Writing for the Public: Mythbusters Unit ENGR 2367

Mythbusters – Pencil Kill Scene
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February 5, 2018
Introduction
* Question: The question for this Mythbusting segment is; “Can pencil kill a human being?”
* Background context: “Killing with a pencil” is one of the signature moves that was popularized by “John Wick”, an assassin played by Keanu Reeves. The first time that the Pencil Kill Scene was portrayed was in John Wick 1, when he fought in a bar killing 3 people using the tool. In the sequel, it was emphasized in the very beginning, which captured the audiences’ attention as John Wick’s character was further emphasized. By the end of the movie, he would be doing it again with two assassins who are trying to kill him CITATION hin17 \l 1033 (hindustantimes.com, 2017).
* A detailed hypothesis: In light of the movie, we believe that the Pencil Kill Scene is “plausible”, depending on the pencil’s sharpness, the force of impact/penetration, and the penetration point of the said object (e.g. eyes, back of the neck, ears, etc.)
Methodology
In order to test out the experiment the first thing that has to be done is to create a dummy body, with the same texture, hardness, and qualities that could be seen in the movie. This would done using a mold, where a makeshift skull would be added. If possible, a makeshift brain could also be added to analyze whether the pencil would go through the brain. The mold would also be transparent in order to assess the damage that would happen to a person’s skull as the experimenter tries to penetrate it with a pencil. The said model would look like this (except for the eyeball and the ears, which would be made out of jelly):
In the first test, the experimenter would try to penetrate the ears, the eyes (Ey), with a “sharp pencil” (SP) with full force and then again with a “Dull Pencil” (DP). This would be done while standing (S). After which, the replica would be assessed for the damage and see whether both the SP and DP has hit the brain. In order to provide a better perspective of the matter, a close-up and slow-motion capture would be utilized in order to see the penetration.
In the second test, the pencil would be attached to a wall (W). The experimenter would then try to smash the head of the replica, ears first (Es), in both of the pencils. the experiment would then be repeated as the experimenter tries to smash the replica with the back of the neck (BN) first. The set-up for this test goes like this:
33013402608192Standing trial00Standing trial7772572606040Wall trials00Wall trials
After the experiment, each of tests would then be tabulated like this:

Sharp Pencil (DP)

Dull Pencil (DP)

Standing (S)







Wall (W)








Ears (Es)

Back of Neck (BN)

Eyes (Ey)

Ears (Es)

Back of Neck (BN)

Eyes (Ey)

Discussion of Results
After conducting the series of experiments, the results were;

Sharp Pencil (DP)

Dull Pencil (DP)
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