{"id":430,"date":"2020-06-11T22:05:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T22:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/climbingclub\/?p=430"},"modified":"2020-07-25T22:54:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T22:54:08","slug":"how-strong-is-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/climbingclub\/2020\/06\/11\/how-strong-is-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"How Strong is Strong?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"theDIHEDRAL<\/a>
theDIHEDRAL Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s no question that climbing gear is crazy strong. Each successive whip proves that (go team!), but how do we really know<\/i> that our carabiner won\u2019t fail on the next fall?<\/p>\n

One might have said, \u201cHigh-Clip, you idiot, look at the rating. That carabiner can take many kN…it\u2019s been strength tested…chill dude.\u201d So, being the nerdy physics student I am, I checked out these ratings on my go-to quickdraws, finding myself quite confused. The strength ratings are in kN, but in my mind that just describes weight…surely no one expects a 25 kN climber, right? Obviously that\u2019s impossible, so I consulted Black Diamond, inundating them with questions about impulse and force and N*s and all units with a Newton and what they really mean and what are they really measuring\u2026<\/p>\n

As it turns out, researchers at BD don\u2019t actually expect a climber to weigh 25 kN, but they are<\/i> measuring force and they do<\/i> mean in Newtons. The ratings are the maximum forces that the gear can withstand before failure. To see what I mean, check out BD\u2019s QC Lab<\/a> where you can watch total destruction.<\/p>\n

Yet, maximum force doesn\u2019t really describe what happens when a climber falls, and so there must<\/i> be some sort of testing that better simulates falling. Plus, what about wear over time? Strength of old draws? Unfortunately, much of BD\u2019s testing is proprietary, so I can\u2019t detail exactly<\/i> what happens during testing, but there are more test simulating real-life falls, old\/worn gear, and strength over time. On top of that, BD has people who go out and abuse the life out of the gear in the last part of the prototype phase (how cool is it to have that job?!?!). Clearly, BD tests climbing gear more than sufficiently…but what sorts of treasures has KP (Kolin Powick, the mechanical engineer who runs the QC lab at BD) uncovered? Here\u2019s some oversimplified fun facts I\u2019ve gleaned from KP\u2019s conclusions:<\/p>\n