Skin and Skull? You need more than just skin to leave a mark.

I think we are all talking about the same thing... can you say REDO!

The ring used was all wrong. It was a flat faced surfaced with an engraving. The rings in comics are actual skull shaped, which has details that will leave some markings. Maybe if they used the ballistic jell under the surface of the pig skin, it would give a more accurate result. The ballistic jell should show any detail that would be impressed upon the muscle surface that would bruise.

avienr and apollysis have it right!

When I was in high school an opposing football player cheap-shotted me and hit me on the side of my jaw with some kind of a metal ring. The ring must have been shaped like a football because the bruise that developed on my jaw was in that shape!

I'd think a ring like this would leave a mark much easier-
Skull Ring
Yes, I did just make that in solidworks.

Well I saw two problems with there test. First the skin while being a good analog for human skin was not live. The second problem I seen was that the rings they used required the mark to be made by skin sinking into the design where the ring of the Phantom was a raised ring.

Cy.

I agree with everyone that thinks the pig analog was a bad idea. It lacks all the things needed to leave an actual mark. Have you ever seen someone slap someone else really hard on the back - it leaves a hand print. I would think it would do the same when punching someone, especially when a lot of the force is being transferred through the ring, as it is the first thing to make contact. But of course, they aren't going to actually punch someone in the face, so it's a poor myth to even try.

I have first person experience with something very similar to this. I got hit with a baseball thrown at about 45 mph, right in the face, on the cheekbone, just to the left of the nose. It did leave an impression on my face, that of one of the stitches. I did not even get a visible bruise, because I applied ice right away. It did not break my cheekbone, and i got x-rays. But it did leave a lasting impression for 2-3 days. For the first 12 hours it was very visible, and I got comments about it at school. Just to be clear, it was not a bruise, it had ridges. So something like this is possible.

But there were some things the guys on the show did differently. First off it was dead skin. That would react differently than living, or at least very fresh skin. Also, I'm pretty sure more force could be applied to a cheekbone, instead of the forehead. And they used a large shape, which is much harder to imprint than small stitches. Plus fatty cheek skin would have more fat than skin with no fat attached. That might make it more impressionable. None of this is expertise, it's just opinion. But the story is true. Too bad I couldn't find any photos.

I know for a fact that a skull ring can leave a mark on someones face. Because years back I had on a skull ring with little spikes and he made me mad so i hit him, he cried and it left an odd looking skull bruise on his forehead

no no no no no no no!!! The victim has to be living in order for it to be bruised or scarred and they just took a slab of pork skin!

oh and that post right above i'm not saying that to the post above me. I'm saying that to the mythbusters

there was a definate fault in this myth testing it was the ring as many have already said.

I'm 50, and I still bear the tattoo my grandmother made in my forehead with a kitchen utensil when I was 11. Yes, you can leave an imprint in the human skull with a blunt object like a protruding ring. No, you cant leave a recognizeable impression in pig skin on a dead skull because it isnt living tissue with a layer of undercovering full of capillaries, etc.
Back to the drawing board!

quote:

Originally posted by mythmod:
Can a superhero's ring leave an impression on the bad guy's head?

Talk about it here!

MythMod

I am a fire fighter/police officer in Michigan. I have recently responded to an injury vehicle accident in which one of the drivers was branded with the logo of the horn cover on her steering wheel. She literaly had the impression of the "Saturn" logo on her left forearm, of course the air bag deployed causing this injury. In fact, this injury is very possibly when there is air bag deployment in a vehicle accident, even to the face.

In regards to a closed fist punch to the face; with a metal ring, I feel this is more possible then portrayed in the recent episode on mythbusters. However, the amount of force required to cause an impression to fake or synthetic skin would have to be "superhuman". This amount of force (used by Grant in the episode) would most definently cause a skull fracture or death.

All in all, this myth is possible, I have seen it in real life, but is hard to duplicate in an experimental feild. This due in part because it really friggin hurts to get hit in the head with a metal ring.

Love you guys, and keep up the good work.

When doing the "Phantom punch", I noticed that a large mistake was made when "Pork-Loinio" was made; he had no fat. There was nothing to leave an imprint on other than bone. Also, if the ring wasn't an imprint itself (it looked more like the mold to cast a skull ring), it might have worked a little better.

Yea, the bust seems like it really wasn't thought out. Live tissue bruises and swells, dead tissue, well, doesn't. They could have just punched Tory in the arm and found out that way. A decent punch in the arm is not that painful and should do the trick.

I have seen the tread of a shoe imprinted on the side of a guys face, so I'm pretty sure if they take thrity seconds to punch Tory in the arm and than wait for the mark to swell or bruise they'll be retracting that BUST.

It seems like they're putting less effort into the small myths nowadays. You'd think it'd be simple enough, does a ring leave an imprint when you punch someone? If this were an old episode, they would've devoted half the episode to punching clay and ballistics gel before even thinking about using pig skin stretched taught over a skull.

The experiment did not bust this myth. A bruise would form on live skin. Also, in the show it appeared that the big ring only struck a glancing blow to the top of the skull.

Am I the only one here who knows anything about The Phantom AKA The Ghost who walks, when The Phantom punches a criminal to leave the mark of The Phantom he doesn't hit them in the forehead, he punches them in the side of the face in and around the cheek area. I see The Mythbusters doesn't read enough comics and "that's your problem" as Adam would say.

I have many scars on my body from childhood injuries that have less force behind them than a swing by a professional boxer.

For example, I have a scar dead center of my sternum (low skin to bone ratio much like a skull) from nothing more than a thrown rock.

I also have a scar on my head from being hit by a van going about 30 MPH. No skull damage but a perm scar.

As others have stated, that lack of living tissue to bruise and/or cut on the edges of the ring (much like the edges of the rock) leads me to believe this was a poorly tested myth.

The problem with this myth was that they did not allow for any underlying tissue that would have absorbed the blow and aided in the making of a bruise or scar. Also, the ring that was used was a large flat ring that had a very large surface area. The greater the surface area the more spread out the impact force that is applied to the target. The ring used by the phantom is small, about the size of a wedding band, not rapper bling!!!!!

Also, what was the ring made of? Sterling silver is shiny, but stainless steel is strong. These things have to be considered.

I definately call for a major redo on this one.