Basilisk fang

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 54133

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Amanda Geist" <editor at t...> wrote:
> Lynda asked:
> 
> > ... the Basilisk, ...fang BREAKS OFF in skinny little Harry's arm. 
> > The fang  would ... be ...as big around as Harry's arm ...
> > So why did it break off?
> 

> Amandageist:
>  ...edited...
>  Perhaps the basilisk's fangs are designed beautifully for the
> "vertical" stress of piercing, but when the "horizontal" stress of 
> a snagged fang occurred (pulling back instead of up), the structure 
> of the tooth was not built for this and could not withstand it.
> 
> Anybody else?
> 
> ~Amandageist

bboy_mn:

Amandageist, I think you've hit on the answer exactly. Let's also
remember that since this is a tooth that delivers venom, it is hollow,
not solid like a human tooth.

I'm reminded of a simple science experiment where a simple common
paper soda straw is thrust into a hard potato. Logic would say that it
couldn't be done, that a paper straw is just too soft, but it can be
done very easily. 

One of the factors that comes into play that allows this is exactly
what Amandageist said; vertiacal strength. You cap your finger of over
the end of the straw and that seals the air inside, as soon as the
straw hits the potato the other end is sealed trapping the column of
air inside making the straw ridgid. The second thing is momentum. You
can't press the straw against the potato and start pushing harder and
harder in hopes that it will eventually be hard enough to penetrate
the potato, but the straw will bend before that happens. You have to
make a fast straight thrust of the straw at the potato, and the
momentum allows it to penetrate the potato before it has time to
break. Another factor is that if you thrust downward and don't hit the
potato straight on, if you are at the slightest angle, the straw will
bend and break. 

This illustrates the fang perfectly. Snakes strike fast, sometime
almost too fast to see, that gives them the momentum the need to
penetrate even hard bodies. The thrust is straigh down, then straight
back out; no lateral stress. So combining the tooth being hollow with
the lateral stress, I can very easily see it breaking. 

When Harry stabbed the snake throught the head, it probably went limp
immediately and dropped. That sudden shift in the weight of the snakes
head would have caused a very high sharp peak in lateral inertia. This
peak inertia would have also been a factor in causing the tooth to snap. 

I don't see it as at all unrealistic.

just a thought.

bboy_mn