Dark knight, the pencil trick (questions)

[Vault101]

So yeah bassically the joker slams a guys head onto a pencil, killing him

I think it is definetly possible, esspecially if it went through the guys eye

but I have 2 questions

1. If it didn't go through his eye could you penatrate the skull in the way shown in the movie?

2. How much strength would it require? would you need to be really really strong? taking into account this guy is a tough hitman even if you do catch him off gaurd

EDIT: and I;m also thinking if it did have to go through his eye it would be difficult because of how fast you have to move and how much force required, hard to aim

 

[AcacianLeaves]

1. No, I think the pencil would break before before bone was penetrated.
2. I think at best even a very strong person could only slam a man's head into a pencil hard enough to penetrate the eyeball. The hitman would have to really, really be taken off guard to not react by pushing his neck back against the force of the Joker. I'd chalk it up to possible, but really unlikely. There's no way to tell without recreating the trick with some ballistics gel or something.

 

[Vault101]

1. No, I think the pencil would break before before bone was penetrated.
2. I think at best even a very strong person could only slam a man's head into a pencil hard enough to penetrate the eyeball. The hitman would have to really, really be taken off guard to not react by pushing his neck back against the force of the Joker. I'd chalk it up to possible, but really unlikely. There's no way to tell without recreating the trick with some ballistics gel or something.

another one for mythbusters I supose?

 

[Audun Maatje]

Well, in respects to the force requiered, I would guess it's no problem. The problem lies in making his face hit the pencil the right way, so that it doesn't just skid off to the side, and go through his ear or something As you do get a very high point force (gah, don't rage on me, physics ppl) as the pencil is so thin.

Well, basically... Mythbuster should check it out

 

[manythings]

It could probably go through the nose and a couple of the facial bones aren't that strong so enough force might punch through. Definitely not the forehead or jawline. It would take a lot of strength but that guy is moving pretty damn fast when he hits.

 

[Codeknight]

Wasn't the pencil point down? If I am remembering correctly there is no way it could go threw anything but his eye (which I'm pretty sure happened).

But I don't know about killing him with a pencil to the eye, people have survived bullets to the head more times than you'd think. So a lone pencil may be a stretch. Though I suppose he passed out, maybe went into shock, and most certainly did not receive medical attention any time soon after. So that may have killed him.

 

[Beldaros]

So yeah bassically the joker slams a guys head onto a pencil, killing him

I think it is definetly possible, esspecially if it went through the guys eye

but I have 2 questions

1. If it didn't go through his eye could you penatrate the skull in the way shown in the movie?

2. How much strength would it require? would you need to be really really strong? taking into account this guy is a tough hitman even if you do catch him off gaurd

EDIT: and I;m also thinking if it did have to go through his eye it would be difficult because of how fast you have to move and how much force required, hard to aim

Someone actually committed suicide in this way in an exam in Britain. Enough said. It's possible. Long before the film was released.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't know, it was a badly edited scene all together.

I guess he shoved it through his ear into his brain.

 

[EmzOLV]

Someone actually committed suicide in this way in an exam in Britain. Enough said. It's possible. Long before the film was released.

There's also more info on this here if anyone is that interested...

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

It's not actually confirmed that he kills the guy.

If you slammed someone's eye down onto a pencil I think the pain and shock would probably knock them unconscious, especially if they weren't expecting it.

1. It wouldn't penetrate the skull, but it would be more than enough to mash the eyeball into fine paste, and if it snapped while in the eye, so much the better.

2. Not much. you just have to have enough strength to slam a guy down onto a table, and make sure the pencil is in the way. Any more is overkill. That said, the guy didn't exactly look like a pushover, but again if they weren't expecting resistance then it probably wouldn't be too hard.

 

[S.R.S.]

I think the real trick is that he swiped the pencil away and just slammed that guys face on the desk. In any case, one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

 

[Zhukov]

1. A pencil would not penetrate the skull. It's not strong enough. The pencil would break before your skull did. But bear in mind that if the pencil entered through the eye then it would never have to go through bone before reaching the brain.

2. Not very strong at all. The eyeball, the membranes behind the eyeball and the grey matter of the brain are all soft tissue. At a guess (that is to say, pulling numbers out of my arse), it would take no more then four pounds of pressure to do the job.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I thought that the idea was the pencil disappeared, then the guy just slammed his head into the desk. Like, it actually was a "trick".

 

[Crazy_Dude]

It didnt penetrate the skull a pencil could never do that.

The eyesocket is weak and mushy and so is the brain behind it. It went straight through the eye socket and into his brain possibly killing him.

 

[TheRealCJ]

What bothers me more is that in the film, the Joker slams the guys head onto the pencil - eraser first.

Do you know how tough the human eyeball is? It's takes a shitload of effort to just cut it with a scalpel.

So the more plausible explanation is that he didn't even penetrate the eyeball. He probably just pushed his eye far, far into his brain.

D:

 

[Vault101]

So yeah bassically the joker slams a guys head onto a pencil, killing him

I think it is definetly possible, esspecially if it went through the guys eye

but I have 2 questions

1. If it didn't go through his eye could you penatrate the skull in the way shown in the movie?

2. How much strength would it require? would you need to be really really strong? taking into account this guy is a tough hitman even if you do catch him off gaurd

EDIT: and I;m also thinking if it did have to go through his eye it would be difficult because of how fast you have to move and how much force required, hard to aim

another way is, two chopsticks up the nose, slam oon desk. dead person. happiness.

wow that was very creative...and somewhat disturbing.

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

If it was placed point upwards, I think it would have a hard time piercing anything except eye jelly. Point down, it might generate enough resistance to break the nose cartelige but unlikely enough to penetrate the skull. Joker would not only have to be physically strong and catch the gangster COMPLETELY unawares (i.e. NO reaction time whatsoever), he would have to be able to judge the angle and positioning of the pencil and the head with a speed only granted to characters in DMC and Ninja Gaiden. Without superhuman speed of judgement he would need to be able to reverse and slow time Prince of Persia style.

Conclusion: The level to which the pencil is up to the task is dubious at best. This is compounded by the fact that Joker would need superhuman ability to judge the angle and positioning well enough to do it.