Pondering

[fritti13]

Reading some of the great fic produced here and I got to wondering.  If  Tony were hit in the chest without the suit on, wouldn't that push that big ass cylinder housing the arc reactor into his chest cavity a bit?  I mean, the human body is built with some give in the rib cage but that metal tube has no give at all!  And remember how deep it is (

Comments

Volume 86, Issue 8

[livejournal]

User lilacsigil referenced to your post from Volume 86, Issue 8 saying: [...] Discussion - posted thoughts about the location of the arc reactor in Tony's chest [...]

[bugeyedmonster]

Yeah, it's occurred to me that thing really doesn't fit in a proper human chest. (But hey, I never expect real science from Hollywood.)

That said, perhaps it's sort of like the Doctor's TARDIS? Maybe Tony accidentally invented some sort of dimensional field that causes the arc reactor to take up less room inside his chest, despite how deep and big it is?

[fritti13]

Yea, it would be like living with a flour canister stuck in your chest!

[nyxelestia]

There was some pretty good meta about this over on avengersmeta, including some exploration about Tony's daily life with the arc reactor. (It's why he drinks so many smoothies - with the arc reactor screwing with his esophagus, eating solid food is a pain in the ass so he doesn't do it often; he has either tiny snack foods or just drinks most of his meals). :) Anyway, my personal view is that while sufficient force would be enough to jar that arc reactor casing, it would only be a bit less force than whatever would be needed to break the ribs of a normal person and drive the pieces into the heart/lungs.