Damage Definition and 129 Threads

Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance". Damage "does not necessarily imply total loss of system functionality, but rather that the system is no longer operating in its optimal manner". Damage to physical objects is "the progressive physical process by which they break", and includes mechanical stress that weakens a structure, even if this is not visible.

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  1. GhostLoveScore

    B Effect of JWST mirror damage on final images

    As most of us know, James Webb Space Telescope suffered a damage to one of its mirror segments due to meteoroid impact. How will that damage show in the images? Some people on certain forum I visit say that there will be some artifacts visible in only one part of the image, but that doesn't...
  2. jim mcnamara

    Aging: mitochondrial damage and aging

    A precis of medical research about aging and aging reversal in mice: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/supplement-slows-aging-process-in-mice-and-possibly-humans#Understanding-the-importance-of-mitochondria [Mitochondria background] Mitochondria are organelles in cells. There is a lot...
  3. Jarvis323

    Mild Covid-19 Linked to Brain Damage

    We've been hearing about brain damage caused by moderate and severe covid. A new study suggests even mild Covid causes brain damage. Pretty scary. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/long-covid-even-mild-covid-linked-damage-brain-months-infection-rcna18959...
  4. T

    COVID Hospitalized COVID-19 Brain Damage greater than in Alzheimers....

    ...And even higher in deceased patients. Popular version: https://www.news10.com/news/covid-19-patients-show-more-signs-of-brain-damage-than-people-with-alzheimers-disease/ Research article: https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12556
  5. kyphysics

    Would You Ever Buy a Computer That Ships by Mail (Fear of Damage)?

    I've seen Amazon/Fed Ex/etc. drivers fling packages. With Cyber Monday coming up, I'm wondering if it'd be safe to buy a computer and have it mailed/shipped to me vs. buying in person?
  6. kyphysics

    Reducing Sunburn Damage: Is the 3-Chunk Method Effective?

    rall)? What I mean is, suppose I were to spend 1 hour total in the sun. If I spent it in "3 chunks" of 20 minutes with 10 minutes between each chunk (in the shade), would that reduce my sunburn damage chances vs. spending the full 1 hour entirely in the sun? I was mowing grass in 90...
  7. Rob B

    Shear stress damage due to thermal gradient

    I'm trying to use my rudimentary understanding of material physics to understand a simple problem, and am getting stuck - I hope you can help! My idealized case involves a sheet of infinite extent in length and width direction, to which a linear thermal gradient in the depth dimension is...
  8. G

    Question sound hammer damage objects in room

    I was inside a closed room and I used a hammer in wood and metal, the noise and sound and sound waves generated by the hammer beating may have damaged and cracked objects and DVD discs that are inside the same room?
  9. kyphysics

    I Could Physically Slamming on a Table Damage the Home Floor/Structure?

    Over the Thanksgiving holidays, I had a heated argument with my parents in their home (where I reside temporarily too). Out of anger, I physically slammed my arms down on their dinner table extremely hard. I was in a rage (b/c they went out during COVID's surge when we've already lost a family...
  10. mktsgm

    Medical Pathology of Germ-Induced Damage: Distinguishing Direct Action from Inflammation

    When a bacteria/virus infects a human, they damage the infected tissues and cells. Also further damage is seen in case of body's own inflammatory response in fighting the germs. How do we distinguish the damage due to germ's direct action/invasion from the damage caused due to the body's...
  11. T

    B Damage by tire blowing up at 203 mph

    Hi all, We have a discussion among friends after this video: For sure the energy involved in a tire spinning at those speeds is massive enough to create these damage: But what kind of energy is exactly the one which directly produces that body rip? Rotational kinetic energy...
  12. A

    Cumulative DNA damage in active vs. less active neurons?

    Hi all, In light of recent findings about Topoisomerase-mediated DNA double strand breaks, I have been looking for a study out there that compares cummulative DNA damage in active neurons vs. less active counterparts. So far I have not been able to find anything - this would hopefully be over a...
  13. Wrichik Basu

    How to prevent damage to my LAN card due to lightning?

    This is the second time lightning has damaged the LAN card in our desktop. I am yet to get my hypothesis verified by the ISP, but the indications are exactly the same as last time: the computer cannot recognize the LAN adapter. Previously, when the connection had problems, we could see the LAN...
  14. F

    I Damage threshold of short pulses....

    Hello, A femtosecond optical pulse is characterized by a maximum peak intensity ##I(W/m^2)##, a pulse duration ##\Delta {t}## and a repetition rate ##R (Hz)##. The damage threshold of an optical material is often expressed using either the maximum fluence ##(J/cm^2)## or the maximum intensity...
  15. mktsgm

    Medical Do the viruses damage our cells directly?

    Viruses when they infect us, enter the target cells, hijack the machinery and start producing their own Copy and eject out. So what? Question is, how do they directly cause injury to our cells? Do they harm injury our cells directly? Of course we know that our own immune system which becomes...
  16. Fra Ser Mur Chie

    Engineering Calculating the damage tolerance of the material

    so I have quickly gone over this, but feel that I am not going in the right direction. I am assuming Y = 1 so, 62 = 164 sqrt Ka given UTS = 164 Mpa Kic = 62 Mpa m1/2 therefor, working for ac, (the damage tolerance of the material) Oa = UTS = 164 Mpa Kic = Y Oa sqrt ac 62 = 1 * 164 *...
  17. P

    Estimating the damage to a material based on force or kinetic energy

    I'm programming a game in which I'd like to simulate the real world physics of an attack using primarily medieval style weapons. Think dwarf fortress, but rather than assigning damage numbers we're calculating force or kinetic energy. Getting that much is easy enough since I can find the mass of...
  18. M

    Mathematical description of a ball hitting a glass plate and causing damage

    Summary: damage on glasses plate by hitting ball If a ball hit a rectangular plate of glass and it cause a damage "but it didn't broken" how can i represent this damage using mathematics? I'll tell you my idea about it: let the ball move horizontally and hit the plate perpendicularly with...
  19. pinball1970

    LED lights can damage the retina

    There has been a large shift from energy inefficient lighting in the last 10 years to LEDs in domestic, retail stores, cars and council run buildings and street lights. The study in the link below by the French government agency support a previous study in 2012 by Sánchez-Ramos published...
  20. chemisthypnos

    Is Boron Carbide the Key to Shattering Bullets in Armor Design?

    Does anyone know how this works? I hypothesize that the reason that the bullet shatters is that boron carbide is much harder than the copper of the bullet. Does anyone think that this may be made into a conventional armor design as some people are saying or is boron carbide too expensive for use...
  21. R

    Laser induced damage and irradiation time

    We want to examine the thermal effects of irradiating a given material with a laser. The material under consideration can either be homogeneous and isotropic or a diffusive turbid material (e.g. biological tissues). Suppose we decrease the power by a certain factor. Will we still get the same...
  22. D

    MHB Proper method to calculate damage per second for Role Playing Games

    A friend and I have reached a disagreement, and truly neither of us can come up with the math to prove one of us right or wrong. So I pose the question in here for someone to offer me a proof of which theory is correct. The question is about what is the proper way to calculate damage per...
  23. duhuhu

    Can you damage your starter motor with too much current?

    Hey all! Today I took my car to the shop for some starter issues. They told me that the starter had been damaged by a battery with a higher CCA rating than was safe for the starter motor and it burned out my motor slowly over time. I feel like they may be BS'ing me, but I'm not sure. I know my...
  24. I

    What happens to a cell if a chromosome gets damaged

    Hi, I was wondering what would happen to a cell if one of the chromosomes gets destroyed or damaged in a section? I am guessing that, if the "housekeeping genes" and expressed genes are intact, the cell, would be ok or somewhat ok? If it can survive, would it affect its ability to do mitosis...
  25. W

    Do finger heat/hand oils damage phone screens?

    Hi, Just paranoid about occasional phone problems: messages not sent, crackled sound. Just thinking of possible negative effects of heat and/or oils when finger comes into contact with screen. Is this true? Can something be done?
  26. 1977ub

    Peripheral Vision / Sunlight Damage

    If I am walking on a sunny day, looking mostly straight ahead, and the Sun is close to straight ahead but elevated 30 to 45 degrees so I'm not looking directly at it, is there a risk of vision damage?
  27. Noisy Rhysling

    Do we have a good estimate for the damage the Yellowstone....

    ..."supervolcano" will cause? Immediate area affected, ash patterns, etc?
  28. FactChecker

    Damage height versus waterline when ships collide

    I am curious. There have been two collisions recently between a military ship and a large commercial ship. Both times, the military ship was damaged at the waterline and the other ship was damaged far above the waterline. How does that happen?
  29. P

    Special Relativity - Is damage absolute?

    1. The problem statement, all variables, and given/known data A car of proper length 12m is being driven at 0.9c through a garage of proper length 6m. The garage has a front and back door. The garage owner, Joe, says that the car will fit inside the garage with no damage to it, albeit for a tiny...
  30. T

    MHB How to factor in critical chance to calculate damage per second?

    Ok so essentially in this video game I have there are certain stats on swords. The stats are the amount of Attack animations, amount of time to compleate all of the attack animations, sword dammage and critical chance. All of the animations deal the same amount of dammage and the time to...
  31. R

    Would turning a pump on and off repeatedly damage it?

    Hi, I need a liquid pump that can deliver BOTH smooth flow and pulsed flow, I've looked at: Normal liquid pumps Metering pumps peristaltic pumps Liquid respiration pumps Centrifugal blood pumps The latter two provide pulsed flow, but I'm struggling to find a pump that can deliver both...
  32. O

    Brain Damage -- does it also affect their emotional state?

    For people who hit their head and suffer loss of mathematical and linguistic ability, does it also affect their emotional state? I met a woman who hit her head on table while falling down when she was 14 years old. Now she is 30+ years old. She said after the fall she can no longer comprehend...
  33. Priyadarshini

    Savant Syndrome: How Does Damage to the Brain Lead to Such Ability?

    Wikipedia states that "Savant syndrome results from damage to the left anterior temporal lobe, an area of the brain key in processing sensory input, recognizing objects and forming visual memories.", but if the area of the brain which processes sensory input get damaged how does the syndrome...
  34. N

    Effect of a lightning strike on stainless steel bolt

    Hello, I was recently onsite in the Philippines and the equipment owner stated their wind turbine had been hit by lightning. The only obvious damage was to the bolted connections at the root of one blade. One was sheared, the other bent. Does anyone have any experience of lighting causing...
  35. newjerseyrunner

    What's kind of damage could this weapon do?

    I want to represent a species advanced enough that they can create small black holes at will. If I understand correctly, a micro black hole will evaporate quickly and at a very predictable rate. So a weapon can determine the range to an enemy ship and create a black hole to evaporate in...
  36. J

    Possible damage to laptop screen

    I know I am going to sound real paranoid with this question, but someone at my house was cleaning up, and they put a couple of textbooks on top of my laptop (the textbooks together weigh maybe 2-3 pounds). It was on top for maybe 15 minutes. I opened up the laptop to see if there was any damage...
  37. hari krishna parigi

    Will a Slayer Exciter Damage an Incandescent Flashlight?

    what happens if incandescent flashlight is bought near to slayer excitor ? Will the flashlight bulb gets damaged ?
  38. Krystyna

    Damage to chimney by power line attache to it

    hello :) I am desperately seeking help for my problem: during reper of electrical mast, service crew attached main power line to my chimney. ( Chimney was add to house structure some time after house was build. More than 25 years ago). Repair was a day long project. It required main power line...
  39. A

    How many Newtons would it take to damage a car?

    I am working on a science project, just in my spare time, and for this project I needed to know the amount of force it would take one car to damage another car, but the same model (so same weight, strength etc.) thanks for you help ~ Alex
  40. I

    Why does height affect the amount of damage an object does?

    If I were to drop a penny from empire state building it would do more damage than if i dropped it from standing distance. Why? F=MA. neither the penny's acceleration nor mass change when its falling so the forces on both pennies should be the same. The only solution i could come up with is that...
  41. A

    Admissions Potential C: can I minimize the damage to grad admissions?

    I absolutely bombed my first test so far since I started college (Junior in EE). The test was in a semiconductor devices course (theory of semiconductor devices), so it is a course in my major, and it is an upper division course. I wouldn't be worried if it was in another department, but since...
  42. B

    Plate mode shape subjected to damage

    Hello Peeps~ I have couple of questions related to vibration and I would really appreciate some help from you experts out there. Anyways, say I have a metal plate with mode shapes observed at 100 Hz and 300 Hz as shown in the below figures. If I were to chip(cut) off a small part of the...
  43. Sebastiaan

    Radiation Damage In metals from Gamma rays

    From my understanding gamma rays can damage metal, making it brittle. Fortunaly, this appears to be little, but sill if you have a lot (like in p-D fusion) it becomes a serious hazard. The question is, how much? Specificly I need to know how much damange it does in compairison to Neutron...
  44. J

    What Damage can happen to a 110 pound man jumping from 80ft

    What will happen to a 110 pound man jumping from 80 feet into water feet first? I have done the math he hits the water at around 50 mph. How will this damage his body?
  45. M

    How much damage can a shopping cart do to a vehicle?

    I was recently hit in a parking lot after parking next to the cart return. I was parked far enough away that the cart boy had plenty of room to take a row of carts through but there was no way a vehicle could get through. When I came out there was considerable damage to the back side panel of...
  46. M

    High Frequency that can cause g-sensor damage

    Hello All, Anyone can help, but first allow me to give you some background, I have a project this project is to measure the frequency of the PCB depaneling machine that might damage the sensetive component which is the gyro-sensor. The sensor will damage if the frequency is above 75kHz or 100...
  47. M

    Very low voltage AC Mains supply damage TV

    my electric supply company some time supply very low voltage which cause damage/burn out my Tv three time do you know any sort of device which disconnect power supply to my Tv and my Tv un harm from low voltage my electric company uses 220 volt supply or british system. please help me
  48. micromass

    Folk belief about preventing lightning damage

    In my region, there is some kind of folk belief about lightning. I personally think it is nonsense, but I'm asking to make sure it sure is nonsense. After all, I can't pretend to know much about electricity. Anyway, it is said that when there is a thunder storm near your house, then it is best...
  49. A

    Calculate the damage of the car after collision

    I'm developing a 3 Dimensional android car game, so i need a formula to calculate the damage of the car after colliding the tree, wall or signal. I have velocity and mass of the car and also i have the mass and velocity of the colliding object. I use inelastic collision formula for signal and...
  50. Ganesh Ujwal

    Accumulated environmental damage to Hubble main mirror

    I'm interested in understanding what effect does long-term radiation and microdust exposure would do to the surface roughness of a high-precision mirror like the one on the Hubble. Since it has been on orbit for 24 years, it provides an unique opportunity to estimate accumulated environmental...
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