-05-12T23:25:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Just to nitpick, the saying implies that the addition of the weight of a single straw would break the camel’s back, not that the weight carried was _made up of_ straws. > > Although there’s no reason it couldn’t be, I guess. Not so! The saying refers to the “last straw” as doing the final damage, which most certainly implies that the burden it is being added to already consists, at least in part of straw. Uh oh, zombie I see! ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/14 "2014-05-13T00:04:47Z")
I really hope [Paul Weir Galm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_bMHLJ7Lqo) is reading this. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/15 "2014-05-13T01:31:54Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Is anyone else thinking “Mythbusters” ? I can easily see Adam and Jamie going out to build competing model camels, each with a different breakdown method (“Now what breaks on the camel is its spine. I’ve made a “spine” out of pieces of PVC tubing held together by an elastomer that matches the cartilage “discs” in a camel’s spinal column…”), then loading them with weights, culminating in straws that they add one by one until the models snap. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/16 "2014-05-13T01:33:41Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Not so! The saying refers to the “last straw” as doing the final damage, which most certainly implies that the burden it is being added to already consists, at least in part of straw. > > Uh oh, zombie I see! Not the way I’ve ever heard it. I only hear of the “straw” that breaks the camel’s back. Never anything about “last straw”. I wonder how many straws it takes to break a zombie camel’s back? Although, on this board, it’d be a straw MAN, instead. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/17 "2014-05-13T02:27:37Z")
Good question! Let’s find out. One, two, three **CRUNCH** Three. ---
**Author:** ![teflon\_grut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@teflon\_grut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teflon_grut)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/18 "2014-05-13T03:03:37Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > Yes, but then the weight-bearing area of the load becomes the critical factor, and the phrase provides no information about that: if the straws are loaded onto a saddle comprising an extremely sharp knife (_ie._ an area of less than 1 mm[sup]2[/sup], maybe a few hundred will separate vertebrae. Spread evenly (over, say, 1 m[sup]2[/sup], and the camel will be squashed to a pulp by literal billions of straws before the vertebrae separate. What kind of straw do you come into contact with? A few hundred pieces of straw is what I would picture to be a handful of straw. That’s one weak pack animal. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/19 "2014-05-13T04:12:23Z")
One, maybe, if the guy who said this is wielding it: > **[Movie/Book quote](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=326650)** > > I tried to find the origin of this and failed - I remember it as a book quote but my SO thinks it was a movie. Paraphrased, the quote is “I could kill you ten different ways with this straw. Eleven if I kept the wrapper.” Help, it’s driving me... ---
**Author:** ![cmdrpiffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b4bc9f/32.png) [@cmdrpiffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmdrpiffle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562/20 "2014-05-13T07:27:43Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > 1. Definitely 42. I see you didn’t specify size or material of the straws, so the answer is (always) 42. 😉 Snort! Anyone knows it’s 44, always 44. Did you NOT account for the hemispheric wave variation in the locations where camels are known to congregate? Amateur…😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-straws-would-it-take-to-break-a-camels-back/354562.md?page=2)