Mystery Fic in progress, help needed!

[CHANGEME]

As the title says, I'm working on a mystery fic. Yes, yes, I know. You can't wait to read it. I appreciate your enthusiasm!

I do have some fun ideas, and I don't get very many of those kind, so these few I happen to like very much. The questions I have mostly concern the effects of grenades, so, if you don't know what you're talking about, please don't pretend you do, because you might throw me all off, and then my story wouldn't be realistic.

I'm not against a little exaggeration, but, really. Keep it minuscule.

Question #1:

Can you swallow a grenade?

Question #2:

If you swallow a grenade, will you explode into many little, unidentifiable pieces? I figured, but hey, always be on the safe side!

Question #3:

What about a dog? Can it swallow a grenade? Or a horse, perhaps? Or some other animal possibly found in England? It still has to blow up.

Question #4:

If yes to the first two questions, was such a grenade available in turn-of-the-century-somewhere-between-1890-1900ish England? Or anywhere in the world, for that matter?

Question #5:

If no to the above question, could any other weapon available at the time cause such a dreadful mess? Must be able to be carried into a house. Just exploding the head at very close range will also be considered.

Question #6:

If one burns a cotton shirt, will it leave ashes noticeably different than that of a log? Would there be a significant smell? (Well? I don't know these things...)

Question #7:

Are grenades horribly noisy?


That's about all I have for now... if I come up with more questions, I will post them.

[Veros]

#1
Doubt it, unless its a really small one...
#2
No idea... But I think it would just splatter you against walls and such... a few limbs may survive, with only chucks of them missing...
#3
I'm sure a horse or cow could... but no idea of the reaction... Most likely about the same as it would to a human...
#4
Gun cotton was around then... I think so possibly...
#5
C6H8(NO2)2O5...
#6
No idea...
#7
From what I hear they are loud, not much louder then a gun shot... but not sure...

[The Crow]

1) yes, but as he said it would have to be a smaller grenade, possibly a makeshift one.
2) you would splatter, but arms and legs would be noticible, possibly some of the head depending on amount of gunpowder.
3)yes, they could, horses even the usual one you see when they depict modern bombs, and the reaction would be the same.
4) yes, the had the necessary elements to make gunpowder so they could make homeade ones.
6) the ashes would most likely be dispersed when it blew, and there would be a smell of ash and gunpowder.
7) they are as loud as a gunshot if not louder, for normal bombs. handmade vary from the size of a door slamming shut to the size of a train bashing into a gasoline truck at 200 mph/

[lupogun]

Question #1: It depends on the size of the grenade and how big your mouth is (I can fit a tennis ball in mine).

Question #2: Yes, if the gunpowder was powerful enough.

Question #3: Yes, dogs and horses can, but I don’t know about cows.

Question #4: Yes, they were available in 1890-1900ish England. I know you can make a grenade out of coconut and gunpowder and some string. Most definitely the military had smoke grenades and rifle grenades. In the 1890’s the Italian army had the Model 35 "Red Devil" hand grenades, but it explodes in the hands of their users.

Today’s homemade grenades are made out of iron pipe with threaded ends, two iron pipe caps, explosive or propellant, a blasting cap, fuse cord, hand drill, and pliers. So, if they could get a hold of those materials or similar materials, than definitely yes.

Remember that in England, 1890’s-1901 it is the Edwardian Era, which means women wore fancy dresses and men wore cloaks and suits. Jack the Ripper was set during this time period, and as you remember the detectives in the Scotland Yard, suck.

Question #5: I mean the coconut bomb would work or a glass with gas and a piece of a shirt (Molotov cocktail), those are able to be carried into a house.

Question #6: Yes, it would smell like gunpowder, dead body, and metal.

Question #7: Yes, louder than a gun shot.

[Teh Donut]

If you want info on grenades, the go here. It'll tell you most of what you want to know.

#1) Your average person cannot swallow a grenade, and neither can most of your average circus freaks.. a person's throat is hardly big enough to fit a thumb, much less any sort of grenade. However, it is possible to stick one in your mouth.

#2) I would expect one would explode, yes. Little unidentifiable pieces? No. Pieces, yes, but they'd be more actual chunks and possibly a limb or few than tiny identifiable pieces. Grenades aren't that powerful an explosive.

#3) A horse might, but I don't think a dog really can...at least, not a 1900-sized grenade. Maybe if someone were to force it down a dog's throat...

#4) Er...not exactly. You'd have to have an insanely large mouth, even larger than my own, in order to fit the larger end of one of those grenades into your mouth. Try to fit your average-sized fist into your mouth. If you can't do that, then a 1900 grenade won't.

#5) Well, yea. A grenade. Grenades at the time looked like stout metal cylinders on wooden or metal sticks. You could easily put the ignited stick end in someone's mouth and watch as his head and most of his torso was blown into oblivion...

#6) Don't know. Never intentionally burned a cotton shirt before.

#7) Well, it's exploding, so it will make a very loud noise, yes.

[lupogun]

How come I can fit my hand down my thoat then?

[Teh Donut]

Because you didn't make a fist with your hand before putting it in your mouth. Or maybe because you either have a freakishly large mouth, or unusually small hands.

I'm betting on the first one, but I wouldn't rule out the last.

I'm also betting you can't fit your hand in your throat at all, since your gag reflex would force you to immediately withdraw it, or force yourself to vomit, and I'm positive you're not the type of person who would voluntarily force herself to vomit for the sake of some petty experiment; I also know you didn't stick your hand down your throat because it is a physical impossibility to stick a human hand down the esophagus without either 1) tearing or otherwise damaging it, or 2) crushing your trachea and windpipe.

So my question to you is: how come you can fit your hand down, in, or otherwise near your throat, and still be alive and well enough to tell about it?

[EJP]

donut said:

Because you didn't make a fist with your hand before putting it in your mouth. Or maybe because you either have a freakishly large mouth, or unusually small hands.

I'm betting on the first one, but I wouldn't rule out the last.

I'm also betting you can't fit your hand in your throat at all, since your gag reflex would force you to immediately withdraw it, or force yourself to vomit, and I'm positive you're not the type of person who would voluntarily force herself to vomit for the sake of some petty experiment; I also know you didn't stick your hand down your throat because it is a physical impossibility to stick a human hand down the esophagus without either 1) tearing or otherwise damaging it, or 2) crushing your trachea and windpipe.

So my question to you is: how come you can fit your hand down, in, or otherwise near your throat, and still be alive and well enough to tell about it?

Donut... I never thought I'd have to say this but... you need to watch some porn. Ever heard of someone who was born without a gag reflex? I have heard of such a thing and I've seen someone, not Lupogun in particular, do that without dieing, vomiting, and infact taking whatever it was they put down their throat out of it and continue to talk normaly. Now then, because I know someone is thinking it, it wasn't just what most of you are thinking that they put down their throat. I've seen it with actaul objects and not just body parts. Also, because most of you don't know this or just not thinking of it right now, spit makes a good lubricant.

[Teh Donut]

And you need to study more anatomy. Yea, people can stick stuff down their throats, and do it all the time. Batteries, pens, keychains, keys...heck, even watches. I know the origins of those x-ray gags where the guy has something stuck in his stomach/digestive system: They're based on real hospital cases.

Try this: swallow a disposable camera. Or a computer mouse. You can't? I know.

The esophagus lies between two things, your windpipe and your spine, and your jugular blood vessels run on either side. On average, it can comfortably swallow things about a quarter in diameter; there is a little wiggle room between them to allow for the bending of the neck, as well as some expanding of the throat to let some unusually large bites squeeze down. However, beyond that, you're either going to put pressure on the windpipe and choke/suffocate yourself, or you'll put something too big down it (like a grenade...) and risk stretching the muscle of the esophagus to the point of tearing, if you can even get the thing in there at all.

The topic is not whether or not you can stick random stuff down your throat, because the simple answer is yes, you can; the question is, you swallow a grenade? My military dad agrees that it's physically impossible, but feel free to ask your local anatomy professor. I'm sure s/he will agree.

Of course, if anyone is truly hell-bent on disproving this, they can always try shoving a grenade down their own throat and find out. Be sure the pin is pulled, too...

*edit* Rawr, spellcheck...

[CHANGEME]

Very good point about the pin. Maybe if they just put it in their mouth and it blew their whole head off...

New questions, then. Could you stick a whole late nineteenth century grenade in your mouth? If yes, would THAT blow your head into very many tiny unidentifiable bits? Would there be sizable pieces of the grenade left over, or no considerable traces left? Also, I doubt it, but were grenades available to the general public at the time? (1890-1905) Were they well-known weapons? How would one go about obtaining them? How long do you have after you pull the pin to shove it in the body's mouth and get away?