Crushing Depth
on millstones, children, broken necks, drowning, & perhaps a personal commitment
Warning. Although this essay appears innocuous at first, it is anything but. It is graphic, disturbing and hopefully meaningful.I am generally reluctant to quote scripture as it has so often been used as a weapon against me and my people. In our current national crisis of conscience, however, there is much to learn from one particular passage:
“It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” — Luke 17:2
Jesus did not leave much up in the air regarding how his followers should treat children. He taught that children were to be loved, protected, and nourished. Young innocents were indeed the very model Jesus would have his flock to emulate. Even mostly doubtful Thomas agreed and understood this point (although the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas is particularly strange and Delphic on the matter.)
Here are some otherwise scattered facts, assembled for the purpose of pondering the depths of that scriptural passage from Luke:
Millstones
Every time you eat a sandwich, a piece of toast, or a slice of pizza, you could be reminded of the millstones that once ground wheat and other grains into flour. Technology has replaced many but not all of the spinning colossal stones used for pulverizing kernels into dust.
Millstones exist in many sizes, but the ones used in the wind-, water-, or animal-powered mills of 1st Century Judea were truly massive.
This is what a typical 19th century American millstone looks like:
The geologist Steven Shimmrich in the Hudson Valley of New York took the photo above and calculated the mass of that millstone to be about 1,600 pounds (about 725 kilograms):
Here’s the episode of American pickers where Tom & Frank search for a millstone for client William Shatner:
(William Shatner always reminds me of my dad)
Necks
Did you know that all mammals except sloths and manatees have seven bones in their necks? It is true:
Just as seven is an auspicious number, thirteen is accursed — the apocryphal number of turns in a hangman’s noose. A bit of digging suggests that six to eight is the practical number of turns any hangman might use in a natural fiber rope. Regardless, the imagery of tying a rope (or millstone, or albatross) around a person’s neck is powerful indeed:
A bit of research indicates that it takes 1,000 to 1,250 foot-pounds of force (1,350 to 1,700 Joules) to snap a human neck:
Now if you are like me, you might be a little rusty on the meaning of foot-pounds and joules which are measures of energy. Here is a neat worksheet that makes such terms understandable in everyday terms, particularly when trying to snap a human neck:
Based on what I gather from the worksheet, most folks would expend the same amount of energy required to snap a person’s neck in about an hour of walking at 3.5 miles (5.7 kilometers) per hour. That’s an awful lot of force, despite what the average Bond flick might have conditioned us to believe.
Research indicates, “a 13 foot length of ¾ inch (19mm) diameter hemp rope is often used,” for hangings. I omit the reference link for reasons of propriety.
Sea Depth
The deepest spot in the world’s oceans is the Challenger Deep near Guam at about 36,200 feet (11 kilometers):
Did you know fewer humans have traveled to the bottom of the ocean than have walked on the moon ( 3 vs 12)?
The average ocean depth worldwide is 12,100 feet (about 3.7 kilometers):
An interesting fact that I learned while researching this article is — at the very deepest depths of the ocean floor, there are very few vertebrate remains. Those bits which are not scavenged on the way down are usually crushed by the immense pressures of the deep. Only some shark’s teeth and the inner-ear bones of certain whales manage keep their structural integrity during the long descent to very bottom of the seas.
Even in our modern day, a human strapped to a millstone would certainly never be seen again once the weight is dropped into the sea.
According to the folks at NASA, the formula for calculating hydrostatic pressure (P) on submerged objects is given as:
P = r * g * h
where:
- r (rho) is the density of the fluid (sea water is a given at 1.03 X 10 ³ kg/m³)
- g is the acceleration of gravity (given at 9.8 m/s²)
- h is the height of the fluid above the object (effectively submersion depth)
One also has to remember to add-in the pressure of the atmosphere above the sea which is given as 1.01 x 10⁵ N/m².
For the scientifically minded, calculating the crush depth of a human body is a non-trivial exercise discussed here:
Drowning
Today marks the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. This event can serve as a useful as a reminder to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere that the season when people enjoying the water the most is upon us and we should take a moment to think about water safety.
According to a fact sheet produced by the YMCA of Greater St. Louis, drowning can occur a lot more quickly than some folks think, “in the time it takes to…
- Cross a room for a towel (10 seconds), a child in a bathtub can be submerged.
- Answer the phone (2 minutes), a child can lose consciousness.
- Sign for a package at the front door (4–6 minutes), a child submerged in a tub or pool can sustain permanent brain damage.”
An 1878 article in Popular Science Weekly addresses the question of pain and suffering in drowning:
This may be dated information but it is nonetheless an interesting read.
Here is a chart that indicates where people in the United States are most likely to drown:
Another bit of research indicates the typical human being drowns in about 3–4 minutes without air although consensus around these estimates is hard to find. The International Life Saving Foundation provides many statistics on the subject.
The world record for free-diving is held by Herbert Nitsch, indicated here in the graphic.
More current data regarding global rates of drowning from the WHO tell us that drowning is the 3rd most common form of accidental death in the world, with an estimated 360,000 deaths annually.
The heartbreaking image below cements the plight of refugees even more tightly to this concept of drowning. Although it is extremely painful to gaze upon, I urge you not to look away.
THIS is the face of callous human hearts on children and their families who are fleeing violence:
Thought Experiment
All of these facts, particularly the most shocking ones, pose an interesting question.
For purposes of our thought experiment we will need to select a human mass to plug into the formulas. I can think of no more fitting mass to use in this calculation than one analogous to the mass that currently occupies the Oval Office.
The best guesses on the Mass currently situated behind the Resolute Desk seem to cluster around 250 pounds (about 113 kilograms):
Specifications
Trump-sized human analogue: 250 lbs(113 kg)
representative millstone: 1,600 lb (725 kg)
recommended rope: 13 foot (4 m) ¾ in(19mm)hemp(workload data here)
average global sea depth: 12,100 ft (3.7 km)
neck-snap, force req'd: 1,000 to 1,250 ft/lb (1,350- 1,700 J)Research Questions
- If a typical millstone were hung around the neck of a deserving and living human being (approximately 250 lbs mass) and s/he were cast into an average sea, how quickly and in precisely what manner would that soon-to-be ex-billionaire analogue likely meet his or her demise? Quickly or slowly? Via broken neck, drowning, or the crushing pressures of the deep? †
- Who do you suppose will have suffered more, the ex-billionaire analogue, or the beautiful child in the tragic image above?
- What are you moved and willing to do to prevent any more children from suffering like that? Will you protest, call, write, register others to vote, help get out the vote? ‡
It is my hope that a reader more knowledgeable in physics and biology than I might be able to answer the first question.
I don’t really need any help answering the second question.
Luke 17:2 is a merciful sentence by comparison.
Only YOU can answer the third question.
† In an attempt to answer this tricky question I attempted to consult the physics departments of Belmont Abbey College (out of office), Oregon State University College of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences (sympathetic but unable to offer a solution), then Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the Hayden Planetarium (got his voice-mail), the research reference librarians at the American Museum of Natural History (who tried to be helpful by suggesting I call a physicist), NASA (who were quite rude and unhelpful), and the Physics Department at Princeton University who would not touch this question with a ten foot (3.048 meter) pole. Dr. Tyson would have been perfect for answering this question, I bet. Anybody got him on speed-dial?
‡ Special thanks to Fr. Christopher for no help whatsoever in answering my burning intellectual questions regarding physics or biology — but immense gratitude for his resonating kindness and wisdom on the crushing depth of the very real issues at hand.
