Growing up watching action movies with valiant heroes driving throw glass windows all the time can spark the desire to try such a stunt in anyone. Being awestruck by the fearless protagonists of action movies is commonplace for anyone who enjoys actioners. But sometimes movie buffs can go a little overboard in the admiration for action heroes and may consider jumping through a glass window. Seems too farfetched? It’s not; ardent fans can be pretty passionate (read: reckless). They will willingly hop through hoops and jump from buildings if that means they get to emulate their idols. But the problem is films use crafty visual magic to show actors passing through fractured windows unscathed. In real life, attempting such a stunt can be extremely dangerous and may even be fatal because glass is not as pliable as portrayed in the films.
If you try to drive through a glass window, you will not land on your feet on the other side. You will most likely end up in the emergency department of a hospital wrapped in bandages. Here’s how that’s going to happen.
A glass window can injure a person in two ways. Firstly, when the glass is cracked, the dagger-like edges will slash through the person’s clothes, skin or flesh in seconds. The weight of glass makes its shards extremely forceful, which is why it will slice your skin from multiple angles when you break through the window.
The other way in which a glass window hurts a person is by staying stuck in place after getting fractured. That is, when a glass is broken, its pieces do not fall off right away because of inertia. They need some external force to get off from the frame. If the person driving through a window decides to provide that force, they will be pierced with thick glass pieces.
In a nutshell, first, the shards that break away from the window will hurt you, then the shards that do not fall off will hurt you. There is no way of escaping injury when jumping through a glass window, especially if the glass used is not tempered or laminated.
Windows are typically made of regular glass that requires a lot of pressure to shatter, which is why its impact is severe on the human body. But if a window is made with safety glass, its impact on the body is not as significant as the regular glass. That doesn’t mean jumping through a safety-glass window is not dangerous. It is plenty dangerous, but it may hurt the person attempting the stunt a little less.
Safety glass is designed to shatter entirely and fall off if cracked. Therefore, it doesn’t slash a person’s skin too gravely, but it does cause damage to a considerable degree.
What you see in movies is a delusion created by software and props. That is why film windows defy the most fundamental laws of physics. But real-life windows cannot work against the order of the universe. So don’t try to be a hero, just be yourself and stay safe!