User blog:Friendlysociopath/A Few Differences

A vague title for a vague premise, this is just a blog where I'll be throwing a few tidbits of wisdom/bullshit around. Read at your own risk. I'll do my best to include links for anything and everything I want.

Nukes vs Bullets
Tanking a nuke is a good feat- shows quite the superhuman resistance to radiation, heat, and even that giant wave of force.

But, (of course there's a but) know what that doesn't mean? Bullets won't hurt you. That's right, tanking a nuke in no way means bullets aren't effective. And that is why I constantly go on to various people (Namely Des, a lot of it was chatting with Des) that these attack potency things aren't always relevant.

Because it's a matter of pressure. These two articles may be useful to understanding this.

Now, notice something about the numbers on the goverment link? As little as a 20 psi change can kill a normal human for almost certain. If you read further it will talk about shrapnel and whatnot, which is actually a bit more important than the actual "bang ". Obviously a nuke will put out more than 20 psi from a change mind you, but I just wanted to give you a small example of what is required to knock over a building -.

But if 20 psi can destroy a building, how much psi can a gun possibly put out ? Funny you should ask, over 34,000. Now, obviously bullets do not tear down buildings- but I'm not talking about buildings am I? I'm talking about people (this applies to swords as well btw). The smaller the area you can focus the force, the better the pressure will be. The more pressure you output, the better you can pierce something.

This is why Link vs Cloud narrowed down to that PSI calc for the Golden Gauntlets. Link can tank 61,000 psi on the area the Golden Gauntlets cover- Link's gauntlets- and possibly his entire body- are bulletproof for most weapons. Even a 50cal only outputs about 55,000 psi

This is also why whenever someone indicates a character is "City-block level" I ask whether that was from a bullet, gun, fist, or just an explosion. These are incredibly different pressures. Now, do not confuse catching or blocking with outright tanking the bullets; tanking the bullets is a bit more rare in fiction than the former two.