VAMPIRES: a math horror story

You will find TWILIGHT TV series Math here.

Fang It to Me: Twilight Maths

Twilight, Stephanie Meyers vampire- romance book and film series, is a world phenomenon. Seventeen year old HIgh School student, Isabella “Bella” Swan, falls in love with Edward Cullen (Left), a vampire. But the Cullen family are ethical vampires. Though attracted to human blood; they live on the ethical alternative of animal blood. So here is the question mathspigs:

‘How much animal blood does a young male Vampire need to survive? 

First we’ll collect some data. We’ll assume Edward needs the same daily intake of calories as a young human male. According to the Free Library Online article, Best Food for Young Athletes, young males between 14 – 18 years of age need 3,200 Calories per day. We’ll assume Edward needs 3,000 Calories a day.

 How many Calories in Blood?

 The Mayoclinic explains that 1 pint of human blood contains 650 Calories. So if you donate a pint of blood you lose 650 calories. Blood donation is not, however, a desirable weight loss program. If Edward drank human blood he would need

3,000/ 650 =  4.6 pints a day.

Note: There is great confusion on the Web about calories as the upper case ‘C’ stands for kilo in USA and is often ignored:

1 Calorie = 1 kilocalorie = 1,000 calories

 But Edward has a taste for Mountain Lions (Below).  How many Mountain Lions would he need to suck on a day??????? Dr Carlisle Cullen (Right), on the other hand, prefers deer. While Emmett Cullen has a taste for the blood of Gizzly Bears(Below). As Edward, Carlisle and Emmett cannot always sink their fangs into their favourite furry food here  is some information about a range of possible Vampire Snacks.

Mountain Lion

Weight Range 75 – 275 lbs = 34 – 125 kg

Mid range Weight = 80kg

 

Gizzly Bear  Male

Weight Range = 180 – 360 kg

Mid range weight = 170kg

 Deer

Weight Range = 100 – 350 lbs = 45 -160 kg

Mid range weight approx = 100 kg

Barn Owl

Weight = 0.45 kg

Cow

Weight Range = 1,500 lbs = approx 680 kg

Mid range weight approx = 100 kg

Shih Tzu

Weight Range = 9 – 16 lb = 4 – 7.2 kg

mid weight = approx 5.5 kg

Fat Cat

Weight = 18 lbs = 8 kg

Koala

Weight range = 7.5 – 11 kg

Mid range weight = approx 9 kg

Note: In the following calculations we will use a mid range weight for each animal snack and assume Edward can suck out it’s entire blood supply.  So Edward can empty an ocelot or koala (He might visit Australia one day and he’d be hungry!!!!) The weight of blood (Bwt)in an animal is 7% of the Animal’s Body Weight (Awt). This information comes from Animal Physiology Maths Questions. . Keep in mind if the answer is less than 1 the snack will last Edward several days. You can work out how many…… think about it.

Ocelot

Weight = 10.5 kg

Coyote

Weight = 12.7 kg

Alright Mathspig will tell you the typical weight of a pig with great reluctance. It is 110kg. But just to wet your appetite here is a little Vampire Snack I prepared earlier.

Edward would need to consume 13 Chihuahuas a day.

Run, Tinkerbelle, run!!! (That’s Paris Hilton’s dog)

Braindead Maths I: Fake Blood!!!!

Gather round mathspigs. Films are fiction. Surprise! Surpise!  The blood used in horror films is, obviously, fake. Do film directors use realistic amounts of blood or do they throw buckets full of fake blood into horror scenes for effect?   Here according to online fanzine (ie.slightly iffy sources) are the amounts of Fake Blood used in some films:

Kill Bill II    380 litres

Bride of Chucky :  433 litres

Freddy Vs Jason: 1,300 litres

A Nightmare on Elm St :  1893 litres

30 Days of NIght  6,000 litres

Braindead:  19,000+litres

 The 1997 film, Braindead, by Peter Jackson is Rated R in Australia. It has one of the most bizarre film summaries you might read: ‘A young man’s mother is bitten by a  Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.’ The rampant killing and  eating of dogs and nurses seems a rather random concept. The fake blood usage in this Super B Grade horror flick came with the ‘killing’ of Zombies with a lawn  mower. Actors in the film say that 300litres of Fake Blood were used in this scene.

Whereas Tarantino was quite modest with Fake Blood use in Kill Bill II. Being a connoisseur of Fake Blood he used several types in the film ranging from good splatter to free flowing blood. According to one fanzine, in this film, Uma Thurman killed 88 opponents with a sword.

Humans contain around 5 litres of blood and the heart pumps approx 5 litres per minute of blood around the body.

Accordingto New Scientist loss of blood produces the following symptoms:

0.75 litre:   feel blood loss

1.5 litre: weak, thirsty & anxious

2 litre : dizzy, unconscious

3 litre: Dead

   Zere Iz BLOOD on Ze  Mathz Bookz, Dracula! So now We do Ze mathz, Igor!

How long does it take to bleed to death (assuming a severe wound)? This is the GET REAL calculation.

If fictional characters die after losing 3 litres of blood (ie. heart has stopped pumping) how many characters have died in the films above (ie. assuming no survivors)?

Finally, if 1 litre of blood could fit in a box 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm and you could pour FAke Blood onto a Soccer Field measuring 46m x 100m, work out how deep the Field of Fake  Blood  would be for each film. Thiz iz a totally pointlezz mathz, Dracula. Yez, Igor. But I like it!!!!!

One more quick calculation. What is the volume of an Olympic sized swimming pool?  Look it up. Assuming Trantino uses 380 litres of Fake Blood per film, how many Kill Bill films  would he have to make to use up an Olympic Swimming pool of FAke Blood???? Ha! Ha ! Ha! Ve are not nice, Igor!!!!! Can I zwim in it,Dracula???????

For Fake Blood Recipes for Twilight fans or Teen Vampires: #mce_temp_url#