I don't know if this was done yet, as I only really watch mythbusters if I catch it on, but I was hoping you could answer this.

The setting is on a battleship or carrier in world war 2. Your ship is sinking, you have on a life vest, and you jump over board. It's a rather high fall to the water, and the force of the life vest pulling you up is enough to break your neck, or even orthopedic decapitation. Is this true?

The distance to the water from the deck of a laden Nimitz class aircraft carrier is only about 57 feet. I myself have (when I was much younger) jumped, feet first, 40 feet off a diving board with a life jacket on with no problem. I don't think the additional 17 feet would prove much more problematic.

However, in defense of your original statement, it's entirely possible to break your neck falling from only a few feet off the ground if you land wrong.

So, is it possible that you might break your neck jumping that far, sure.

Decapitation is highly unlikely though, it would take a tremendous amount of force to "rip" the head off, even an internal, orthopedic decapitation because the moment you hit the water you're slowing down at an extreme rate.

With the last part of your statement, the thought is that the sudden slow down creates enough whip-lash to remove your head from your neck, at least internally. I myself haven't heard of any cases of this, but my great grandfather use to tell me stories and said that he remembers being able to even hear a loud cracking noise from some while others landed okay. I think that it depends on how you hit the water via. belly flop, diving head first, or feet first.

I think the term "orthopedic decapitation" used by the OP was meant to describe a complete severing of the spinal column, not just damage to the spinal cord.

Yeah, you may be right about that.

quote:

Originally posted by Lil lee harvey:
Yeah, you may be right about that.

YOU ARE THE OP!!

It is either what you meant or it isn't what you meant.

So is it or isn't it?