The debate burning its way through Twitter threads and lunchrooms right now is certainly a unique one: could 100 unarmed men win a fight against a silverback gorilla?

In short, the answer is obvious: absolutely not. 100 men is a lot of power and a lot of weight,  but they are pitted against a 500 pound ball of muscle and rage. With ridiculous strength and power in muscle, skin, and bone, there is no feasible way that 100 men could take down a gorilla. 

The argument for the men is simple, but is not well thought out. Yes, the men are nearly a combined 20,000 pounds, but there is no way that they could attack all at once due to overcrowding. The tallest wild gorillas are only around six feet tall, max. If we’re being generous, maybe 20 people can make contact at once, but they would not be able to do any reasonable damage to the ape. 

The proposed plans for the attack are something along the lines of grabbing the arms and pummeling the torso of the gorilla, but again, dimensional problems arise. If we continue to be generous, maybe five men could get on each arm. But still, five men is simply not enough to restrain the limbs of a gorilla. Scientists estimate that gorillas can move up to 4000 pounds. If you get the combined weight of five men on an arm, which is improbable at best, the gorilla doesn’t have to move that weight. It simply must maneuver or thrash its arm out of the hold so the men’s grip loosens and it can free itself. The men simply can’t restrain the gorilla. 

In the initial attack, the gorilla is sure to kill a couple dozen men before it is even slightly overwhelmed. During the inevitable rumble, the men’s strategy is contingent on pinning the gorilla down before the damage can be done, but I adamantly believe that is impossible. 

So with unrivaled muscle mass, thick skin, and ridiculous bone density, the gorilla couldn’t be overcome by the maximum number of men that could attack at once. Therefore, I don’t see any achievable way to defeat the great ape.