Good Physics

1. When the toad jumped out of the train, it headed straight out as if it was
hanging in the air outside the window, and then quickly flew in the opposite
direction of train.
Explanation: The toad is originally travelling in the direction of the train.
When it jumps off from the window of the train, according to Newtons first law, the
toad in motion will continue to be in motion and travel in the direction of train with
the same speed.Therefore, the speed of the toad relative to the train is 0, creating the
image of the toad hanging in the air outside the train window. However, this image
will only remain for less than a second, and then the toad will seem to fly backward.
When the toad is in the air outside the train, it contacts with the air instead of the train.
The train engine no longer applies a force on the toad. Instead, the toad experiences
the friction force of air, causing it to slow down. Another reason for the toad to slow
down fast is its small inertia. Inertia is the property of matter that causes the toad to
resist changes in its originally motion, which is proportional to the toads mass. Also,
according to Newtons second law, F=ma, the acceleration is inversely proportional to
the mass. Since the toad is light, it has a lower capacity to maintain its speed, and a
higher negative acceleration , therefore, slowing down very fast. Now, the speed of
the toad relative to the train is negative, creating the image of the toad flying back.

Bad Physics
1. When Harry Potter burnt Voldemort with his hands, his hands did not
feel painful.
Explanation:

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

Directed by: Chris Columbus
Cast:
Daniel Radcliffe- Harry Potter
Emma Watson- Hermione Granger

Rupert Grint- Ron Weasley

Alan Rickman- Severus Snape
Tom Felton- Draco Malfoy
Robbie Coltrane- Rubeus Hagrid
Richard Harris- Albus Dumbledore
Maggie Smith- Professor Minerva
Bonnie Wright- Ginny Weasley

Plot: Harry Potter is an 11 year old boy who lives with his aunt and uncle
after his parents are killed in a car crash. On his eleventh birthday a
giant named Hagrid comes into Harrys life and says that he is a wizard.
On his way to Hogwarts( a school for wizards) he meets Ron weasley and
Hermione Granger who he befriends later on in the movie. Later, Harry
finds out that his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort but was
destroyed because his spell backfired. At Hogwarts Harry quickly becomes
enemies with Draco Malfoy and his friends. Harry gets sorted into the
Gryffindor house and later he and his friends suspect that Professor snape
wants to steal a stone that gives the user the ability to live forever. The trio
tries to stop Snape but ultimately find out that the culprit is Professor
Quirrell who is trying to resurrect Lord Voldemort. Surprisingly, Lord
Voldemort is resurrected in the back of Quirrells head under his turban.
Harry uses the love touch (a love-based protection from his mother for
which she sacrificed herself when Harry was a baby) to defeat Quirrell.
Finally, Harry and his friends are rewarded for their bravery and Harry
realizes that Hogwarts is where he truly belongs.

Good Physics: Sangeetha

Harry and his fellow students are learning how to use their broom sticks in this scene.
Everyone tries to beckon their broomstick to come. Hermione does not succeed. She tries to
get the broomstick to come to her but it ultimately ends up hitting Ron Weasley in the face
with a loud thwack! The sound is so loud you would think that the broomstick would break
Rons nose but it does not. Ron holds his nose for a second but then laughs it off. This is good

physics because it takes more force to break a nose then the force applied on Rons face by
the broomstick. This is proven in these calculations.
First we are going to use Newtons second law which gets you to the equation of Fnet=ma.
We are going to find the acceleration of the broomstick first.
First we must find the velocity of the broom stick.
Given:
t=.3 s approx
d= 1.4 m
The distance that the broomstick travels is determined by the height of the actor of Ron
Weasley (Rupert Grint). Rupert Grint was 13 years old when this movie was filmed. The
average height of a 13 year old boy is approx 160 cm or 1.6 m. The broomstick started off
from hovering above the ground by about 10 cm or 0.1 m. The broomstick travelled to his
nose so I found the height of the average forehead which is 8cm or .08 m. To find an
approximate distance, I subtracted the height of the forehead from 1.6m. From that, I
subtracted the height that the broom started from which was 0.1 m.
1.6-.1-.08= 1.42 m
The height the broomstick travels is approx 1.4 m
To find the velocity I use the equation v=d/t
V= 1.4 m /.3 s
V= 4.666 m/s
The velocity is approximately 4.7 m/s
To find the acceleration i use the equation: a= v/t
a= 4.7 m/s / .3s
a= 15.555 m/s2
Now we will use Newtons second law to find the net force.
I will assume that a magical broomstick is at least 10 kilograms for it to hold the weight of a
wizard but also be able to fly with ease.
Fnet=ma
Fnet= 10.0 kg * 15.6 m/s2
Fnet= 156 N
As we can see from the calculations above the net force applied on Rons nose is actually
relatively small which proves why he did not react to the broom hitting his face. The
amount of force needed to crack your nose is approximately 450 N according
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3242551/.
Compared to that amount 156 N is quite small.
That is why this is an example of physics because the directors did not injure Ron with such a
small force.
http://halls.md/chart-boys-height-w/

Bad Physics: Sangeetha

References
http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/6400-inertia-throwing-a-ball-off-of-amoving-train/