“Every cow who gives good service deserves a tip.”
– Bunk Strutts 2015
A 2005 study led by Margo Lillie, a zoologist at the University of British Columbia, concluded that tipping a cow would require an exertion of 2,910 newtons (654.2 lbf) of force, and is therefore impossible to accomplish by a single person. Her calculations found that it would take at least two people to apply enough force to push over a cow if the cow did not react and reorient its footing. If the cow did react, it would take at least four people to push it over. Lillie noted that cattle are well aware of their surroundings and are very difficult to surprise, due to excellent senses of both smell and hearing, but that according to laws of static physics, “two people might be able to tip a cow” if the cow were “tipped quickly—the cow’s centre of mass would have to be pushed over its hoof before the cow could react”. The Lillie Study has been replicated by other researchers, who confirmed that at least two to four people can, in fact, push over a cow.
Money quote: The Lillie Study has been replicated by other researchers, who confirmed that at least two to four people can, in fact, push over a cow.
I’m no rocket surgeon, but adolescence and alcohol are usually associated with stories of cow-tipping, and I imagine that Ms. Lillie and the other researchers who replicated the study had a blast that night.
[Explanatory graphic found here, study description from here, and trippytippy cows are here.]
Very cool audio/visual display of pendulum motion [via]. Visual demo of sound waves, mathematical sine wave congruences, electronics, physics, gravity, art and bowling all in one. Surprising stuff happens about 1:00 in. There’s medical info in the video as well – one of the kids has whooping cough. I haven’t heard that sound since I was in 3rd grade. [A screencap of the video is the source of the top image.]
The lesson here is that if you drink lamp oil, rubbing alcohol, vegetable oil, water, dish soap and milk, and eat a ping pong ball, a bottle cap, beads and a cherry tomato YOU DIE.
Let’s get this one out of the way first. State of the art physics demonstration explores and remedies a common benign malady known as “poop splash.” [via].
Leave It To Beaver Beaver Beaver…
The Ramones’ “She’s The One.” Great stuff. I never understood why they never had a top 40 hit.