physics

Half-hanging

Half-hanging is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Half-hanging rather than just read about it. In short: Half-hanging is a method of torture in which the victim is non-lethally hanged. The victim may be strangled to the point of unconsciousness, in which case they are revived.

Key takeaways

Half-hanging belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Half-hanging to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Half-hanging from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Half-hanging is a method of torture in which the victim is non-lethally hanged. The victim may be strangled to the point of unconsciousness, in which case they are revived.

Torture method The term has been applied to the first part of the medieval British capital punishment of being hanged, drawn and quartered. After the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the 17th century newspaper Mercurius Publicus described the punishment of regicide Thomas Scot "who last year publickly boasted that he was one of those that adjudg'd his late MAJESTY to death":he was half-hang’d, cut down, his Members cut off and burnt in his sight, his quarters were convey'd back upon the Hurdle that brought him to be dispos'd so far asunder, that they'll scarce ever meet in one Tomb. During the Irish Rebellion of 1798 against British rule in Ireland, government forces, in particular the militia and yeomanry, frequently used half-hanging against suspected rebels. A prominent victim of half-hanging was Anne Devlin, the housekeeper of rebel leader Robert Emmet. Half-hanging was also used against slaves in the United States, for example in Richmond, Virginia. In his 1849 narrative, Henry Box Brown recounts how, in the aftermath of Nat Turner's Rebellion, many slaves "found away from their quarters after dark...were suspended to some limb of a tree, with a rope about their necks, so adjusted as not to quite strangle them, and then they were pelted by the men and boys with rotten eggs."

Other applications In his 1728 pamphlet entitled Augusta Triumphans, Daniel Defoe uses the term to refer to erotic asphyxiation. He describes various forms of paraphilia being practised in London's Drury Lane area (the "hundreds of Drury"):many old lechers, beasts as they are! steal from their families, and seek these harlots' lurking holes, to practise their unaccountable schemes of new invented lewdnesses; some half hang themselves, others are whipped, some lie under a table and gnaw the bones that are thrown them, while others stand slaving among a parcel of drabs at a washing tub. Strange that the inclination should not die with the power, but that old fools should make themselves the prey and ridicule of a pack of strumpets!

See also Hanging Waterboarding John Smith (housebreaker), who earned the nickname Half-hanged Smith after surviving a sentence of hanging

References

Illustrations

Half-hanging: Half-hanging of United Irishmen by government forces in 1798. — Half-hanging of United Irishmen by government forces in 1798.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Half-hanging

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Half-hanging claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Half-hanging before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Half-hanging ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Half-hanging

In research: Half-hanging appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Half-hanging in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Half-hanging is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Corporal punishments, Hanging, Irish Rebellion of 1798, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Half-hanging outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Half-hanging in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Half-hanging means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Half-hanging out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Half-hanging in simple terms?

Half-hanging is a method of torture in which the victim is non-lethally hanged. The victim may be strangled to the point of unconsciousness, in which case they are revived.

Why does Half-hanging matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Half-hanging?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Half-hanging.