Most people don’t understand explosions. In action movies, we see heroes, propelled by fireballs, get back up, then brush themselves off before jumping back into the fray. But in the real world, the pressure wave from a nearby explosion can kill you without even knocking you over. “Our action hero, thrown across the room by the winds of an explosion,” writes Rachel Lance in her book “In the Waves,” “is not standing up and dashing off after a mild back injury.” Instead, the blunt trauma to his lungs will kill him “100 percent of the time.”Ms....

Source: Wall Street Journal May 01, 2020 14:31 UTC