# What type of weaponry would be needed to hurt someone 1000x more durable than a normal human?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 9, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689 "2021-04-09T16:55:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/21 "2021-04-10T12:18:30Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> An anti-tank rifle has about 50,000 Joules. Thats about 1000 times stronger than a BB gun. A BB gun won’t kill you, but it’ll hurt and scare you off.
Given that the OP asked for a weapon capable of “hurting”, not “killing”, this sounds like about what we’re looking for.
But could you educate the non-weapon-savvy among us on the distinction between an “anti-tank rifle” and an “anti-tank round”? I’m guessing that the former is a gun, properly so called, with all of the acceleration occurring in the barrel, while the latter is a rocket-propelled weapon, and likely with an explosive head. But if an anti-tank rifle is that much weaker than an anti-tank round, how is it used? Do you just have to aim at weak spots in the armor, or is it designed for lesser armed vehicles?
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/22 "2021-04-10T13:04:21Z")
**Modnote** : You have to stop Jr. modding. I understand the dislike of a bare link post, but it is not your place to harangue other posters in IMHO.
@squeegee: Don’t just post bare links. This is pretty close to rick rolling. Not allowed.
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### Author:  [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/23 "2021-04-10T13:05:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> But could you educate the non-weapon-savvy among us on the distinction between an “anti-tank rifle” and an “anti-tank round”? I’m guessing that the former is a gun, properly so called, with all of the acceleration occurring in the barrel, while the latter is a rocket-propelled weapon, and likely with an explosive head. But if an anti-tank rifle is that much weaker than an anti-tank round, how is it used? Do you just have to aim at weak spots in the armor, or is it designed for lesser armed vehicles?
@Wesley_Clark mentioned an “anti-tank rifle” and a “_tank_ round”, not an “anti-tank round”.
A “tank round” is just the projectile fired from the main gun of a tank.
An anti-tank rifle is what it sounds like. It’s a really big rifle that fires really big rounds - really big for a rifle, that is - _much_ smaller and _much_ less energetic than what a tank’s main gun fires.
Anti-_tank_ rifles also aren’t really a thing anymore, and haven’t been since WWII. Tank armor has become just too heavy for anything fired from a rifle to really penetrate. Modern militaries do use “anti-materiel” rifles, which are useful against unarmored or lightly armored vehicles, like up-armored Humvees and some Armored Personnel Carriers. An anti-materiel rifle could also be potentially useful against some specific weak points on a modern tank, like external sensors, but not against the tank armor.
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/24 "2021-04-10T13:06:21Z")
There are quite a variety of poisons that would sort this individual out.
Kinetics - so unsubtle.
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### Author:  [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/25 "2021-04-10T13:20:20Z")
Well, they’re 1,000 times as durable as a regular human, so you need 1,000 times the quantity of poison, or a poison that’s 1,000 times as toxic, and some way to administer it.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/26 "2021-04-10T13:34:49Z")
Ah, my bad, I misread @Wesley_Clark’s post. But I’m glad I was right that the rifles are for use against lesser armored vehicles, at least.
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/27 "2021-04-10T14:03:08Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> **Modnote** : You have to stop Jr. modding. I understand the dislike of a bare link post, but it is not your place to harangue other posters in IMHO.
Roger–WILCO.
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/28 "2021-04-10T15:15:40Z")
There are quite a few poisons that are lethal in unbelievably small amounts, Ricin has no safe lower limit and various compounds of radioactive substances are even worse - it may well be that you would not even need 1000 times that dose.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/29 "2021-04-10T21:13:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Given that the OP asked for a weapon capable of “hurting”, not “killing”, this sounds like about what we’re looking for.
Yeah, this is what I’m thinking. No reason to use 1000 times the energy. Somebody shot in the head with a .45 ACP sustains far and above the damage needed to end their life. A lot of over-use there. A well placed hollow-point to the cranium with an off-the-shelf .44 Magnum is sure as hell gonna hurt Mr. Thousand-times. But now you’ve just made him _mad._
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### Author:  [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/30 "2021-04-10T22:53:13Z")
> [@casdave](#):
>
> There are quite a few poisons that are lethal in unbelievably small amounts, Ricin has no safe lower limit and various compounds of radioactive substances are even worse - it may well be that you would not even need 1000 times that dose.
Sure, and I’m not arguing with you, but the fun of these kinds of threads (for me anyway) is trying to nail this stuff down.
So, ok, a relatively small amount of ricin could be deadly to our Mr. 1000X. Now how do you administer it? A sharpened umbrella tip probably isn’t going to do it. Looking at the energy comparisons upthread, a .50 BMG round might be enough to penetrate the skin; assuming their clothing isn’t also 1,000 times as durable as ordinary clothing, it wouldn’t even need to be bare skin. If that’s not enough, you could go with a 20mm anti-material rifle, which should be energetic enough. I’m not familiar enough with the fine points of this, but I think there are incendiary and explosive rounds in those calibers, so maybe using one of those and replacing the incendiaries or explosives with ricin would work.
Now, how long does ricin take to disable the target?
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### Author:  [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/31 "2021-04-10T23:17:42Z")
If we’re going to go the poison route, I’d pick VX nerve agent. Can be aerosolized and sprayed up his nose, or splash him with a small amount and let it seep through his skin. It’s also more potent than ricin, with an LD50 (median lethal dose) over 3 times lower than ricin, assuming both are administered intravenously.
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2021, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/32 "2021-04-11T05:09:11Z")
Invite him to lunch and put it in his tea - works for the Russians
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### Author:  [@DeathPool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeathPool)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2021, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/33 "2021-04-11T10:50:23Z")
I bet a little nuclear artillery would fix his little red wagon.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT5jo7aZzTw)
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### Author:  [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/34 "2021-04-11T18:44:52Z")
Oh! Atomic Annie !
and even without the nuclear charge, a 28 cm shell could pierce 46cm of Battleship steel at 8 km…
One thing is also the conservation of momentum: even if M.Impenetrable stop the projectile, the energy will be transferred and he weight less than 200 pounds…that will be a big take off.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/35 "2021-04-11T19:02:05Z")
We have units for measuring material properties, so I think a good start on the definition of ‘durability’, especially in the context of this question would probably be some combination of things like:
- Fracture toughness of skin, possibly hardness too
- Impact toughness of flesh
- Tensile and deformation strength of bones
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2021, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/36 "2021-04-12T04:17:28Z")
> [@gdave](#):
>
> > [@casdave](#):
> >
> > There are quite a few poisons that are lethal in unbelievably small amounts, Ricin has no safe lower limit and various compounds of radioactive substances are even worse - it may well be that you would not even need 1000 times that dose.
>
> Sure, and I’m not arguing with you, but the fun of these kinds of threads (for me anyway) is trying to nail this stuff down.
>
> So, ok, a relatively small amount of ricin could be deadly to our Mr. 1000X. Now how do you administer it? A sharpened umbrella tip probably isn’t going to do it. Looking at the energy comparisons upthread, a .50 BMG round might be enough to penetrate the skin; assuming their clothing isn’t also 1,000 times as durable as ordinary clothing, it wouldn’t even need to be bare skin. If that’s not enough, you could go with a 20mm anti-material rifle, which should be energetic enough. I’m not familiar enough with the fine points of this, but I think there are incendiary and explosive rounds in those calibers, so maybe using one of those and replacing the incendiaries or explosives with ricin would work.
>
> Now, how long does ricin take to disable the target?
Supposedly it takes about 1-2 newtons of force for a needle to puncture skin. So 2000 Newtons should do it. But would a needle be able to hold up to that kind of pressure? I don’t know.
A bigger needle would require more force to puncture the skin.
Either way, a 50 caliber gun armed with tranquillizer darts that have 10 grams of VX gas should kill it. You probably don’t even need a 50 caliber gun. A regular hunting rifle would probably do it.
Looking online, a boxer can punch at 2000-5000 newtons, so a strong human may be able to stab the creature with a needle filled with VX gas, but it would take all their strength.
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### Author:  [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2021, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-weaponry-would-be-needed-to-hurt-someone-1000x-more-durable-than-a-normal-human/939689/37 "2021-04-12T06:34:10Z")
I always wondered what it would take to successfully neutralize somebody who’s basically invulnerable but is still a “human”, like Wolverine or Jason Vorhees. Encase them in concrete and throw them into the sea?
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