I would tie it around my hand tightly until it was sore. I would use the saw to cut the cord in half. I would tie the two halves into a whole. Then I would escape through the hole.
I would tie it around my hand tightly until it was sore. I would use the saw to cut the cord in half. I would tie the two halves into a whole. Then I would escape through the hole.
I would tie it around my hand tightly until it was sore. I would use the saw to cut the cord in half. I would tie the two halves into a whole. Then I would escape through the hole.
PDA1 Paracord has a maximum rated tensile strength of 550lbs... when you climb a rope (up or down) you create an additional dynamic force on top of your weight. Friction doesn't make a lick of difference, either, as the dynamic force (called "Shock Force") is substancially greater than 550lbs.
Let me put it this way: 30 feet of rope suspended at the top, with a climber weighing just 100lbs (and I'd hazard a guess that there's nobody in this forum weighing as little as 100lbs) has a "Shock Force" of 5.1kN (1147lbs), more than twice the maximum tensile strength of 550 Paracord.
Are you sure? Just climbing? I feel a Bcuk mythbuster episode coming on. Imagine the paracord suspended from a peak force meter. Hanging there it's 180lbs as I start to climb it's over 1800 lbs. Or 10 people on the other end of a pulley would be bouncing up and down..... And to generate that much force in the rope I would have to be able to albeit momentarily be able to pull one handed at that kind of force. Now if it was how much force when arresting a fall that might be different.
Thing is I and many others have climbed down and up 550 paracord because it's the kind of silly, dangerous things that people, who should know better, do when they are young. The distance from the fulcrum/anchor matters only in relation to the weight and dynamic properties of the rope ie. how much it stretches (and Paracord stretches a lot) of the rope you are gaining no mechanical advantage except in relation to knots as the lever is not rigid and there is no pulley multiplier. Yes the act of climbing or indeed pushing off will add forces but not 9 times your body weight. I weigh 180lbs and it didn't break. I would never ever recommend it as knotting is causing problems. I agree with terminal velocity falling or indeed even a very short fall being too much for paracord but since you need to fall well over 100m to reach 75% terminal velocity and nearly half a kilometer to get as close as you are going to get it would need a pretty long rope. That said 8 strands of 550 cord is more than enough for a terminal velocity fall and they do it every day.Shock Force increases the further away you are from its nearest point of anchorage to you. Think of it like a See-Saw, with the anchored side of the rope being the fulcrum. The force your mass exerts on that fulcrum increases the further away you are... much like how you can lift a greater weight with a lever (or see-saw) the further away you are from the fulcrum relative to the opposing load. In this case, the opposing load is nothing, and the most likely point of breakage (assuming a flawless length of cord) would be at that anchor.
The key is that the affect of your motion is what provides the additional force at the anchor point. Obviously your weight/mass remains constant, but in climbing up or down (or even just pushing away from the wall) you are adding more force acting against the anchor point. Believe it or not, the terminal force of a 100lb person falling (enough to achieve terminal velocity, of course) would be orders of magnitude greater than the typical Shock Force (we're talking TONS of force).
Bottom line is that if you strung a 30ft length of 550 Paracord and attempted to climb either up or down, it absolutely will snap. Braiding or otherwise entwining multiple lengths to form a single taught thicker length would of course improve your chances, but not as much as running multiple distinct strands each with their own independant anchors, and assuming that your rungs evenly distribute the force across all three strands, and so long as you don't fall and manage to grab hold of your three-length Paracord ladder on the way down.
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PDA1 Paracord has a maximum rated tensile strength of 550lbs... when you climb a rope (up or down) you create an additional dynamic force on top of your weight. Friction doesn't make a lick of difference, either, as the dynamic force (called "Shock Force") is substancially greater than 550lbs.
Let me put it this way: 30 feet of rope suspended at the top, with a climber weighing just 100lbs (and I'd hazard a guess that there's nobody in this forum weighing as little as 100lbs) has a "Shock Force" of 5.1kN (1147lbs), more than twice the maximum tensile strength of 550 Paracord.
This question, like "doing a Dick Proenekke" shows up with alarming regularity on forums, and they do my head in each time.
550 CORD IS NOT FOR CLIMBING/RAPPELLING!!!
In addition to that, did you imagine you are just going to hang on and lower yourself down hand over hand?
Static line=/= dynamic line, tying a knot in a line weakens it, shock load=/=static load, and lastly the longer the line, the less weight it can support vertically.
As general purpose cordage, don't expect 550 cord/paracord to be good for more than about 60-70lb of static load. Rappel rated rope is rated at 4500 lbs. of tensile strength and will stretch up to 1/3 it's length. Paracord isn't doing that.
Paracord rappelling is a recipe for suicide. It's just not cut out for that use. Instead, spend the money, get a proper harness, get proper rope, get proper carabiners and descenders and get proper training.
If you feel you might need emergency rappelling gear, get the proper gear and get the proper training!!!
But please stop harboring these ridiculous notions that you are going to climb out of a burning building with cord that is not suited to the purpose and that you'll rise to the occasion and just wing it.
Slightly random question, but how would you do it?
Lets say you're on the 3rd floor of a building and trapped in a room with fire a fire preventing your escape down the corridor. You have 100ft of proper 550 paracord and a pair of gloves to protect your hands. How do you escape safely?
Would you tie the cord to something and fast rope out the window (would it be thick enough to grip and not cut through your clothes)?
Or perhaps tie loops in the cord to make a ladder?
Or even a set of prusik knots or similar?
Apologies for my rambling thoughts and if this is in the wrong board!
Dan