Strength of a Bazooka Shell Charge?

[Joisey]

I was watching Grey's Anatomy with my wife after the Superbowl last night, when they wheel in an historical re-enactor with an unexploded bazooka shell in his chest.

The show's writers make a big deal about it, evacuating a whole wing of the hospital. Isn't this over-kill, pardon the pun?

I was able to pull out my mini and stat card to explain to my wife what a bazooka was (her only frame of reference was the restaurant of that name, HA!). I told her that a bazooka shell relies on velocity and a shaped charge to kill a tank, not explosive power. I thought that at worst most of the blast would be absorbed by the guy's body, not take out a room or more of the building. Am I right?

[Pasalades]

Very true. I watched the ep with my wife, and if it went off, this guy would lose his head and torso as the blast went in the direction the munition was facing. Poor Christina Ricci would lose her hand at the least and who could tell what else. It's serious, but not evacutate a wing of the hospital serious. That being said, procedures are procedures and I assume they just have to be followed. Besides it's sweeps, and writers have to draw people to their shows. Dreaming up phoney baloney scenarios works. Code black.. Hahaha!

[sgt. dekkard]

it's amazing what we can find to talk about on this forum...that being said I too saw this episode and had the same concerns at first (maybe i sould be playing more bazookas), but then I thought the reason for the seriousness is probably due to the secondary damage an explosion would cause...i've got to believe there's a lot of pure oxyen and other explosive materials in and around a surgery. So that somewhat little bang from a bazooka shell could trigger a much larger chain of events.

but that';s just my 2 cents

[Pasalades]

All the sensitive equipment was the first stuff they got out of there. Precisely why the venthilator was turned off and taken out. The room was barren. It is fun to muse about though.

[SSG_Huble]

I was watching too, and if I remember correctly they indicated that it was a 60mm projectile, which would indicate they were making a M1A1 Bazooka. The smaller of the Bazookas, the other being a 3.5" or 89mm variety IIRC.

M1A1 Bazooka
• Length: 54 in (137 cm)
• Caliber: 60 mm (2.36 in)
• Weight: 15 lb (6.8 kg)
• Warhead: M6A1 shaped charge (3.5 lb, 1.59 kg)

The shaped charge is the key. The blast is specifically designed to be directional. So, if it actually worked (since it was apparently made by a pair of half-wits) and was appropriately charged, it would vaporize the guy, potentially cause some shrapnel wounds to the surrounding personnel, yeah, Ricci would lose her hand and her arm up to the elbow, most likely,...

There are so many variables though, it is really hard to say. For example:
1) Was the explosive charge hand crafted or purchased?
2) If purchased, was it surplus, or modern equivalent?
3) If hand-crafted, what was the base material (TNT, C-4, etc.)?
4) Was the detonator hand-crafted or purchased?
...repeat as necessary,...

Keep in mind that C4 only has an explosive equivalency of 118% of TNT so at 3.5 lbs of explosive, it is really kind of a mute calculation whether its TNT or C4 or Gun powder.

For all practical purposes, it might as well be a Fragmentation Grenade. But then, how do you come up with a storyline that has cause for a Grenade to get lodged in someone's chest cavity?

I was able to pull this out of my copy of FM23-30 for a reference point, its and anti-tank grenade:

A-4. RKG-3M
Type: antitank (replaces RPG-40, RPG-43, and RPG-6).
Weight, With Fuze: 1.07 kilograms.
Weight of HE Filling: 567 grams.
Type of HE Filling: TNT/RDX.
Penetration: 165 millimeters.
Fuze Type: instantaneous impact.
Effective Fragment Radius: 20 meters.
Length: 362 millimeters.
Maximum Diameter: 5.56 millimeters.

So,...figure for a 30 meter fragmentation blast radius,...plus or minus depending on what the idiots used for explosive material.

Let me ask you this,...why would a "Historical Reinactor" manufacture a "live round" for a Bazooka? Shouldn't it be filled with paint or something?

[Joisey]

Vaporize the guy: Hence the anesthesiologist talking about "pink mist". Well, I guess they got that part right.

[DCal12]

I did not watch the episode, but I would think that doctors would not know what exactly they are dealing with and the hospital would error on the side of caution. Working for Homeland Security we have evacuated an entire airport concourse for a block of cheese with a pen in it.

[Y2UAsk]

Here's an interesting animated gif that shows how a shaped charge explosion develops (http://pegasus.me.jhu.edu/~molinari/Projects/Shape/Zone.GIF). I didn't see the episode, but assuming that the projectile was pointed pretty squarely into the guy's chest, most of the force would be directed down toward the floor (and possibly the floor beneath that). Because the projectile has no forward velocity, a good deal of it would also be blown up toward the ceiling. Nothing good can happen to the guy with it stuck in his chest or to anyone in the immediate vicinity. It's very possible, however, that someone standing 10 feet away would be unhurt except for ringing in the ears and being stunned by the concussion.

Steve

[Irish]

Let me ask you this,...why would a "Historical Reinactor" manufacture a "live round" for a Bazooka? Shouldn't it be filled with paint or something?

I watched a few minutes of this show, and then left because of the "stupid factor". Not only did they apparently "make" an explosive shell, but they "test-fired" the bazooka in the guy's garage to see if it would work correctly, and when it misfired the one who ended up getting hit was standing in front of the weapon. I heard of people doing stupid things with weapons that they've found thinking they were inert etc., but in this show the bozos had made the weapon, and certainly should have known what it was capable of doing.
Duh...Thag make homemade RPG, then Thag make homemade RPG launcher, now Thag point big boom stick at Gronk and shoot in garage to see if everything shoot good......
"Code Black", how about "Code Moron." :eek:

[Y2UAsk]

[Beetle is staring down the barrel of a howitzer.]
[Sarge] Beetle! Never stare down the barrel of a gun like that! What are you thinking?
[Beetle] When I tried firing it, it just made this funny, whistling sound.
[Sarge, staring down barrel] Really? Go try it again.

Steve

[sanguine]

I watched a few minutes of this show, and then left because of the "stupid factor". Not only did they apparently "make" an explosive shell, but they "test-fired" the bazooka in the guy's garage to see if it would work correctly, and when it misfired the one who ended up getting hit was standing in front of the weapon. I heard of people doing stupid things with weapons that they've found thinking they were inert etc., but in this show the bozos had made the weapon, and certainly should have known what it was capable of doing.
Duh...Thag make homemade RPG, then Thag make homemade RPG launcher, now Thag point big boom stick at Gronk and shoot in garage to see if everything shoot good......
"Code Black", how about "Code Moron." :eek:

I totally believe someone out there would do this. People do some incredibly stupid things -- after all, trained Police Officers occasionally shoot themselves or someone else with their firearms while showing them off/cleaning/etc. Two hobbyist bozos could easily be that dumb -- especially if they think they know how their weapon works.

Also, the evacuation is overkill, but that's exactly what a hospital would do. There's no way you'd scale your bomb procedures to the level of detail of "this is a bazooka round, so we'll only clear out adjacent rooms." That would require someone on the scene -- not a bomb expert -- to make that kind of judgment call. That's a bad idea pragmatically and legally.

And, as a pure trivia note, the x-ray in the show (yeah, I saw it, too) showed the round stuck at an angle into the chest cavity, meaning had it gone off properly (assuming the two dumb guys made a working shape charge) it would toast the guy, the paramedic and anyone standing on the other side of the guy.

As a second note, this actually happened with a (hostile-fired) RPG round to a Ranger during the Battle of Mogadishu.