# What does it feel like to get blown up? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354 "2004-12-11T21:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/1 "2004-12-11T21:59:39Z")
I’m familar with the sorts of physical destruction that knives and other penetrating instruments can deliver, and I’ve been shot with paint balls and sling shots and BB guns, so I can imagine (conceptually at least) what getting hit with a bullet might feell like, but explosions have always been a bit of a mystery. Is it like a big hand swats you, or getting burned … or what? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/2 "2004-12-11T23:45:28Z")
“…that’s the trouble with this trick…I can only do it once.” ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/3 "2004-12-12T00:02:54Z")
^ There must be an account of someone having something blown off there body before. ---
**Author:** ![Milkman\_Dan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Milkman\_Dan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milkman_Dan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/4 "2004-12-12T00:48:43Z")
Pretty much everyone who has ever been blown up is dead, so I don’t know if there’s a factual answer to this question. If the explosion was strong enough to literally blow you to pieces (or in the case of an atomic bomb, vaporize you), you probably wouldn’t feel very much. But if an explosion didn’t kill you or knock you unconscious from the outset, and burned you to death or something, it would be considerably more unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/5 "2004-12-12T01:12:25Z")
Try this: [ul][li]You are sitting at a traffic light minding your own business. [/li][li] A car driving at the maximum speed that allows you to stay alive afterwards, hits you from behind.[/li] That’s what it feels like. ;)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/6 "2004-12-12T02:43:04Z")
When I was in high school, I built a bomb out of a couple of ounces of black powder, a ceramic container, gasoline, shrapnel, and waterproof fuse. The plan was to blow it up during a camping trip in a pasture for fun. It was really wet that night and I tried to light the fuse to my bomb with no luck (somehow it wasn’t truly waterproof). My best friend had the great idea that we could take the black powder out of the bomb and put it on some dry paper and light it. He said that black powder alone just makes this cool looking fizzle when it is uncompresses. We did that and tried to use another piece of paper to light the pile of black powder. It still wouldn’t light so we put out faces close to the pile and blow. We did that for a few seconds and then: BOOM! My best friend and I were blown several feet away onto our backs. I had this incredibly, almost peaceful, numb sensation throughout my body. I don’t even know if my eyes were open but I saw this bright red-orange glow. I truly assumed I was dead. After about what I figured was about a minute, another friend who had been watching from a distance grabbed me and picked me up. He said that a fireball 20 feet high and 15 feet wide had enveloped us and he was worried about how he was going to tell our families we were gone. I wasn’t blown up of course but I assume that it wouldn’t be that bad if you were instantly killed that way. If you had a limb blown off, it would probably feel pretty bad after the shock and confusion wore off. ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/7 "2004-12-12T15:07:09Z")
I’ve been close enough to a number of large explosions that I can well imagine the sensation. The initial shock wave would hit so hard that you’d immediately go numb, eardrums would rupture, and then you’d lose consciousness as the blast wave tore you to pieces. Fun! ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/8 "2004-12-12T18:31:29Z")
I imagine it hurts. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/9 "2004-12-12T23:22:43Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > I imagine it hurts. But not for long! Perhaps a bit longer than getting beheaded on a guillotine. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/10 "2004-12-13T01:14:33Z")
[QUOTE=kniz] Try this: [ul][li]You are sitting at a traffic light minding your own business. [/li][li] A car driving at the maximum speed that allows you to stay alive afterwards, hits you from behind.[/li][li] That’s what it feels like. ;)[/ul][/li][/QUOTE] Been there. Done that. TWICE. Don’t want to try for a third time. Thank you very much. It is a very sudden rude awakening and hurts to beat the band! BUT, IF, you really want to know for yourself the PLO will give you a job. ---
**Author:** ![JonScribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/11 "2004-12-13T01:28:36Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It still wouldn’t light so we put out faces close to the pile and blow. We did that for a few seconds and then: > > BOOM! Man, you were this close to a Darwin Award. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/12 "2004-12-13T03:10:39Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > … I had this incredibly, almost peaceful, numb sensation throughout my body. … I was blown up in a dream once and that’s how I would describe the sensation. I was walking along a deserted street when I got hit by a rocket. Well, that’s as close as I can get. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/13 "2004-12-13T03:54:21Z")
Much to my dismay, I guess I come as close as anyone to qualifying to respond to your question. I was sort of blown up in Viet Nam. Mortor landed very close to me. The problem is that I remember little or nothing of the event. I remember somebody yelling “Incoming!” I think I remember what felt like a tingle of an earthquake. I think I remember being loaded on to a med-evac chopper. I remember waking up in a hospital. I remember waking up again in a hospital. I remember being awake in a hospital and doctors talking to me but me not being able to see them too well or hear them to well. I then remember pain. But really virtually nothing of the explosion itself. Sorry, I think if anyone was any closer to an explosion than I, you will not be hearing from them. TV ---
**Author:** ![scumfrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@scumfrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scumfrog)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/14 "2014-03-01T05:23:45Z")
> [@](#): > \ ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/15 "2014-03-01T06:13:08Z")
> [@scumfrog](#): > > \ \ You’re replying to a 9 year old thread. Everyone of these people are dead. Dead I tell ya, and wandering around Atlanta. And yes, I know what Dimethyltryptamine is. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/16 "2014-03-02T02:58:37Z")
What does it feel like to get blown up? Dunno, why don’t you ask a balloon? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/17 "2014-03-02T03:22:19Z")
zombie or no There may be a slight ringing in your ears. Fortunately, you’ll be nowhere near them. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/18 "2014-03-02T04:28:20Z")
I’ve heard getting blown up feels like falling asleep…inside a bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/19 "2014-03-02T19:01:25Z")
Closest I came was in a rocket attack in 'Nam. I remember a concussive blast, the air turning red, and bits of red-hot metal flying through the air. Next thing I knew I was in the bunker with a bunch of other shell-shocked guys. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354/20 "2014-03-02T19:20:33Z")
Feels just like chicken. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-blown-up/279354.md?page=2)