Zombie Fuel.

Zomg Okay

southcentralts wrote: »

the bog would be a good place for preservation but would a zombie not use up all energy trying to escape?
*going outside to build a quicksand trap all around my house*

A zombie doesn't have to consider "energy". A zombie is a mindless machine, it does not tire. It will continue on until it is destroyed.

Of course, it could destroy itself or damage itself enough to prevent it being a threat if it escaped. But it wouldn't run out of energy.

southcentralts

Zomg Okay wrote: »

A zombie doesn't have to consider "energy". A zombie is a mindless machine, it does not tire. It will continue on until it is destroyed.

Of course, it could destroy itself or damage itself enough to prevent it being a threat if it escaped. But it wouldn't run out of energy.

Well that is the whole topic of this thread but are you basing this on any particular film or book?

In my opinion violating the laws of physics would have a much bigger impact than simply the dead rising. Zombies need to be powered by something, be it voodoo, anaerobic digestion or well whatever the T-virus used for fuel.

BigDuffman

Zomg Okay wrote: »

A zombie doesn't have to consider "energy". A zombie is a mindless machine, it does not tire. It will continue on until it is destroyed.

Of course, it could destroy itself or damage itself enough to prevent it being a threat if it escaped. But it wouldn't run out of energy.

Not exactly true. All movements require energy. Your muscles need various sources of energy ATP, glycogen etc. that need to be refueled after use. A mindless machine or not something is needed to fuel contraction of skeletal muscle eg. walking. Z's won't be getting any glycogen in as part of their "diet", there is a very limited supply in the body once this is gone its gone.

A zombies body would enter a catabolic state fairly quickly. Particularly rage z's, which would quickly become shufflers, then crawlers, then em...lie stillers. When the Z's body is catabolic the muscle tissue will be breaking down constantly without being rebuilt by relevant nutrients. Which will result in huge degradation of muscle mass and wastage. Over a few months they will be shambling skeletons.

As other posters have stated however Z's may go dormant. How they can then wake up to a stimulus is beyond me.

And thats without even considering decomposition!

Zomg Okay

I stand corrected then.

Gandalph

Such a complicated discussion even phd students in biology or physics would have trouble with, There is probably a scientific counter argument for every point made! I honestly cant see them living for 5 years + though like I thought I see someone say, sure it only takes a year for a body to fully decompose in a coffin doesnt it? I am not really informed on science but I think if you take into account oxidation (am I using the right word?) in the air and wearing away from friction of shuffling about or touching off things then it might quicken the process.

ScumLord

Gandalph wrote: »

Such a complicated discussion even phd students in biology or physics would have trouble with, There is probably a scientific counter argument for every point made! I honestly cant see them living for 5 years + though like I thought I see someone say, sure it only takes a year for a body to fully decompose in a coffin doesnt it? I am not really informed on science but I think if you take into account oxidation (am I using the right word?) in the air and wearing away from friction of shuffling about or touching off things then it might quicken the process.

I'd agree with you but the real thing that decomposes any body once it dies is the bacteria inside it. The bacteria in all our stomachs that helps us digest food all our lives doesn't die and keeps going turning on the body instead.

The zombie disease is toxic to all living creatures even bacteria so all those bacteria that would have begun the decomposition process die with the host. Wear and tear along with weathering will destroy the body eventually but it will take time. 5 years would probably be the maximum although I would see Ireland as a better environment for preserving zombies. The land is easy enough to traverse without injury, the rain will keep the zombie lubricated and protected from sunlight damage and there's very few animals that would even attempt to stand their ground against human or zombie.

Einhard

I set up another thread about this, but was re-directed here so I'll piggyback on the discussion.

Is it correct then, to state that zombies won't go shuffling along forever? That, should someone be lucky enough to survive the initial onslaught, and manage to hole up securely in some protected location, then they'd be theoretically able to get through the entire infestation?

ScumLord

Einhard wrote: »

I set up another thread about this, but was re-directed here so I'll piggyback on the discussion.

Is it correct then, to state that zombies won't go shuffling along forever? That, should someone be lucky enough to survive the initial onslaught, and manage to hole up securely in some protected location, then they'd be theoretically able to get through the entire infestation?

I'd say so. Nothing can last forever. The only way I could see a zombie lasting for decades or more is if it was preserved somehow. If it's on land or sea it's eventually going to be broken apart through weathering.

BigDuffman

Einhard wrote: »

Is it correct then, to state that zombies won't go shuffling along forever? That, should someone be lucky enough to survive the initial onslaught, and manage to hole up securely in some protected location, then they'd be theoretically able to get through the entire infestation?

No, they won't be shufflin forever. Imagine a person in a coma, even though they have effectively zero levels of activity. They waste away, muscle tissue starts degrading, organs fail etc. This is with a drip / being fed. A zombie would be Active as mentioned in other posts, their bodies would be in a catabolic state, breaking down quicker than if they were dormant (eg. comatose) on account of damages to muscle fiber that is not being rebuilt.

Take into account the effects of exposure and dehydration on the flesh / muscle. Their life span (or dead span) is limited.

But as previous poster mentioned. Buried in ice or slow they may last longer.

degrassinoel

slightly offtopic, but this is great reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile

ScumLord

BigDuffman wrote: »

No, they won't be shufflin forever. Imagine a person in a coma, even though they have effectively zero levels of activity. They waste away, muscle tissue starts degrading, organs fail etc. This is with a drip / being fed. A zombie would be Active as mentioned in other posts, their bodies would be in a catabolic state, breaking down quicker than if they were dormant (eg. comatose) on account of damages to muscle fiber that is not being rebuilt.

They may not break down quicker in the same way though. A person in a coma is still alive and the body is still administrating where it should be dedicating it's resources. Muscles get smaller because of non use, muscle fibres aren't replaced and the body conserves that energy because it sees no reason to replenish what it's not using. It's the living reaction of the body. That trigger wouldn't be present in zombies so the muscle wouldn't get bigger or smaller, they'd just tear apart.

Jason Todd

What if a zombie was to be completely unharmed, maybe it was originally infected by saliva or blood contamination, would that zombie then last longer unharmed than a zombie that maybe started to rot due to it's infection bite or some other wound?

Also, would how healthy the person was before zombification have an effect on it's preservation as a zombie or would the 'disease' affect all bodies the same way?

ChaseThisLight

Jason Todd wrote: »

What if a zombie was to be completely unharmed, maybe it was originally infected by saliva or blood contamination, would that zombie then last longer unharmed than a zombie that maybe started to rot due to it's infection bite or some other wound?

Also, would how healthy the person was before zombification have an effect on it's preservation as a zombie or would the 'disease' affect all bodies the same way?

I think no matter how healthy you may have been, or if your body was relatively unharmed in death/infection, the result would still be the same: you're going to be dead and rotting.

Also, what degrassinoel said in the other thread is true in a way...it does depend on the zombie. 28 Days Later zombies died of starvation because they were living zombies, humans infected with a virus that made them violent; they were never dead/undead and therefor needed to eat food to live. Romero's zombies do seem to have a slower decaying rate. But The Walking Dead has shown us zombies that have withered considerably (Bicycle Girl is one example).