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You always hear "crushed like a soda can," but I'm pretty sure that the body wouldn't be much smaller than normal. The person wouldn't be breathing, so nitrogen narcosis wouldn't be an issue. Would this just be an "all over body bruise" kind of thing?

JBH
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Robert Rapplean
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    The lungs would collapse and that is about it. – Jon Custer Jun 02 '22 at 01:31
  • Hmm, so maybe the ribs would be crushed. – Robert Rapplean Jun 02 '22 at 01:50
  • The lungs aren't that large in volume. Sunken-in chest, but not crushing the ribs. – Jon Custer Jun 02 '22 at 02:59
  • Curiously, I found that duplicate link (see Cort Ammon's answer, then read L.Dutch's) with a 10-second Google search for "what happens to the human body at high pressures?" Per the [help/on-topic], you "Should include research: What ideas have you considered, or what information have you already looked at or failed to find?" – JBH Jun 02 '22 at 03:10
  • I have noticed something rather interesting. None of Robert's tags existed before this question was asked. Notice there is no wiki for any of them and they all only have one question: this one. – Dopplegamer Jun 02 '22 at 03:57
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    @Dopplegamer That was a good catch. While I could accept [tag:pressure], the tag [tag:high] is too vague to be practical. [tag:cadaver] is almost useless from a worldbuilding perspective. I'll update those. – JBH Jun 02 '22 at 04:22

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The main issue is not the absolute pressure, but the pressure differential: have you ever experienced ear pain when diving or during an airplane landing? That pain is not caused by the pressure, but by the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the ear.

Likewise, if the entire body is exposed to the same pressure, it won't be greatly affected, except for the part containing gases, which will experience a contraction (because the compressed gas will reduce its volume): so lungs and bowels will collapse under the increased pressure, while all the rest containing liquid will just adapt to the change of volume produced by the above.

L.Dutch
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  • What if instead the dead body is exposed to the pressure of cramming for the bar exam with just 48 hours left to go? – John O Jun 02 '22 at 18:25