Don’t miss the presentation by Joe Aspler, on zoom and on line right here, Feb 12, 13:00h
The Laws of Cartoon Physics and Chemistry
We live in a world of science. We also live in a world of cartoons. Naturally, cartoon creators have their own self-consistent rules of science. The best known: Wile E. Coyote runs into thin air, but only falls after he looks down. Another character is shot by a cannonball, but the perfectly circular hole in his middle heals rapidly with no aftereffects.
About 10 years ago, I gave a MonSFFA presentation on the Cartoon Laws of Physics. One of the flaws in the Cartoon Laws of Physics is … nothing has been said about chemistry. And so I’ve updated my old presentation with a proposal (possibly for the first time) that the famed Cartoon Laws of Physics should be supplemented by the Cartoon Laws of Chemistry.
Some of the Cartoons Laws of Science have been confirmed in real life, at least partially. One such case occurred during World War II, in the interaction between the British heavy cruiser HMS Sussex and a kamikaze pilot. The kamikaze lost.