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Brett Bailey
Period 6
4/4/16
Mr.Hill
Cartoon Physics
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XwR9uQZFSg
For my clip, I decided to take a part of the movie Fast and Furious 6, a movie with many
examples of broken physics. In the scene that I chose, there is an inelastic collision between one
character jumping off of a speeding car and flying across a bridge to catch another character who
is getting launched from a tank. The first thing to be noticed about this scene is how Vin Diesels
character, Dom, can catch a person flying off of a tank with a fairly fast speed while having his
speed remain constant before and after the catch and his original path unchanged after catching a
person with a different momentum who was perpendicular to him. This is simply against the Law
of Conservation of Momentum and what we know about Inelastic Collisions. In this clip, the
momentum of the woman being caught is completely disregarded and unconserved during and
after the collision. We know that in an inelastic collision, when two objects collide
perpendicularly, the two objects with different velocities will have a new final velocity with a
new and slower speed and a new path that will be closer to the direction that the object with the
largest momentum was headed in.
What would actually occur in this situation would be very different from what is seen in
the clip. Because of what we know about an inelastic collision, Doms original speed and path
would be changed a decent amount after catching the person flying from the tank. Since Dom
would most likely have a greater momentum because of his larger mass, the two objects will

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head in a path that is closer to where Dom is headed. The speed of the combined object would
be smaller after the two objects become combined and the total momentum is conserved.

Math:

It seems as though the two characters are moving at the same velocity, and its a fair assumption
to assume that they have different masses. I did some research by googling the weight of the two
actors. Vin Diesel, the man jumping off of the car has a mass around 100 kilograms, while
Michelle Rodriguez, the actress getting caught in mid-air while being launched off of a tank, has
a mass around 55 kilograms. Now, making the almost possible estimation of the launching
velocities, I estimated that the characters were flying around 10 meters per second after being
launched from their vehicles, excluding air resistance. This would make the momentum of the
first character 1000kg*m/s and the momentum of the second character 550kg*m/s. Turning this
into an inelastic collision problem, I used the formula (m1V1)+(m2V2)=(m1+m2)Vf. Since these
objects are coming together at a perpendicular direction, I had to use vectors to find the
estimated final velocity because the objects weren't moving in the same or exactly opposite

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directions. I created a right triangle with the adjacent side having a momentum of 1000kg*m/s
and the opposite side having 550kg*m/s going at a 90 degree angle from the perspective of Dom.
I used tangent to find the angle at which the objects will move at together after colliding, which
was about 29 degrees northeast of where Dom was headed, assuming he was headed exactly
north. Using the pythagorean theorem, I am able to figure out the final velocity of the two
objects. Using pythagorean theorem, then dividing by both the original masses combined, I am
able to find that two objects are moving together at 7.4m/s. Together, the velocity of these objects
would be 7.4m/s at 29 degrees northwest.

Simpsons Inertia

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This clip is a perfect example of broken physics. In this clip you can see Homer from the
Simpsons crashing a car into a tree. Although it seems as though he is fine after crashing, two
seconds later he flies through the window of the car after coming to a complete stop. This clip
breaks the law of Inertia, or Newtons first law of motion. This law states that an object in
motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This means that Homer
would have continued moving forward immediately after hitting the tree because of the direction
and speed he was headed in because of the car. Something engineers have done to counteract this
problem is to create seatbelts and airbags, to help stop the driver and passengers of the car from
moving forward after a collision. It is fair to assume that in this clip Homer does not have a
seatbelt on or airbags, as he still flies through the window two seconds after the inelastic
collision between the car and the tree. The tree in this situation would be an unbalanced force
stopping the car, but it only comes in contact with the car, and not the driver, causing the driver
to continue in the direction they were headed because of inertia. Another notable example of
broken physics in this clip is the way Homer flies out of the window. He flies out in a straight
line, not a parabolic arc, and drops straight to the ground while mid flight, again breaking inertia
and gravity as well.
If the laws of physics were actually being obeyed in this clip, the clip would look a lot different.
Homer would fly out of the window right after coming in contact with the tree because inertia
would keep his body going in the direction he were headed regardless of what happens to the car.
The windshield would likely slow his speed, or maybe even stop him from flying through as
well. Another thing that would happen in this clip if physics were being obeyed would be Homer
flying out of the window and completing an arc while he falls, continuing to get closer to the
ground as he continues to be launched.

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