Bill Nye and Newton's Third Law

[Mellonikus]

And in conclusion audience, bow ties are cool.

[ZephyrEcho]

You know what?

When he asked for the Instant Replay with the pudding balloon he looked JUST like Christian Bale in American Psycho.

[VoltageTHD]

Ether way it can = Death

[Polydynamix]

he was dying out there, man I feel bad for him.

[DrMrSuperAwesomeGuy]

His head is so round.

[ShrubBuddy420]

For everyone having trouble understanding the concept:

Newton's third law is basically for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When the two cars were both going at 50 Mph they would have the same force as a car going 50 mph into a brick wall because when the car hits the wall, the wall is also exerting force onto the car that is equal to the force the wall receives. So basically a car going 100 mph into a brick wall would have twice the force of the two cars going at 50 mph.

[ShrubBuddy420]

@ShrubBuddy420

I am not sure if it its actually twice the force. Could someone get back to me on this? Thanks.

[Rastamanchanter]

the hell is he saying ! they will exert the same force LOL hitting oncoming cars at 50 mi/hr doing 50 mi/hr is the same as hitting a brick wall at 100 milies an hour ... head ons are by far the worst kinda car accident for this reason ... it dosen't make a difference how well you have car absorbing damage ... bill play bumper cars and test your theroy out ... you will find the hardest hit possible is a head on ... double your speed and smash into a wall same thing :)

[xmbomagic]

@Rastamanchanter Also, the myht busters tested it, the 50 was much less damage.

[TheW900Kenworth]

I dont understand why they didnt cleary explain the finished results and physics of the experiment...and why exactly you should run into the oncoming traffic instead of hitting the brick wall????

[SpongeBobExtreme]

@TheW900Kenworth If i understood it correctly, i believe that if you hit a wall the energy let's say is 4, because the wall is not moving or anything, but if you collide with an other car the energy will be shared equally between those two objects, since they are moving.towards each other at the same rate of speed. So one car gets 2 and other gets 2.

[CWizzleFashizzle]

but then you have a chance of killing the people in the other car

[TheNdoki]

So the best option would be instead of killing yourself against a wall, to endanger another person's life while killing yourself? I guess being drunk doesn't impair your judgement...

[thesourceofx]

Just wanted to say: the mythbusters weren't wrong; the revisit was incorrect because it was testing a different thing. In the original, one car was hit by 2 going 50 MPH. In the revisit 2 cars hit each other going 50. Jamie was correct that the original setup was equivalent to one car hitting a wall at 100, if that car was the one between the trucks. The trucks, like the two cars in the revisit, would only experience a crash at 50.

[thelostsoul4evr]

more entertaining than educational

[helianimal]

@lazersmel - I had to comment on this. I see where you're coming from but this is highly flawed. With you logic, if a car going 50mph hits a car standing still, the damage would be exactly the same as if BOTH cars were traveling 50mph during impact. One car is going from 50-0 both times, surely you don't think the damage would be equal. The car going 0 didn't have to decelerate at all. It's directly related to how much energy there is total & where is that energy going to go?

[J3zzaE]

@helianimal The 'damage' is related to the force, which is related to the change in momentum. If a car at 50mph hit a stationary car, it wouldn't just 'stop', it would push the other car. Assuming cars had equal weight, half the damage would be given to each car (50 -> 25 for one and 0 -> -25 the other). With two cars moving at 50, it is again equally split between the two, but since there is twice as much force to split, there is twice the damage (from 50 -> 0 for both).

[DeathhoundVideos]

that was hilarious :P

[ijr1995]

he looks like a monk or a preist.....the guy at the beginning lol

[maetar]

any other 90's kids having an emotional moment right now? I sure am.

[LockedHeart1]

"Thought of crossing the center line and finding out?" ....OFTEN thought of crossing the center line and...FINDING OUT?! This guy doesnt need Bill Nye he needs House! The man is sick!

[jampk24]

lol wait so they suggest endangering another human in order to decrease your chance of becoming pudding?

[Moongazerr]

I thought it is steve jobs

[nigageturown]

i wish i had those goggles:(.

[CrappyBirdie]

bill is beast!

[martinbondesson]

Tough crowd. Bill Nye is hilarious.

[ZJP]

Phonemail?

[GAMESTOPxLOVER]

save yourself just hit someone lol

[SPYK3O]

I don't understand. Two cars, each moving 50mph hit each other heat on. The relative velocity is 100mph. One car going 100mph hitting the same car sitting still also has a relative velocity of 100mph. They both have the same kinetic energy. I'm not saying the idea is wrong, but Bill Nye's explanation doesn't hold water.

[matics19]

@SPYK3O The difference is that the brick wall is considered "indestructable" where the cars are designed to absorb impacts in a crash.

The thinking behind Bill's logic is that if you were to run your vehicle into a brick wall at 100mph, the amount of energy that the car needs to absorb is greater since the brick wall doesn't absorb any of that energy. If it hit another car, then both vehicles would theoretically share in the distribution of energy. Hope that explains it!

[lazersmel]

@SPYK3O The other bit is that in one, YOU are moving at 100mph, and then rapidly go to 0mph, while in the other YOU are moving at 50mph, and then rapidly go to 0mph.

[iasedu]

@SPYK3O The relative velocities here are irrelevant, you have to calculate the kinetic energy of each object and then simulate where the energy is going. A 1400 kg car going into a brick will at 100 mph will have the kinetic energy of 1.4 MJ, all absorbed by the car and the driver. The same car at 50 mph will have 4 times less energy, i.e. 350 KJ -- 4 times less energy being absorbed into two cars of two drivers, that's only 175 KJ per car instead of 1400 kJ on one.

[UCMolosser]

@iasedu You have one tiny error. Each car will have 350 kJ so you'll have a total K of 700 kJ. Same conclusion though, 350 kJ for each car to absorb rather than 1400 kJ.

[shagoosty]

Bow Ties are cool.

[vidgamer4321]

Explanation for anything: It's okay, it's science.

[BlueRice]

this episode is funny

[LaggasaurusRex]

"Furthering the advancement of the scientific field of knowledge of all endevours."

[tweak666616]

bill nye is brilliant

[TheBinglebottom]

But in real life you won't have any brick walls as thick as the car itself.

[dobbythe1st]

lol! ;'D is he saying that kinetic energy equal GPE? he explains it so fast! xD

[21TheTrooper21]

wow and to think this video was actually going to help me with my physics test tm -_-

[RainaNumberTwo]

@21TheTrooper21 HAH same reason i'm here

[ThePatcam]

awkward reference to suicide attempts in the beginning

[2011paul1999]

myth buster did it

[KarateKidX]

This is a trick question, the brick wall is not going to move away with you once you hit it.

Now, If you replaced the brick wall with a stationary car, then the collision would be the same

[IIIB52]

@KarateKidX This is true and thank you for my saved hours of wasted time over this

[SMGrawks]

I have no idea what is going on.

[randomgalore]

@SMGrawks thats sad

[extremepietbh]

amazing!

[SuicidalMickeyMouse3]

If it wasn't for Bill Nye I would fail science :P

[Tamuz95]

wait couldnt the outcome change depending on what's inside

[GeorgeBuford]

@Tamuz95 - I believe that is called a "controlled variable" - but if you are volunteering... :-)

"Remember kids, you can learn a lot from a dummy."

- crash test dummy commercial circa 1980...