The Science of Sword-Swallowing (2007) | Hacker News Reader

The Science of Sword-Swallowing (2007)

twistedphysics.typepad.com

98 pointsunpredict34 comments

> (Neon tubes, by the way, have an added risk of shattering inside the throat, with seriously disabling and sometimes fatal effects.)

I was lucky enough in my life to see someone do exactly this -- he even talked about how deadly it was before he did it. Though for his performance, he used a metal cage around the neon tube. It prevented the esophagus from breaking it, but still allowed the light to escape out.

He opened up his shirt and allowed for 30 seconds everyone to see the light emanating out of his chest cavity. It was a truly remarkable experience.

That pull quote and first sentence made me think you saw a neon tube shatter inside a performer

it disappointed me too

> he even talked about how deadly it was before he did it

I would not immediately believe a performer saying that. Saying something is extremely dangerous can be part of the performance.

In this case the tube may not have been made of glass, or there might have been a layer of plastic between the glass and the metal cage.

That wouldn’t make it zero risk, but certainly would have decreased the risk.

There’s a thing Penn and Teller talk about (in the nail gun routine) about how it is immoral for a trick to have any real danger as it makes the audience complicit in risk. This resonates with me considerably.

But then you move further from magic and closer to acrobatics and things like tightrope acts without nets have real danger.

Juggling, circus acts, and heck even air shows can be dangerous for the performers. I've seen an air show performer die during his act a few years ago when he crashed into the ground.

Even the NFL has a good amount of danger during every game -- and people get injured.

But spectators have died during Airshows [0] and during, say, the Indy 500 [1].

[0]: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/air-show-acciden...

[1]: https://www.sportscasting.com/indianapolis-500-tragedy-rarel...

Airshows have also killed people not spectating, but just driving nearby when the plane crashed into a main road: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Shoreham_Airshow_crash

When I saw Penn & Teller live in the same show they did the routine you describe, but also a fire eating routine about how some stunts simply do hurt, and can be dangerous to both learn and perform. Neither break the "no permanent damage" rule but you are left with two seemingly contradictory arguments.

Properly aligned you can fit the two ideas together, but I think they kind of personal mental arranging of ideas is exactly what they want to leave you with.

The tube must have been made of glass, otherwise it could not keep the air out of the low-pressure interior.

However, you are right that a minimal precaution would be to wrap the tube in a transparent plastic film, preferably glued to the glass, in order to contain any broken shards.

It may not have been a neon tube, it may have been a plexiglass tube with LED lights and a diffuser. How can you tell from inside an esophagus?

I recall it looking bright like a neon tube with the glow that neon tubes emit -- also with heavy duty cable going into the neon tube. He swallows the sword on stage so everyone sees the sword go in and out.

I also had no doubt to believe it wasn't a glass neon tube.

Sorry, I meant in the hypothetical case where someone swallows a "neon" tube without any shielding. The metal cage in your case tells me that it was probably legitimate.

Though, what happened to the other end of the wire?

It was plugged into the wall through I'm guessing a high voltage neon transformer.

I have no idea if the cage was grounded or not. I assume it wasn't, which should have been fine if the connection to the tube was outside of his mouth.

One does not read sword swallowing without mentioning professor Hans Rosling's sword swallowing during his statistic talk(s?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rosling

https://youtu.be/TAMMPA4kg70?t=512

Gah, I want to gag and throw up just watching that.

Came for comments on Rosling.

> So gurgitators often "train" by chugging gallons of water in a short period of time to stretch the stomach, or eat huge amounts of cabbage (low-calorie, high-fiber) because it stays in the stomach longer before breaking down. Thats also why fatter isn't necessarily better. The prevailing theory is that excess fat pushes against the stomach and limits how much it can expand. So the best competitive eaters tend to be on the thinner side.

Never thought about this, but it makes sense!

Sword Swallowing is one of those things that I would really like to understand how it happened…

Like who one day woke up and said I’ll try that…

Training to perfectly control one’s gag reflex? Well I’ll tell you this: it didn’t begin with a sword.

You'd think it'd be more popular with women...

Go on...

I would venture to guess a copious amount of drugs, boredom and wanting to show off or impress.

Sticks have been around very long time, swords millennia. And then we can think maybe some eat competition as well. Ending up with someone eating their sword or or just showing off by pushing it down the throat is probably inevitable.

I think it's amazing how Joey Chestnut appears as a young upstart "gurgitator" in this article.

He has now won the Hotdog Eating Championship fifteen times in total.

Typepad… the high-quality blogging platform of the 00s.

The web was so much easier back then.

I assume you have to ensure you haven’t inherited Haemochromatosis. :D

I don't think anyone finds it necessary to extricate a sword with chelation therapy.

(2007)

To be fair I don't think much has changed in the sword swallowing world since it's apparent inception in 2000BC.

HN's policy is that older posts are encouraged, the year designation simply alerts readers that the information is not current.

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8244765>

(Edit) And: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30400761>

Seemingly all the links have broken in the body of the article, so having the date would be useful to not expect too much.

I'm seeking funding for my decentralized web3 SSaaS (Sword Swallowing as a Service) startup. Check it out at swordswallow.ly

If you had suggested swordswal.io, I would have thrown my phone across the room.

You saved a cheap Android today, Internet friend.

Ah that's good.

.ly and .io domains are the goto classics for trendy startups, I chose the wrong one

Makes sense. Make me nostalgic for this style of writing that existed in the blogosphere circa 2007.

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