motor man wrote:
A bear managed to bend a steel door to a food locker in Yosemite. The
door is hinged on one side and pinned on one corner ( the camper forgot
to close it properly!!) , so the bend is across the diagonal. I
wondered how much force the bear had to use to bend it. The doors are
about 24" square and about .1" thick.
Anyone have any ideas? My calculations based on sheet metal bending
formula come out to nearly 7000 pounds., and I do not think a bear can
have that much strength. I have a jpg of the
bent door if anyone would like to see.


I think the force number is for a small radius bend, while the bear was
not concerned with bend radius. Also if two guys could grip a door and
pull on it without cutting themselves[like if they had claws] I think
they could do a similar job