Thirty-three months after the first vampire had their first bite, there are now four billion vampires - and somewhat fewer than four billion rather nervous humans remaining.Īnd bingo, 34 months, or less than three years after the first vampire had their hot first liquid meal, every human on the planet has been turned into a vampire. Twenty months gets us to half-a-million vampires, while 30 months has half-a-billion vampires roaming the planet looking for their next meal from a human. In the third and fourth months, we double and double again to four and then eight vampires.īy 10 months, there are 512 vampires. In the first month we start with one vampire - but in the second month we have two. Now let's make a very conservative assumption - let's assume that vampires need a feed only once every month. They plunge their fangs into the neck of a victim, who shortly joins them in the vampire club. Sadly, it might not enough time for the vampire to get a proper feed.īut there's another problem - what if there are no more humans left to bite! That's brief enough for the vampire to make a quick getaway before the hero arrives with a crucifix and garlic. (By the way, the reason that it takes longer at the blood bank to drain about half a litre of blood is that it's seeping from a vein at low pressure, rather than squirting from an artery at high pressure.)īut in the land of movies, the victim faints within a few seconds. Using these numbers, they came up with a time of 6.4 minutes to drain 0.75 litres of blood from the carotid artery. The students also assumed that the vampire's fangs made two tiny puncture holes each 0.5 millimetres across, and that the victim's blood would come out under a pressure of around 100 mm Hg. But the physics students probably figured that a bit more blood loss (15 per cent) combined with the shock of somebody else's canine teeth stabbing into the carotid artery in your neck would make you swoon. Now a typical and worthy blood donation is around 10 per cent of your blood volume. They assumed you would fall unconscious once you lost about 15 per cent of your blood. In 2016, a group of physics students from the University of Leicester in the UK worked out how long it would take an actual vampire to make a real person unconscious from a bite on the neck. But it was the 1897 novel, Dracula, by Bram Stoker, that seems to have started the modern European vampire character and subsequent vampire culture. Similar legends exist across Africa, both North and South America, and Asia. The ancient Persians, Babylonians, Hebrews, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans each had their own folklore about blood-guzzling demons and spirits. Legends of supernatural creatures that survived on the blood or flesh of the living have been around for thousands of years. Part of the unnatural process of the vampire getting their nourishing meal of blood is the victim falling unconscious - and being set on the pathway of becoming a vampire themselves. And second, if biting the victim turns them into a vampire - well, by now we should all be vampires.įor a vampire to survive, we're told they have to feed on the life essence of a living creature - usually their blood. And that's why I have to tell you that as far as vampires are concerned, the movies tell you two big lies about the bite.įirst, it would take more than just a few seconds for the victim to go unconscious. That's why Santa Claus, Jesus Christ, Sherlock Holmes and Dracula the vampire appear so frequently. When movie makers want to guarantee their investment, they'll pick an old favourite for the lead role. Dr Karl takes two big bites out of the legend. If you're a sucker for a good vampire movie, be warned. Audio: How long would it take a vampire to drain you of blood? (Science Online Audio).
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