Preparation

Collect any tools you have that you might use under normal circumstances to:

  1. cut a wire, or
  2. pry two things apart (for example, open a jammed door)

The metric is whether you, personally would use this tool under a normal (e.g. not an emergency) situation to accomplish the stated task. It does not matter whether the tool is intended for the task. In some situations, this may include tools such as cat/dog nail clippers, chisels, or wire strippers.

Note

If you like to improvise, then for the purposes of this study, please don’t include things like rocks or teeth (both examples from a friend) - pretend you’re a sensible person and not an engineer in a hurry.

It is fine to only measure available or easily located tools - this is an estimation task. Figure 1 shows tools which might be used for each of the two tasks.

Tools used to cut wires

Tools used for prying
Figure 1: Assembled tools used for prying and cutting.