The latest King Kong movie came out on tv for the first time yesterday. Although I find the story rather absurd and ridiculous, I sat down to watch it anyway and was amazed by the great graphics, some of which utterly failed to follow the laws of physics …and biology (I couldn’t help but wonder how Naomi Watts managed to survive the swings and falls without some serious internal injuries). However, I did note some great forces at work including during the scene where two T-Rex’s, King King, and Naomi all hang onto dear life, suspended from giant vines. In review (going back to the beginning of the year), I realized that this was an excellent example of tension.
The weight of the monkey is equivalent to the x-tensions on the vine.
Some of the vines also acted as a spring would, stretching to accommodate the weight of King Kong. Considering hook’s law: Fs = − kx, such a spring must have a pretty big spring constant to be able to support the giant ape’s mass without snapping.
There were plenty of other physics concepts throughout the movie as well. Static friction is a big part: People just couldn’t seem to be able to keep upright. Kinetic friction too: A lot of poor soldiers died sliding off the side of a cliff. And of course, the huge beasts themselves could put quite a lot of force behind their punches and kicks, being rather massive creatures. I though the King Kong could be very good review for any of Newton’s laws.
