Bite force ?

[darth los]

Put my vote down for 'Dawn 04 is F-ing awesome' BTW We got another one for the cause deej !

[DEAD BEAT]

While we pick apart the feasibility of zombies overrunning the military in other threads, another big leap in logic is also prevelant through the genre - the way Zombies appear to bite huge chunks of flesh off the living as if they are soggy pieces of tofu. To my knowledge, the human bite is not strong enough and our teeth are not designed to inflict that kind of damage. Also the zombie is physically less powerful than a living person so why would their bite force increase? I think we also can entirely dismiss scenes of zombie hordes eviscerating somebody as if they are opening a bag of chips. Thoughts? How is it an ant can lift 10 times its own weight? Some things just are what they are!

[bassman]

Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? How does posi-track on a Plymouth work? It just DOES. Like Magnets...it's just magic.

[blind2d]

"Is it... movie magic?!" - Pikachu Shut up, you...

[mista_mo]

The strongest human bite recorded measured something like 970 psi. The masseters are strong muscles, possibly the strongest in the body on a pound for pound basis. I think it is pretty feasible for a zombie to tear enormous chunks out of people with their bites.

[Ghost Of War]

I think the most likely explanation is like many have said, it makes for better viewing onscreen. But if we want to posit an explanation I think you could say that: The zombie brain is limited to the use of the existing muscles and tendons which after death and/or trauma are obviously not in peak condition which accounts for the slowness and shambling gait. But it also is TOTALLY dedicated to one purpose, finding and consuming living flesh, it will use the existing body completely and with as much of its strength remains, not caring in the slightlest what happens afterwards. Hence we often see zombies hurling themselves against or thru obstacles. We know that the human jaw muscles are quite strong and eminently capable of ripping flesh, steak anyone? so I dont have any problem with a zombie using every bit of strength left in those jaws to rip away chunks. To a lesser extent with the ripping open of the abdomen etc I think the same thing applies, I bet just about anyone could rip a hole in the stomach skin of someone else with only a few tries if they didnt care about pain or tearing in their fingers, nails, etc. and really, really wanted to get in there! Kind of what I was thinking. Unless you're a raging psychopath, there's probably this "instinct" that will stop a normal human from applying enough force to bite through someone's flesh. Zombies don't have this instinct, they just want to eat, nothing else. To a freshly risen ghoul, it's more than likely the same as biting into a sponge cake.

[Legion2213]

We got another one for the cause deej ! One of us!