Physicist Calculates Trajectory of Tiger At SF Zoo

KentuckyFC writes "Is it really possible for a 350-pound tiger to leap a 12.5-foot barrier from 33 feet away? (Said another way: a 159-kg tiger, a 3.8 m barrier, and 10 m away.) A physicist at Northeastern University has done the math, a straightforward problem in ballistics, and the answer turns out to be yes (abstract on the physics arXiv). But I guess we already knew that following the death of Carlos Souza at the paws of Tatiana, a Siberian Tiger he had allegedly been taunting at San Francisco zoo at the end of last year."

Comments

Never mind the physics

[ScentCone]

It's just nice to see that the zoo's kharma system was working. Unfortunately, someone meta-modded the tiger with a shotgun.

Re:Never mind the physics

[techpawn]

Exactly, the only math I would do if I saw a tiger attacking is:

1. The distance from me to the tiger
2. The distance from me to my car
3. The distance from me and some guy I can beat in my race between me and my car

Re:Hmm

[Smidge204]

Seriously, you'd think the people who designed the enclosure would know how to do that kind of math... or at least be smart enough to get a consult. I wonder how many aquarium designs they went through before they finally made one that held its contents properly...

=Smidge=

Prior Research

[ackthpt]

Is it really possible for a 350-pound tiger to leap a 12.5-foot barrier from 33 feet away?

All prior researchers have not returned from the jungle. Information is incomplete.

Another interesting calculation...

[SharpFang]

I did a similar calculation a while ago.

An object of 750kg can accelerate to 60km/h in 5 impulses (rapid pushes).
How far will an object of 75kg travel when one such impulse is applied at angle of 45 degrees upward?

The 750kg object is a horse. About 5 pushes of hind hooves are enough to reach the full speed.
The 75kg object is a human kicked by the horse (remaining motionless with a counter-push of front hooves).

The result was something like 30 meters. The damage was equivalent to fall from 6th floor.

And they tell us horses can't say "no" when they don't want sex.

Re:Wow, talk about an unsafe zoo!

[eln]

Unfortunately, the zoo made their initial estimates for the enclosure based on the ballistic characteristics of a Southern Asian tiger carrying a coconut, not an unladen Siberian tiger, so their calculations were off slightly.

Ob. Simpsons:

[Farmer Tim]

"Och, someone save me from the wee turtles! They were too fast for me!"

I'll wait for the Mythbusters segment on this

[sizzzzlerz]

before I finally decide.

Re:So he taunted... why difference does it make?

[eln]

I wouldn't mess with the turtles if I were you. While the tiger's retribution may be swift and deadly, the turtle is content to bide his time, and has a much colder, darker heart. Once you get on a turtle's bad side, your life will never be the same. The turtle will make the rest of your long life a living hell. A turtle is cold and evil, and he never forgets.

Re:Wow, talk about an unsafe zoo!

[Jamu]

They did, unfortunately the calculations were only accurate for spherical tigers leaping in a vacuum.

Wait a dog gone minute!

[GodfatherofSoul]

I took engineering physics in college, and from what I recall all formulas only worked on massless, frictionless systems and didn't account for air resistance. Now, how the hell did a physicist crunch these numbers?

Staying on that theme...

[N Monkey]

Unfortunately, the zoo made their initial estimates for the enclosure based on the ballistic characteristics of a Southern Asian tiger carrying a coconut, not an unladen Siberian tiger, so their calculations were off slightly

Now jump that fence or I shall taunt you a second time.

Re:the tiger had superior knowledge of the situati

[Speare]

Hah, I like your "more tigers = fewer jackasses" concept. Except...

First, they leapt for the jackasses; I feared not for I was not a jackasss.
Next, they leapt for the lame and wounded; I feared not for I was not hurt.
Next, they leapt for the young and tender; I feared not...

First order approximation...

[kybred]

Assume a spherical tiger in a vacuum...

Re:Lateral velocity != jumping velocity

[Ford Prefect]

Pah! Using imperial unit to do the calculation was a dead give-away. Real physicists use CGS.

Actually, they use SI. CGS is deprecated, but still appears in lots of older papers, textbooks and the like. Multiple metric systems? The horror!

(Although some would argue that realer physicists just use electronvolts, the speed of light and the Planck constant for everything. Even in situations that don't appreciate it, like tiger attacks. Consider a tiger of mass 8.92*10^37 eV...)

Re:Hmm

[somersault]

I guess we all know what to pack next time we go to the zoo then.

"What's in that case sir?"

"Oh it's just my photography equipment. I have a very high long zoom lens for, uh .. shooting *cough* pictures of distant animals"

This just in - Stop the presses

[LrdDimwit]

Physicist conducts analysis, concludes that thing which already happened is theoretically possible.

Tigers acting like tigers

[billstewart]

There was a tiger attack at some animal park a decade or two ago, and some TV reporter asked the trainer whether they'd known the individual animal was dangerous before the attack. His reply was "Maam, they're tigers."

Or as a friend of mine commented, "If they were six-foot cuddly bunny-rabbits, we'd have called them bunny-rabbits, not tigers!"

Re:Hmm

[Nullav]

1) There are 6.5 billion people in the world. How many tigers are there?

And it's humanity's fault that tigers haven't evolved some sort of bulletproofing by now?