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DannySilverheart: 4 months ago

If a woodpecker would peck on your head would it be possible for the woodpecker to crack your skull?

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Cjkenkel: 4 months ago

This was a fun question, and took me awhile to find a decent answer! But here you go!
Woodpeckers' head-pounding pecking against trees and telephone poles subjects them to enormous forces — they can easily slam their beaks against wood with a force 1,000 times that of gravity. (In comparison, Air Force tests in the 1950s pegged the maximum survivable g-force for a human at around 46 times that of gravity, though race-car drivers have reportedly survived crashes of over 100 G's.)

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/47006033/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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DannySilverheart: 4 months ago

Interesting facts. Not really an answer to my question but I would assume that a woodpecker can crack a human skull if they can provide 1.000 times the force of gravity

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capcon: 4 months ago

Studies have shown the actual force applied to a hard object pecked by a woodpecker is about 20 newtons. The force necessary to crack a healthy human skull? 73 newtons. It is highly unlikely that a woodpecker could crack a normal healthy skull.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0026490
https://sites.google.com/site/eforensicmed2/skullfractures

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Answer 2