ABSTRACT
Guns, bombs, knives, and sharp sticks: from Palaeolithic times to the present day, humans have used a variety of tools to hunt various animals and each other. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the physics of human injury, taking as its central theme the energy required to produce an effect. The chapter also presents a trauma surgeon’s view of this area and a meta-analysis of global blast injury. This is augmented by sections dealing with the change in behaviour of biological materials under dynamic, high-rate loading. It is intended to provide a general insight into this complex area; a list of supplemental reading can be used to enhance this understanding.
