Someone should delete this s***, obviously one has to kill zombies to survive in an outbreak and have good aim with guns if one wants to get a kill.
And if you don't have access to a firearm or need to do it stealthly?
Some people might not know how to properly kill a Zed. Alockwood1 00:34, January 7, 2012 (UTC)
Bashing Weapons and Skull Density[]
Up for debate is whether or not weapons that can reliablly crush (not crack, cave in) human skulls are too heavy for the average person (which would literally mean 49 percent of the population. Men. Women. Elderly. For the sake of argument, let's not include children under 90 lbs)) to wield easily. Now of course, everyone thinks they can just use a baseball bat, or a club that feels wieldly. These can cause serious injury of course. I'm sure they could one-shot a sturdy watermelon, or even a thigh.
The human skull, however, has evolved from hundreds of thousands of years. Our species is one of fighters, and one of climbers (opposable thumb). Because of its shape (which deflects much of the energy of a strike), and the density, it is far and away the most durable part of the body. People die from head injury all the time, sure. But that can be a bad concussion, or trauma that ruptures a blood vessel, and the victim dies from hemmoraging. Nerve damage, artery damage. That will not happen with the zombie, as it does not bleed in the conventional sense. A good portion of the brain tissue itself must be structurally torn from the whole. How much varies from author to author of course. Only the strongest of men have the slightest chance of doing this with one shot of an aluminum bat. The skull, cell for cell, is stronger than wood of equal density. Aluminum Bats don't "crush" balls as much as trampoline them - an effect which loses all destructive capability when striking a target with greater mass [1] . Other than a lucky hit to the temple or through the sinus cavitiy, a bat just can't crush a skull without a few solid hits.
And that's when we get into endurance. Anyone who has chopped wood knows that unless you're in good shape, you can't go more than a few whacks without your heart or lungs letting you know they are working hard. The most effective skull crushers will be quite heavy, and even if you can get a few swings going, only the most fit could actually fight a battle against great numbers, and not become exhausted. Armor helps. Fitness helps. Being able to retreat to a place via climbing buys the opportunity of rest. But other than that, since zombies feel no pain, never get exhausted, and are still fairly dangerous in a straight up fight even with all their limbs broken (slithering inch by inch like a snake, knowing you've gotta sleep sometime), only an elite athlete/warrior can go on a zombie killing spree with melee weapons like the kind you see in the movies/comics.
— <<— Philodox —>> talk 22:59, June 12, 2012 (UTC)
It takes over 80 Psi to cause a depressed fracture in a skull, causing internal hemeraging. It's going to take at least 100Psi to drop a zombie, if not more. That's why one makes sure that they have multiple friends, some of which can take turns fighting, giving others a chance to rest for like five minutes, and fight in a narrow area that only a few zombies can get through. Alockwood1 00:51, June 13, 2012 (UTC)
- I would agree with that (you wouldn't be able to cite a source for the PSI figure, would you? It sounds about right, but it would be very helpful in the future if I could refer to source on that). Still, that sounds like judging the weapons usefulness in a best case scenario, rather than more likely scenarios. By the rationale, one could say steak knives are effective anti-zombie weapons, because one could kill a zombie up to his neck in quicksand, or who had been handcuffed at both wrists. The average survivor is not going to coordinate a four or five melee weapon encounter with people alternating for rest. That's an advanced tactic, and not representative of the overall effectiveness or ease of use of the weapon.
- — <<— Philodox —>> talk 12:34, June 13, 2012 (UTC)
- I don't know if you'd call the souce a good one- Deadliest Warrior- Capone V James- when the brass knuckles were going up against the pistolwhip technique, the Medical Doctor said that it took 82PSI to cause the skull to depress enough to cause brain hemeraging- Knuckles got about 70 PSI, and Pistolwhiping got over 150PSI, I think. Alockwood1 00:34, June 14, 2012 (UTC)