Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-34954086-20120922085545/@comment-4928331-20121102231116

Ok, wanted to check if you've already given this some thought.

====

Can you estimate the explosive power of the detonation cord, based on equal and opposite reaction that resulted in Mercy being slammed against the car windshield? As a follow-up, I'm also interested in your explanation as to how the blast would send her flying back that much, but her face, hair, and clothing (the one above the elbow) remain unscathed?

Let's make some assumptions - Meaning Mercy's final weight for your calculations is 59.5175 kg.
 * 1) Mercy is a 29-year old Caucasian female.
 * 2) She has no cybernetic enhancement besides her arm.
 * 3) The median weight for a 20-29 year old caucasian female in the United States is 59.8 kg, and 65.5 kg for 30-39. Let's take the average reading of the two for Mercy as she falls near the cutoff; and
 * 4) A human arm is about 5% of total body weight.

To help you out, here's a couple of pictures:

This is the frame showing Mercy's arm blowing up.http://upload.jetsam.org/images/Mercyboom.jpg

This is the frame showing the apogee of Mercy's flight - she's still hurtling backward, but now gravity - not just the explosion, plays a role in amplifying the force.http://upload.jetsam.org/images/Mercyapogee.jpg