This has become a horror picture, hasn’t it? So someone’s got to pay the price, right?
Horror or humor? Which suits the comic best? Hmm…
This has become a horror picture, hasn’t it? So someone’s got to pay the price, right?
Horror or humor? Which suits the comic best? Hmm…
Newton’s size is actually to his advantage, to a degree, as is the fact that he was airborne at the time of impact. Low mass = low inertia, which means less smashing, and more getting pushed away. It’s like trying to swat a fly in mid-air–no matter how hard you swing, you’re not going to do much more than knock it for a loop.
Newton’s more massive than a fly, but he still has to be pretty light, so it would be unlikely for the impacts to do much damage. I wouldn’t count him out just yet.
Of course that WAS a solid wall he hit. That’s got to up the impact force.
And I haven’t put any thought at all into what the fairies weigh. 2 pounds? 5?
The impact energy is still a function of his mass. Assuming he slowed down only negligibly in flight, it would have been equivalent to getting punched again, equally hard.
Average weight for a housecat is ~9 to 11 pounds. Key doesn’t appear to be an especially large cat; let’s say he weighs 10 pounds. The faeries are much, much smaller–Newton, from head to toe, appears to be about the same length as Key’s body from neck to base of tail, but he’s much thinner (no more than a quarter of Key’s average girth). Once you factor in Key’s head and limbs, it seems unlikely that Newton would weigh more than 1/8 as much as Key (1.3 pounds). I’d guess his actual weight at under a pound, even if he doesn’t have flight adaptations like hollow bones.
If you want to get some idea of what the impact is like, get something that weighs about a pound–maybe a small bag of rice or sugar–hold it in the air and punch it. (It might be best to try this outside, come to think of it.) The impact you feel on your fist should be roughly what Newton experienced twice in quick succession over a large portion of his body.
At this point, I feel I must point out that we’re discussing Newtonian physics. 😀
Indeed we are! And that’s awesome.
There’s still one factor you’re not accounting for, and one which isn’t plot-centric, really. You haven’t accounted for the speed and density properties of the witch’s hand. Depending on those factors Newton could have picked up a lot of kinetic energy in that hit (on both ends).
Still, your calculation regarding Newton’s mass will stand. I agree with it. Though there’s clearly a non-newtonian function in the fairies in that they can fly on essentially gossamer wings and, well, you’ll see more tomorrow.
Newton vs. physics force explainations = Punwin