Australian Science Illustrated – Issue 51 2017

scienceillustrated.com.au | 51

In Game of Thrones, warlord Khal Drogo
agrees to give Viserys Targayen a gold
crown. The warlord melts gold jewellery
in a pot over a fire, pouring the molten
material over Viserys' head and making
him collapse.
In 1599, a Spanish governor in
Ecuador had molten gold poured into his
throat. In an experiment, scientists have
recreated the event, pouring 750 g of
molten, 450 °C hot lead – i.e. only half as
hot as molten gold – into the throat of a
dead cow. The larynx emitted large
quantities of vapour, when the lead was
poured, and in a matter of 10 seconds,
the lead hardened, blocking the larynx
completely. Before then, the pressure
and temperature of the body could easily

have been increased so intensely that

lungs and other organs are harmed and

could even burst.

How does

molten gold kill?

One of the most dramatic battle scenes in the series is when Gregor
Clegane, also known as the Mountain, crushes Prince Oberyn Martell’s
head with his bare hands, and turns a defeat into a draw.
The human skull is flexible, giving in to external influence to some
extent, but when the flexibility of the skull is exceeded, it fractures.
Scientists have studied skulls after traffic accidents, and even minor
fractures require a pressure of 2,300-5,000 newtons. The prince's cranium
walls were forced so hard against the brain that they collapsed. A man in
standing position can only produce a static pressure of 400-620 newtons –
and even an ordinary fracture would require 5-10 times as much. In the show, the Bolton family skins its
enemies alive, hanging them upside down
on crosses, so people can watch them die
slow and very painful deaths.
In the real world, skinning has also been
used against enemies. The custom can be
observed in reliefs, which portray the battle
of Ulai in 653 BC in what is now Iran. The
victim was kept alive for days, and death
was probably caused by loss of blood and
fluid, shock, body cooling, and infection.

Can a human crush another person's

skull with their bare hands?

Can humans be

skinned alive?

GOLD MELTING POINT VARIES

When liquid metal encounters the human body, pressure and
temperature increase so tremendously that organs could burst.

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Prince Oberyn suffers

an open fracture

of the skull.

The Boltons use the

"flayed man" as their banner

10 carat

881-891 °C

14 carat

829-874 °C

18 carat

915-963 °C

24 carat

1,063 °C

Molten gold is at least 881 °C hot, and

the heat will immediately harm the body.

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