Physicists in survival situation

**trini** · Nov21-09, 03:40 AM

Ok fun topic, here's the situation:

You wake up one morning, go to the kitchen to put up a cup of tea/coffee, switch on the news and hear there's a virus causing zombie's to spawn resident evil style. It is unclear as to whether or not the virus is airborne. The government tells you stay inside and barricade all the entrances to your house, but being the physicist that you are, you know this may not be enough and decide to also begin making homemade traps and weapons. lets say for all intents and purposes, you have a hardware full of materials to use. assume that walls of fire are impractical as they would draw attention to yourself and eventually run out of fuel.

It is known at this point that the zombies may be neutralized by shots to the head, and otherwise function exactly as a normal person would in terms of reaction to heat, cold, radiation etc. they also can't swim. Their bodies hold similar moisture content to that of an uninfected person. basically this list provides the limits of the conditions their bodies can withstand:

max temp- 80 C
min temp- minus(-) 5 C
max incident radiation - 0.5 sievert
max noise frequency-30kHz(above which they get completely disoriented)

here's the question, using only items found at home and in a hardware, what weapons do you design to protect yourself from massive swarms? take into account your home's location, and the general relief of the land around you. Also, it is an option to go out and live on the sea, but you live at least 5 miles from the coast and would have to go through the open to get there.

Physicists need imaginations, so here's a test of creativity!

I suppose i should start with a couple examples:

-rail guns(electircal wire, capacitors, steel bearings, wooden frame)
-flamethrower(propane tank, control valve, ignition trigger)

if this is too outlandish a topic sorry, but physics must demonstrate practicality, so lets see how you use your knowledge of physics to survive.

**Ranger Mike** · Nov21-09, 06:01 AM

this is why i got some much munitions buried around my fortress in the country. Enuff ammo to hold out for a week....plenty of claymores and improvised explosives..
ref- zombies...i would not waste ammo , just use my bayonet

**jimmysnyder** · Nov21-09, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by trini

physics must demonstrate practicality ...

Like in warding off zombies?

**trini** · Nov21-09, 06:10 AM

yes exactly my point =P

**mugaliens** · Dec17-09, 07:41 AM

ETA: I added justifications after the Q&A's

"Their bodies hold similar moisture content to that of an uninfected person. basically this list provides the limits of the conditions their bodies can withstand:

max temp- 80 C
min temp- minus(-) 5 C
max incident radiation - 0.5 sievert
max noise frequency-30kHz(above which they get completely disoriented)"

Are we going to heat them? No. Sure, we could devise a flamethrower and keep them at bay for a short period, but then it would be game over.

Are we going to chill them? No. Sure, we could try to hold out until Winter, but we'd probably run out of ammo long before then, and then it would be game over.

Are we going to irradiate them? No. Or at least not likely, unless they're willing to hold still at the hospital for x-rays. The natural background radiation is about 2.4 mSv/year. So it would take about 208 years to achieve that.

Do we have a cranking stereo? Heck yes! The Who, Rock the Casbah, Stairway to Heaven...

Build a boat, strap in on top of the car, use a converter to convert 12 V to 120, strap the home stereo and speakers to the car, use a frequency multiplier (oops, you did say we were physicists, so as a non-physicist, I guess I'm not supposed to know about this one) and CRANK IT!!!

Just to be sure, let's add two stages of frequency multipliers so as to allow for the vinyls some of us may still be playing.

And of course the usual weapons, as we prefer to put as many of them out of their misery as possible.

**RonL** · Dec22-09, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by trini

Ok fun topic, here's the situation:

You wake up one morning, go to the kitchen to put up a cup of tea/coffee, switch on the news and hear there's a virus causing zombie's to spawn resident evil style. It is unclear as to whether or not the virus is airborne. The government tells you stay inside and barricade all the entrances to your house, but being the physicist that you are, you know this may not be enough and decide to also begin making homemade traps and weapons. lets say for all intents and purposes, you have a hardware full of materials to use. assume that walls of fire are impractical as they would draw attention to yourself and eventually run out of fuel.

It is known at this point that the zombies may be neutralized by shots to the head, and otherwise function exactly as a normal person would in terms of reaction to heat, cold, radiation etc. they also can't swim. Their bodies hold similar moisture content to that of an uninfected person. basically this list provides the limits of the conditions their bodies can withstand:

max temp- 80 C
min temp- minus(-) 5 C
max incident radiation - 0.5 sievert
max noise frequency-30kHz(above which they get completely disoriented)

here's the question, using only items found at home and in a hardware, what weapons do you design to protect yourself from massive swarms? take into account your home's location, and the general relief of the land around you. Also, it is an option to go out and live on the sea, but you live at least 5 miles from the coast and would have to go through the open to get there.

Physicists need imaginations, so here's a test of creativity!

I suppose i should start with a couple examples:

-rail guns(electircal wire, capacitors, steel bearings, wooden frame)
-flamethrower(propane tank, control valve, ignition trigger)

if this is too outlandish a topic sorry, but physics must demonstrate practicality, so lets see how you use your knowledge of physics to survive.

This sounds more like my battle with mesquitos every year until winter.