Máis vale tarde que nunca, pero aínda así, quero pedir disculpas os meus fieis seguidores que sei que levan esperando una entrada nova dende a anterior. O dito, chegou a hora!
O coco e un fruto exótico, asociado en numerosas ocasións co paraiso e praias de ensoño. E podo confirmar que a esa visión non lle falta razón. No meu paso por filipinas, puiden disfrutar de fermosas paisaxes cheas de palmeiras e cocos, ademáis de disfrutar da súa refrescante auga directamente dun coco aberto diante de min neses días máis soleados. E foi ahí, nese preciso instante no que agarrei por primeira vez un coco cheo cando dinme conta canto carallo pesa. E de dicir que perdín parte do meu poderoso e temible biceps pola pouca enerxía que aporta a comida asiática, pero beber dun coco é definitivamente unha tarea cansada. Enton, coa mirada perdida máis alá do infinito máis lonxe, a maquinaria ata entonces pouco carburada do meu cerebro comezou a funcionar grazas ó potasio do coco.
Ese coco que sostiña no brazo, debía pesar aproximadamente 1,456kg e as palmeiras do meu arredor debían medir sobre 20 metros. E pregunteime, se este carallo me caera na cabeza, estouparíame como unha sandia dende un segundo piso? Cun pouco mais de información podería facer uns cómputos racanudos. Enton:
Peso medio do coco: 680g.
Peso máximo do coco: 2.5kg (por curiosidade, pero faremos os cálculos co peso medio).
Auga dentro do coco: 300ml-1L.
Medida do coco: 38cm alto, 30cm ancho.
Altura media da palmeira: 15-18m.
Altura máxima da palmeira: 30m.
Unha palmeira adulta produce entre 50 e 200 cocos o ano.
Polo tanto, un coco precipitado dende unha altura de 16,5m chegaría a miña cabeza despois de tan só 1,728s e cunha velocidade de 61Km/h.
Escalofriante, apocalíptico!
Pero non nos quedemos ahí, con que enerxía golpearía o craneo?
Tendo o coco unha forza instantánea de 6,67N a potencia o golpear o craneo sería de 113W. Mentres que a presión (a cal dependería moito da forma do coco) sería de 635 Pa (tendo en conta unha superficie de golpeo do 10% da anchura do coco).
Por drámaticos que poidan parecer estes cálculos, a tensión de rotura dunha costilla humana sitúase en torno ós 130MPa (habendo variacións según o especimen humano). Polo tanto... NON, o craneo humano non estouparía coma o dedo dun valencián nas fallas. Pero, non poderíamos estar seguros que o golpe e a conmoción asociada poida ser fatal ou deixar secuelas permanentes.
Deixando ó lado estes maravillosos cálculos, temos que en 1984, un estudio (Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts) falaba dos perigos que se esconden baixo a apacible sombra dunha palmeira. Este estudio gañou importancia en 2002 cando Michael Perkins (experto de fama mundial en tiburóns) asegurou que os cocos eran moito máis mortais cos tiburóns, tendo estes últimos unha tasa de 5 mortes ó ano. Michael aseguraba que os cocos producían 150 mortes no mesmo espacio temporal. Isto causou temor e pánico en todo o mundo: en Australia taláronse palmeiras en próximas ás praias e o prestixioso periódico Boston Herald titulóu de "the killer fruit" os cocos. A continuación presento unha lista cos feitos máis soados.
- In February 1985, The New York Times reported on the hazards posed by coconut trees and noted that "falling coconuts could strike a person on the ground with a force of almost 2,000 pounds [8,900 N]."[17]
- In August 2001, the Toledo Blade reported that "a check with the experts" found that a human was more likely to be killed by a pig or a falling coconut than by "a shark on the prowl for dinner."[18]
- In February 2002, The Daily Telegraph reported that coconut trees were being removed from beaches in Queensland, Australia, to guard against "death by coconut."[19]
- In April 2002, the Boston Herald ran an op-ed piece titled "Travelers should watch out for coconuts – the killer fruit." The piece reported on the removal of palm trees bearing coconuts in Queensland and noted that local officials were "advising campers not to pitch their tents under coconut trees."[4]
- In June 2002, The New York Times reported Burgess' claim that "the chances of being killed by a shark are less than those of being killed by a coconut that falls from a tree."[20]
- In March 2003, The Morning Call in Pennsylvania reported, "You are 30 times more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than by a shark."[21]
- In July 2005, Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times cited a 2001 report from the London Times for the proposition that, "You're more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than a shark."[22]
- In February 2009, CBS News reported: "You have a better chance of being killed by a falling coconut than by a shark."[23]
- Following shark sightings off the Massachusetts coast, The Boston Globe in September 2009 quoted a local resident as saying, "You're less likely to get killed by a shark than by a coconut falling on your head."[24]
- In November 2010, The Guardian reported that the Indian government removed coconuts from the trees at Mumbai's Gandhi museum "for fear that a nut would descend on to the head of President Obama" who had recently visited the city. The article cited the Barss study and observed: "Thanks to Indian officials and perhaps also to Barss, Obama's recent visit to Mumbai was devoid of coconut trauma."[25]
- In October 2011, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a story in which Christopher Neff from the University of Sydney claimed that "while people may not pay attention to the statistics, you are more likely to be killed by a coconut than eaten by a shark."[26]
Mentres tanto, éstas son algunhas das drámaticas pérdidas sufridas debido á froita da morte:
- In approximately 1777, King Tetui of Mangaia in the Cook Islands had a concubine who died after being struck by "a falling green nut"[5]
- In 1833, four people died from falling coconuts on the island of Ceylon[28]
- In January 1943, a U.S. Marine was killed in his sleep when struck in the head by a falling coconut near Henderson Field on Guadalcanal[29]
- On 26 August 1952, a seven-month-old baby died when it was struck in the head by a coconut while being held by its mother in Singapore[30]
- In 1966, a resident of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, was killed while eating lunch beneath a coconut tree when struck in the face by a falling coconut[31]
- In July 1973, a two-year-old girl was killed, and her aunt injured, during a family picnic at Kapiolani Beach Center near Diamond Head, Hawaii, when a cluster of 57 coconuts weighing more than 100 pounds fell from a tree.[32] The incident was "Hawaii's first recorded fatality from falling coconuts."[33]
- In November 1991, a mourner was killed by a falling coconut while attending a funeral at a cemetery in southern Sri Lanka[34]
- On 17 January 1995, in Kota Baru, Malaysia, Mat Hussin Sulaiman, 76, was killed when the monkey he used to pick coconuts from trees hurled a coconut, splitting his owner's skull open[35]
- In April 2001, a resident of Vanuatu was killed by a falling coconut while seeking shelter from adverse weather conditions relating to Cyclone Sose[36]
- On 15 August 2001, in Kampung Tanjung Badang, Malaysia, Mamat Kundur, age 59, was killed when a monkey used to harvest coconuts from trees dropped a coconut on his head[37]
- On 1 August 2002, in Raub, Pahang, Malaysia, 6-month-old Nurul Emilia Zulaika Nasaruddin, died after a coconut fell into the child's crib and struck the child[38]
- On 22 September 2003, in Raub, Pahang, Malaysia, Deraman Ghomat, 65, was waiting to catch a bus, the wind became stronger and it started to rain just before a coconut fell[39]
- In March 2009, 48-year-old Luelit Janchoom, in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province of Thailand, was killed when a monkey used to harvest coconuts furiously kicked them down to his master, hitting his head[40]
- In May 2010, a one-and-a-half-month-old girl was killed when a falling coconut struck her in the head during a religious ceremony outside the family's home in Thiruvananthapuram, India[41]
- In August 2010, a 69-year-old man was killed by a coconut that fell out of a 12-meter (39 ft) palm tree as he sat in a rocking chair outside his home in Melgar, Colombia[42]
- In 2013, a man in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was killed after a coconut fell on his head[43]
Aínda que os estudios anteriormente mencionados, non puideron ser replicados, básanse en extrapolacións e créese que tan só se trata dunha lenda urbana, deberíamos ter presente esta información antes de colocar a toalla tan tranquilamente debaixo da atenta mirada do coco salvaxe. Mentres que todos sabemos que a morte se agacha en cada esquina, moi poucos sabemos que en realidade ela se atopa sobre as nosas cabezas.
Isto foi todo por hoxe amigos, espero que descansen a salvo a partir de agora.
Juan Novoa. Vietnam 14/01/201920.
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