Can you bite through a human finger as easily as a carrot?

Is it true that you can bite through a human finger as easily as a carrot? © Getty Images

Definitely not. Bite the carrot and then bite your own finger just as hard. It will hurt, but you won’t even break the skin on your finger.

Could you bite your own finger off, if you really wanted to? At the knuckle, possibly, but it would be very difficult. A 2012 study of hand injuries from electric windows in cars found that an average of 1,485 Newtons of force was required just to fracture a human finger. This is about twice the maximum bite force you can exert and about 10 times the force exerted when chewing normally.

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Asked by: Ryan Young, Middlesbrough

To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don’t forget to include your name and location)



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