Hydrostatic Pressure Explained (Or Why Charlie Shouldn't Have Died)

We’re all familiar with that scene where Charlie was in the Looking Glass and Mikhail turned up with a grenade and water poured in and Charlie drowned. If you’re oblivious to this it was covered in my previous post. So you’ve no excuses to claim ignorance.

Now this scene does break the laws of physics. More specifically, it breaks the law of Hydrostatic Pressure. That’s right. Just those two words alone will get you either hard or wet depending on your sex, I know. Try to calm your arousal.

But for those that are perhaps unclear about how Hydrostatic Pressure works, and how it specifically got ignored in Lost, I’ve put together this awesome guide. It’s got ace graphics, too, that I drew all by myself.

I did this because I am awesome. And with a quick read of this you’ll be awesome too. You’ll know all about Hydrostatic Pressure and this knowledge, my friends, is guaranteed to get you laid. So let’s get to it.

Figure A


A graphical representation of Charlie in The Looking Glass communications room with Mikhail looming at the porthole window.

Figure B


Mikhail detonates his hand grenade prompting water to surge into the communications room and drown Charlie. This defies the principle of Hydrostatic Pressure.

Figure C


The principle of Hydrostatic Pressure can be simply explained using an experiment you can try at home. Take an ordinary basin and fill it with water.

Figure D


Take an ordinary empty glass.

Figure E


If the glass is turned upside down and dunked into the basin of water you will observe that the interior of the glass is not filled with water. Rather an air pocket is created.

Figure F


We can re-create the ‘Looking Glass incident’ by drilling a hole in the submerged glass. Doing so will prompt water to pour into the glass, but only up to the point where the hole is. The air pocket will shrink, but Hydrostatic Pressure will not allow the volume of water to rise above the entry hole.

Figure G


Let’s take the glass/basin experiment and apply it to the Looking Glass and communication room. Depicted above is the scene between Charlie and Mikhail as the grenade is detonated and a hole is blasted in the porthole.

Figure H


This time the laws of Hydrostatic Pressure are applied to the scene, and we can now see what really ought to have happened. The water level would have risen to the entry point of the water – the blast point – which would have afforded Charlie a small pocket of air that he could have swam up into and survived in.

So. Now you know. You feel sexier already, don’t you, y’little Lost-loving bastards!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

my butt is wet

Corellian said...

Maybe Charlie havent drown, and died by asfixiation when the air ended...

Anonymous said...

did he died?

Anonymous said...

Ok, I read it, I understood it. Where's my lay?

DanX said...

Presumably the force from the blast made a hole near the ceiling as well. I'm sure that's what TPTB intended us to surmise. Ahem.

I too am owed one lay.

Anonymous said...

dear angelo, forgive for saying this... but you are a lit bit a nerd, aren't you?

Anonymous said...

in my comment above, i'm refering to these (among others):

"Just those two words alone will get you either hard or wet depending on your sex, I know. "
"So. Now you know. You feel sexier already, don’t you, y’little Lost-loving bastards!"

Anonymous said...

Well if he delivers on the lays, then not too much of a nerd, eh?

AngeloComet said...

A nerd? Hm. I prefer geek myself. In my definition, a geek can be classified as someone who has the capacity to develop a focused interest in a particular subject (game, TV show, film, etc) and go beyond surface enjoyment. This may or may not be done to a healthy degree. In that respect, I am a geek.

A nerd is someone who gets a wedgie at school everyday just because of the way they look.

Evidently, you didn't notice the inherent tongue-in-cheek irony in the above piece (although the 'clue' was in the post label: HUMOUR.)

To all those that are finding that 'hydrostatic pressure' isn't getting them laid, I would suggest making copy pictures of the diagrams above. Carry them around with you. Talk to members of the opposite sex and use them like a presentation. You will get laid then. I swear.

By the way, all those people that are asking where their lay is, or whether or not I'll deliver on one. . . I assume you don't actually want ME PERSONALLY to sort you out!?

(Monica Bellucci lookalikes can consider this an option, mind.)

Anonymous said...

As proprietor of this blog, and having personally made such a guarantee, you are of course obligated to see to it that the guarantee is fulfilled, for all readers meeting the established criteria (reading and understanding of this post)

If you have delegated others to fulfill this guarantee, then you need to state such within the guarantee, otherwise, it would be considered a bait and switch.

AngeloComet said...

Heh. Touche.

Anonymous said...

Your graphical representations are incredible :D

shamballa said...

Bored? I don't blame you. Lost clip episodes make me yawn too. Nice graphics by the way.

Not tonight though. Tonight it's the "Variable", and I get to it before you do.

Neener, neener. :P

BennyTN said...

I don't mean to be picky, but you forgot about Boyle's law. Air volume and pressure are inversely related. Lostpedia says that the Looking Glass is about 70m underwater. For approx every 10 meters, the pressure multiplies by 1 more. The air in the station would be at normal 1 atmosphere volume. At 70 meters under water, the air volume suddenly exposed to this pressure would be approx 7 times smaller than normal, reducing Charlie's air space above the hole 7 times. That, along with that room probably not being perfectly air tight = Charlie drowns.

AngeloComet said...

Benny, but the air in the Looking Glass wasn't suddenly exposed to any shift in pressure. The Looking Glass had its moon pool, meaning the water and air pressure had been 'calibrated' for quite some time, around the entire Station.

Water wasn't rising up from the moon pool at the depth of the Station, suggesting the atmosphere of the air was denser.

Anonymous said...

From your diagrams, it looks like Mikhail is in a lay position, but not Charlie. Does this mean Charlie didn't understand about hydrostatic pressure, and that's why he died, because he couldn't get laid?

Anonymous said...

Actually, douchebutt, you got the term nerd and geek backwards. Nerds are the ones with the ridiculous hobbies, geeks are the faglozers.

AngeloComet said...

Hey "douchebutt", check this out:

Definition of Geek:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=geek

Definition of Nerd:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nerd

Not only offensive and rude, then, but also a fucking dick! :o)