And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara

by Cody Cassidy, Paul Doherty

Overview

A gleefully gruesome look at the actual science behind the most outlandish, cartoonish, and impossible deaths you can imagine
 
What would happen if you took a swim outside a deep-sea submarine wearing only a swimsuit? How long could you last if you stood on the surface of the sun? How far could you actually get in digging a hole to China? Paul Doherty, senior staff scientist at San Francisco’s famed Exploratorium Museum, and writer Cody Cassidy explore the real science behind these and other fantastical scenarios, offering insights into physics, astronomy, anatomy, and more along the way.

Is slipping on a banana peel as hazardous to your health as the cartoons imply? Answer: Yes. Banana peels ooze a gel that turns out to be extremely slippery. Your foot and body weight provide the pressure. The gel provides the humor (and resulting head trauma).

Can you die by shaking someone’s hand? Answer: Yes. That’s because, due to atomic repulsion, you’ve never actually touched another person’s hand. If you could, the results would be as disastrous as a medium-sized hydrogen bomb.

If you were Cookie Monster, just how many cookies could you actually eat in one sitting? Answer: Most stomachs can hold up to sixty cookies, or around four liters. If you eat or drink more than that, you’re approaching the point at which the cookies would break through the lesser curvature of your stomach, and then you’d better call an ambulance to Sesame Street.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143108443
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/04/2017
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	281,354
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Cody Cassidy has worked as the sports editor for Zimbio.com, a sports reporter for Stanford Athletics, and a writer for Coach magazine. He has no firsthand experience with any of the scenarios described in this book.

Paul Doherty worked as the senior staff scientist at San Francisco’s famed Exploratorium Museum. He is the co-writer numerous books, including The Exploratorium Science Snackbook, Explorabook, and the Klutz Book of Magnetic Magic. He received his PhD in solid state physics from MIT.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

What Would Happen If…

You Were in an Airplane and Your Window Popped Out? 1

You Were Attacked by a Great White Shark? 6

You Slipped on a Banana Peel? 11

You Were Buried Alive? 16

You Were Attacked by a Swarm of Bees? 21

You Were Hit by a Meteorite? 27

You Lost Your Head? 32

You Put on the World's Loudest Headphones? 37

You Stowed Away on the Next Moon Mission? 41

You Were Strapped into Dr. Frankenstein's Machine? 48

Your Elevator Cable Broke? 52

You Barreled over Niagara Falls? 57

You Couldn't Fall Asleep? 61

You Were Struck by Lightning? 67

You Took aBath in the World's Coldest Tub? 72

You Skydived from Outer Space? 77

You Time Traveled? 82

You Were Caught in a Human Stampede? 92

You Jumped into a Black Hole? 97

You Were on the Titanic and Didn't Make It into a Lifeboat? 103

You Were Killed by This Book? 108

You Died from "Old Age"? 114

You Were Stuck in…? 117

You Were Raised by Buzzards? 125

You Were Sacrificed into a Volcano? 129

You Just Stayed in Bed? 131

You Dug a Hole to China and Jumped In? 135

You Toured the Pringles Factory and Fell off the Catwalk? 140

You Played Russian Roulette with a Really, Really Big Gun? 145

You Traveled to Jupiter? 150

You Ate the World's Deadliest Substances? 155

You Lived in a Nuclear Winter? 161

You Vacationed on Venus? 166

You Were Swarmed by Mosquitoes? 171

You Became an Actual Human Cannonball? 175

You Were Hit by a Penny Dropped from the Top of the Empire State Building? 177

You Actually Shook Someone's Hand? 183

You Were the Ant Under the Magnifying Glass? 187

You Stuck Your Hand in a Particle Accelerator? 192

You Were Holding This Book and It Instantly Collapsed into a Black Hole? 197

You Stuck a Really, Really Powerful Magnet to Your Forehead? 200

You Were Swallowed by a Whale? 204

You Took a Swim Outside a Deep-Sea Submarine? 207

You Stood on the Surface of the Sun? 210

You Ate as Many Cookies as Cookie Monster? 214

References and Further Reading 219

Acknowledgments 237

Editorial Reviews

As someone who is averse to flying, elevators, and a catalog of other things I’d rather not admit to, I found this book strangely cathartic. A great read, full of interesting anecdotes and funny commentary.”
—Ali Almossawi, author of Bad Choices and An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments

“Arch, brainy . . . [with] vivid, engaging, and utterly fascinating scientific explanations. This merrily macabre compendium playfully offers lessons in basic human physiology, nuclear fusion, quantum physics, and fluid dynamics, among other things, and at every turn, the authors explain the concepts cogently and with gleeful enthusiasm. . . . With bite-size morsels of astonishing science and the perfect combination of smart-alecky writing and black humor, this page-turner will surely debunk any misapprehension that science is dull.”
—Booklist

“Entertaining—if harrowing.”
—The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher