# "I'll tear you limb from limb!" -- Possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526 "2009-04-27T17:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/1 "2009-04-27T17:45:27Z")
The phrase “I’ll tear you limb from limb!” has always amused me for some reason. But seriously – Is it actually possible for a human to rip off another person’s arm/leg, using just their strength? I suppose it would be just about impossible for a “regular-size and strength” man to accomplish on a similarly-equipped person. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) However, let’s say that we had a steroid-enhanced behemoth, say 6’ 6", 350-lbs of muscle in a berserker rage – would he be able to tear a limb off of a regular person? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/2 "2009-04-27T17:53:05Z")
I don’t know about a “steroid enhanced” behemoth human, but it IS possible to literally tear a human being apart - i.e. “limb from limb”. Historically, horses have been employed to do this as a form of execution, and certainly modern industrial machinery is capable of it. The question, I suppose, is there any way a human being (enhanced or not) is capable of exerting the necessary force to do this. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/3 "2009-04-27T18:04:26Z")
Chimpanzees seem able to do it. Aren’t they supposed to be about 5 times stronger than an average man? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/4 "2009-04-27T18:06:03Z")
It might be a good, albeit gory, subject for Mythbusters. You could test it by pulling apart an animal carcass and use something like a spring scale to measure the amount of force involved. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/5 "2009-04-27T18:10:19Z")
Once you kill them and they stop resisting, and you don’t mind a long gruesome tiring day, it should be possible. You might have to wedge them in a tree or something for leverage. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/6 "2009-04-27T18:19:37Z")
You can definitely tear somebody’s ears off. Does that count? A little? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/7 "2009-04-27T18:43:54Z")
There are powerlifters who can deadlift over 1,000 lbs. I would think that they could tear an average arm off. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/8 "2009-04-27T18:46:31Z")
If you know the proper hold and have the stomach for it, it’s relatively easy to dislocate or break a shoulder or elbow with an armlock. Once the connective cartilage is broken it would be a matter of tearing through the skin and muscle. It would take a long, long time, but it might just be possible to tear the arm off at the elbow by breaking it with an armbar and then bending it back and forth over and over and over. It might not be, I really don’t have a lot of experience with trying to tear human skin and muscle. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/9 "2009-04-27T18:58:31Z")
Breaking down a duck for a pot of gumbo is just about impossible without a knife for me. I am not 6’6" (only 6’2") and not particularly strong, but connective tissue is pretty tough stuff. It might be a question of leverage. However, in the annals of combat, has it ever been done? I have never heard of it myself. I have heard of members of the cult of Dionysis tearing apart a goat or a baby in their early rituals. They used their teeth, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/10 "2009-04-27T19:56:08Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Chimpanzees seem able to do it. Aren’t they supposed to be about 5 times stronger than an average man? Some guy you might recognize had something to say about this: > **[Can a 90-lb. chimp clobber a full-grown man?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344496/can-a-90-lb-chimp-clobber-a-full-grown-man)** [QUOTE=Cecil Adams] A 165-pound male chimpanzee named “Boma” registered a pull of 847 pounds, using only his right hand (although he did have his feet braced against the wall, being somewhat hip, in his simian way, to the principles of leverage). A 165-pound man, by comparison, could manage a one-handed pull of about 210 pounds. Even more frightening, a female chimp, weighing a mere 135 pounds and going by the name of Suzette, checked in with a one-handed pull of 1,260 pounds. (She was in a fit of passion at the time; one shudders to think what her boyfriend must have looked like next morning.) [/QUOTE] 1260 vs. 210 isn’t far off from a factor of 5. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/11 "2009-04-27T20:10:14Z")
The famous case of [Robert-François Damiens](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert-Fran%C3%A7ois_Damiens) shows that it is not an easy task at all. He tried to kill Louis XV in 1757 and was sentenced to - among many other forms of torture - be torn limb from limb by horses: From wikipedia: "[…] Horses were then harnessed to his arms and legs for his dismemberment. Damiens’ limbs and ligaments did not separate easily; after some hours, representatives of the Parlement ordered the executioner and his aides to cut Damiens’ joints. Damiens was then dismembered, to the applause of the crowd […] " eta: “… after some _hours_!” of pulling. Yikes - I hope he was already dead by then. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/12 "2009-04-27T21:48:31Z")
I get tired of seeing this show up in movies and tv shows all the time. Like the “Lost” episode where the guy’s arm comes off in Locke’s hands – yeah right. There’s also the predominance of Jack Bauer neck snapping, which is quite unrealistic as well. Get yourself a 2 inch thick ribeye steak and see if you can tear through it with your bare hands. My guess is you aren’t going to be able to. You’d also have to have fingers strong enough to keep a grip. People can be surprisingly fragile, but they can also be incredibly tough. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/13 "2009-04-27T22:08:50Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > There are powerlifters who can deadlift over 1,000 lbs. I would think that they could tear an average arm off. They’re only guaranteed to have the advantage if they’re trying to deadlift the person’s arm off, which is impractical in most situations. Strength is very specific to movements. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/14 "2009-04-28T05:27:01Z")
> [@Panurge](#): > > eta: “… after some _hours_!” of pulling. Yikes - I hope he was already dead by then. Damien’s case was also the first example that came to my mind on reading the OP. I recall reading a graphic description of it in Foucault’s [_Discipline and Punish_](http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/punish.html), which opens with a lengthy quotation from the Gazette d’Amsterdam: > [@](#): > > When the four limbs had been pulled away, the confessors came to speak to him; but his executioner told them that he was dead, though the truth was that I saw the man move, his lower jaw moving from side to side as if he were talking. One of the executioners even said shortly afterwards that when they had lifted the trunk to throw it on the stake, he was still alive. There’s also Casanova’s [description of the execution](http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/Biography/casanova/chapter59.html) (which he witnessed): > [@Giacoma Casanova](#): > > We had the courage to watch the dreadful sight for four hours. . . . While this victim of the Jesuits was being executed, I was several times obliged to turn away my face and to stop my ears as I heard his piercing shrieks, half of his body having been torn from him. So based on those two contemporary accounts, it appears that poor Damien was at least briefly alive following his dismemberment. ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/15 "2009-04-28T05:27:04Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > People can be surprisingly fragile, but they can also be incredibly tough. Not at the same time, methinks… In this scenario, people are tough… but place 'em in a car going 50 mph, and they’re darn fragile… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/16 "2009-04-28T08:09:35Z")
> [@Gotterfunken](#): > > There’s also Casanova’s [description of the execution](http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/Biography/casanova/chapter59.html) (which he witnessed): Did I read that correctly? While Damien was being literally torn apart two of Cassanova’s companions were screwing? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/17 "2009-04-28T13:45:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Some guy you might recognize had something to say about this: > [Can a 90-lb. chimp clobber a full-grown man? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2/can-a-90-lb-chimp-clobber-a-full-grown-man) > > 1260 vs. 210 isn’t far off from a factor of 5. Slight hijack but…are chimpanzee musculoskeletal systems so different from ours?? I would have thought that other than around the butt/hip area, we were really close. But if we were, there wouldn’t be a 5x pull difference. What’s up? ---
**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, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/18 "2009-04-28T15:18:17Z")
The Master speaks on [drawing and quartering](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1049/what-do-drawn-and-quartered-and-keelhauling-mean). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/19 "2009-04-28T15:31:31Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Did I read that correctly? While Damien was being literally torn apart two of Cassanova’s companions were screwing? :eek: Yes, it certainly seems strongly implied: “The fact was that Tiretta kept the pious aunt curiously engaged during the whole time of the execution, and this, perhaps, was what prevented the virtuous lady from moving or even turning her head round.” Casanova’s later conversation with Tiretta seems to confirm it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526/20 "2009-04-28T15:47:21Z")
There are cases of people, say, losing an arm in a tug of war contest, although I don’t think I’ve heard of one where they hadn’t wrapped the rope around the arm (and I believe there was some rope elasticity issue, too, to the one I’m thinking of. There’s a picture you probably don’t need to see.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-tear-you-limb-from-limb-possible/494526.md?page=2)