Re: A whip question...

Posted by Greg from kenn001a-107.cybertours.com on June 15, 1999 at 06:12:35:

In Reply to: A whip question... posted by ROB T. on June 15, 1999 at 03:43:51:

: At the beginning of "Raiders" Indy uses his whip to swing over the bottomless pit inside the temple. I've seen this type of thing in lots of movies and I need to know if this is accurate. It doesn't seem physically possible to me that a whip can hold a mans weight without being tied off. The whip just wraps around the tree trunk a couple of times and suddenly it can support a man? I've never handled a real bullwhip but I don't see anything about a piece of braided leather that tells me it would be able to do this. Wouldn't it just unwrap from the tree as soon as you pull on it? And if not then how do you unattach it after you swing over? Indy and other whip-wielding heroes seem to just do a wrist flip kind of thing and the whip comes loose.
: I need to know this just in case I ever get lost in the jungle with a bullwhip. If I need it to cross a gaping chasm can I just whip it around a tree trunk and swing over or will I just plummet to a screaming death?

Yes, this is entirely possible, and it depends on the tightness of the whip's wrap around the object. Also, whips can double over themselves helping them to stay wrapped. The trick is getting it unwrapped, but just like those old braided "fingercuffs" we got as kids, as the braids pull tight, they constrict and tighten around an object, and can be released by loosening it or giving it slack. Of course, the problem for Indy of getting it unwrapped was solved by Satipo when he swung and broke the tree limb. I have tried swinging on my David Morgan whip (I know, I shouldn't because it stretches the whip and weakens it), and it is possible (though not very smart).

Greg

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: : At the beginning of "Raiders" Indy uses his whip to swing over the bottomless pit inside the temple. I've seen this type of thing in lots of movies and I need to know if this is accurate. It doesn't seem physically possible to me that a whip can hold a mans weight without being tied off. The whip just wraps around the tree trunk a couple of times and suddenly it can support a man? I've never handled a real bullwhip but I don't see anything about a piece of braided leather that tells me it would be able to do this. Wouldn't it just unwrap from the tree as soon as you pull on it? And if not then how do you unattach it after you swing over? Indy and other whip-wielding heroes seem to just do a wrist flip kind of thing and the whip comes loose.
: : I need to know this just in case I ever get lost in the jungle with a bullwhip. If I need it to cross a gaping chasm can I just whip it around a tree trunk and swing over or will I just plummet to a screaming death?

: 
: Yes, this is entirely possible, and it depends on the tightness of the whip's wrap around the object.  Also, whips can double over themselves helping them to stay wrapped.  The trick is getting it unwrapped, but just like those old braided "fingercuffs" we got as kids, as the braids pull tight, they constrict and tighten around an object, and can be released by loosening it or giving it slack.  Of course, the problem for Indy of getting it unwrapped was solved by Satipo when he swung and broke the tree limb.  I have tried swinging on my David Morgan whip (I know, I shouldn't because it stretches the whip and weakens it), and it is possible (though not very smart).

: Greg

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