‘Nanoseconds’: Expert Details What Sub Victims Likely Experienced In ‘Catastrophic Implosion’

An expert detailed Thursday what the five victims killed in the Titan submersible likely faced in the “catastrophic implosion” near the Titanic ship.

The United States Coast Guard announced on Thursday that the five passengers inside the submersible were “lost” in a “catastrophic implosion” just hours after they found debris near the wrecked Titanic ship.

“The reality is, at that depth and at those pressures, this is the natural outcome … this is definitely the way to go,” G. Michael Harris, a Titanic expedition leader, said on Fox News. “So, two nanoseconds for that vehicle to implode and it would take your spinal column four nanoseconds to register to your brain. Then it’s a problem. So we always said if there’s a problem out of the body in the presence of the Lord.”

Butch Hendrick, a rescue diver, said he hoped the submersible was “entangled,” and added he is thankful the search has been resolved. Dr. Michael Gullen, who experienced being stuck in a vessel undersea, said he knew the situation had to be a “catastrophic failure.”

“It was designed to pop back up to the surface if anything had gone wrong happened, and it had backup systems, electrical systems and ultimately compressive air systems, automatic systems and the fact that none of those systems kicked in to bring this thing to the top, indicated to me that it had to be a catastrophic failure,” Gullen said.

The remains of the five passengers have not been found by search teams. The victims have been identified as British billionaire Hamish Harding, French oceanographer and Titanic researcher Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate CEO and pilot Stockton Rush, Pakistani business mogul Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.

The submersible departed off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland on Sunday and lost contact with the mother ship less than two hours after its departure. Experts said the submersible would likely run out of oxygen by Thursday as it was equipped with 96 hours of breathable air.

A search for the submersible immediately began for several days until the discovery of the debris.

If you know something is hot and you cautiously touch or put the back of your hand near it to gauge just how hot it is, you can pull your finger or hand back before you are seriously burned.

As you probably already know: To speed response and thus reduce injury, pain signals are routed first to the spinal cord, rather than to the brain (meaning that there is a shorter pathway requiring less time for the nerve impulse to travel). Here's a very simplified explanation.

Regards,

Thanks for the interesting article. In my personal experience however, there is often a delay from the time when one is seriously injured and the time when one realizes what has happened or is still happening... This time period is far longer than a reflexive response. The delay is even longer when someone has their full concentration on any type of task. And of course, when you get whacked hard enough in the head everything often goes haywire especially if you are experiencing the results of a concussion.

I have led a life where relatively serious injuries were a common occurrence especially in my childhood. It is a minor miracle that I survived into adulthood especially with all my limbs still intact.

My mother was once telling my wife how the house we lived in when I was a toddler had a tall set of concrete stairs that went down to a sidewalk. She said that in the summer that I repeatedly rode my tricycle down the steps and would pick myself up at the bottom and continue on. My wife asked if they ever put up a baby gate. She said that they did but that I figured out how to get it open immediately. My mom said that at that point they figured that I would learn, but that it took a while.

I may have told you previously... as I got older, I took up more risky behaviors such as jumping out of trees and off of higher and higher structures. I constructed bicycle and motorcycle jumps, and also rudimentary kites and hang gliders that we towed behind the tractor in an attempt to make it aloft. When I could afford it, I bought a used professionally constructed hang glider and was eventually able to jump off of cliffs and soar with it. Fortunately, before I managed to kill myself, I found others with more experience, and they taught me how to fly more safely. And I eventually transitioned into general aviation where safety is a high priority.

But, I must admit that there seems to be something missing in my brain that normally prevents others from doing stupid things. It seems to be a hereditary trait from my father’s side of the family that has caused a disproportionate number of my male ancestors to die young from traumatic injuries. Now that I am older, experiences have taught me to become much more cautious. I have not hurt myself in a stupid way that I can recall in months.

In my personal experience however, there is often a delay from the time when one is seriously injured and the time when one realizes what has happened or is still happening.

I was trying to affirm and explain your observation - not in any way to discount, dismiss, or disqualify it.

The article does not explicitly address the issue of "focused attention" further delaying your body's response time to a pain stimulus - rather, the gist is that, by circumventing the brain (and thus its higher faculties like "consciousness" and/or "awareness"), it permits your body to respond quicker and reduce injury, since the nerve pathways are shorter (I believe that they are also myelinated - sheathed - and thus faster transmitters).

Regards,

I was trying to affirm and explain your observation - not in any way to discount, dismiss, or disqualify it.

I appreciated the article that you linked to very much and took no offense to your observations. My response to your post was meant to be humorous and not critical in any way.

In every instance where I have received fairly serious injuries there was a delay between the time that the trauma occurred and the time when I realized how bad that it was. This was especially true when I was engaging in competitive endeavors such as bicycle racing. After a fall I concentrated on straightening out my bike and getting back in the saddle. I typically, did not realize the extent of my injuries they started causing me difficulties further down the road.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.