DESCRIPTION:

Pressure washers! They keep your driveway clean, and they make for some very satisfying video content. But are they all fun and games? Watch to find out!! (no pressure tho) (hehe) 

TRANSCRIPT: 

Hey there! Welcome to Life Noggin. It can get pretty dirty down here in the Blockcave. All of our science experiments can leave this place rather messy! That’s why I’ve invested in one of those handy pressure washers to help get things back to their good ol’ factory settings. See! Good as new. While pressure washers are great for jobs like these, their powerful streams can actually double as dangerous jets of water to those that get in the way of their blast. So what would happen if you were struck by a pressure washer? A pressure washer is a power tool that sprays water at high pressures to remove grime from things like buildings, construction equipment, and even infrastructure. They’re basically a super high-powered version of a garden hose. Depending on the model and intended use, pressure washers can generate anywhere from about 1,300 to 4,000 or more pounds per square inch, or psi. To put that in perspective, your garden hose can probably only get around 50 psi. That means you’re getting 30 plus times the pressure at a minimum, more like 70 or 80 times the pressure at the upper limits. That's a lot! But what would happen if you actually got sprayed by one? Well, it turns out it can get pretty bad rather quickly. The spray from a pressure washer is powerful enough to damage your skin as soon as the water hits you. Lacerations or cuts, bruises, punctures, and even eye injuries can all happen within a relatively short amount of time. I’m talking about things that can leave scars and lingering injuries. Even if the initial damage to your skin doesn’t seem that bad, the tricky thing with pressure washers is that the fluid from the spray can get down down into your tissue and cause a bacterial infection. Without knowing what’s going on and how serious the damage is, a person could delay treatment and getting things checked out, increasing their risk not only for a worse infection, but also amputation if things aren’t handled quick enough.That means that a small laceration can lead to an infection of the muscle beneath, turning a seemingly small injury into one that requires an operation and several months of physical therapy to heal, if not a permanent disability. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 6,000 people in 2014 alone were estimated to have gone to the emergency room with pressure washer related injuries. All of this danger increases the more targeted the spray of the pressure washer is. Through interchangeable nozzles or an adjustable wand tip, pressure washers typically allow you to vary the flow of the water. A 0 degree flow is the most targeted and finest spray, shooting forward like an arrow of water. The higher the angle of the flow, with upper limits around 65 degrees depending on the specific washer, the more spread out the water is going to be. Naturally, if the power behind the spray is the same, you’re going to be able to inflict more damage to a specific spot on your body the narrower the blast is. It’s kinda like how you can get a more powerful, thinner shot of water by putting your thumb over the stream of a garden hose, but far deadlier. All in all, while they can be an effective cleaning tool, pressure washers can be dangerous and should be handled as such. When you use a pressure washer, always make sure that you learn and follow the safety instructions that should be in the owner’s manual for the tool. No, triangle bob, put that fire hose down! Triangle Bob, where did you even get that? Oh. Oh no! So are there any other injury prone scenarios you want us to cover next? Let me know in the comment section below and your question could become a future video. Curious to know why we don't have water powered cars yet? Check out this video By separating the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water, the hydrogen can be used as fuel, and fed back into the engine as always, my name is Blocko, this has been Life Noggin, don't forget to keep on thinking! 

QUESTIONS: 

1. What is a pressure washer? 

2. If you were struck by a pressure washer, what would happen? 

3. How dangerous do you think a pressure washer is?