Newton’s
first law of motion, the law of inertia, is the principle that an object at
rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion at a constant speed
and the same direction unless acted on by an unbalanced force. This law is so elegantly simple and easy to recognize
in action that its violation stands out in films and television. It’s
interesting how often the law of inertia is violated in animation and how it’s
even encouraged to violate this law when learning the principles of animation. This
largely has to do with the fact that exaggeration can greatly enhance the
feeling and adds a visual “punch” to actions that could otherwise feel
underwhelming. Breaking this law also adds to the appeal and unique character
moments and attributes that make animation such an interesting medium for
storytelling. Some wonderful examples of the brilliant breakage of this law can
be seen in Looney Tunes when Road
Runner pulls his rapid direction changes and abrupt stops, when Dash from The Incredibles uses his speed to
perform death defying stunts on the ocean’s surface and when Pokemon’s Team Rocket gets launched into
the sky time and time again.
Road
Runner from the Looney tunes is a wickedly fast bird with a playful
disposition. Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner’s nemesis, is determined to catch the
bird for dinner through the use of elaborate traps but fails to get his hands
on a character that truly defies the laws of physics. Maybe this is why Wile E.
Coyote’s hunt is perpetually doomed. Road Runner’s body allows for some pretty
amazing things, many of which are a direct violation of the law of inertia. For
example, in the episode “Wild about Hurry” Wile E. Coyote places magnets under
a pile of bird seed in the middle of the road and waits off the curb with a
bomb attached to a magnet which he hopes will get pulled to the bird seed when
Road Runner arrives. When Roader Runner reaches the seeds he stops
instantaneously. Road Runner appears to go from about 70 mph to a complete stop
in zero time at all. This sort of motion isn’t possible because the law of
inertia states it would take an unbalanced force to stop a moving object. If
his deceleration were gradual and allowed for his body to make the proper speed
adjustments that would suffice but here his legs provide the unbalanced force
immediately. This should cause his legs to snap and the rest of his body to go
flying or for him to trip and roll quite a distance in reality. It’s wildly
impossible maneuvers like these that make this character so iconic and the law
of inertia gets abandoned with good reason.
Now
over to The Incredibles, a story
about a family of superheroes, we see many characters defy the law of inertia. My
favorite example of this can be seen with Dash, a boy with superhuman speed.
When Dash is being pursued through the jungle by Syndrome’s gang of dastardly
workers piloting hover disc crafts, Dash bolts away through the trees. This
entire chase sequence is ripe with moments where Dash defies Newton’s first
law. A good example is Dash’s ability to run across the surface of water. In
reality the law of inertia would have Dash sinking in the ocean because the
amount of force exerted by his feet slapping against the surface however fast
they may be, isn’t enough of an unbalanced force to suspend his body. If his
feet ever could produce a force capable of suspending him, that means his legs
would be slapping against the water at 67 miles per hour which is 15 times the
amount of force that our legs can withstand. Naturally, his legs would shatter
under such force. Even in the film his body mass would have him sinking in no
time because his legs aren’t moving at the required speed to keep from sinking.
Also in this sequence, Dash performs a similar move as the road runner being
able to change direction or spin around almost instantly. When Dash is cornered
on both sides in a tunnel-like cave on the water, Dash does a few 180 degree
spins without sinking. At his speed of about 60 miles per hour, the G forces
his body takes should kill him. He violates the law of inertia by changing his
direction 180 degrees and doing so with little force on his part. For that high
speed maneuver to be possible his legs would have to slap off the surface of
the water in the opposite direction with considerably more force than his
directional velocity. Unfortunately for Dash, his body wouldn’t be able to hold
up under such pressure.
In
the Pokemon series, Team Rocket are
the dastardly villains who are always after Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu.
Unfortunately for them, their plans always backfire and it usually ends with
them being hurled into the sky. A good example of how easy it is for this to
happen to them is in episode 52: Princess
Versus Princess when Lickitung, a large dog sized pokemon is sent rolling
into Team Rocket. When Lickitung makes impact, Jessie, James and their cat
pokemon Meowth are all sent rocketing into the sky so far that they go
completely out of sight. This is an outlandish and comical violation of the law
of inertia because Lickitung isn’t rolling any faster than about 15 miles per
hour so the effect of impact is grossly out of proportion. Lickitung’s force is
strong enough to maybe knock team rocket from a state of rest and push them a
few yards but not into the stratosphere. Team Rocket gets sent sky-rocketing
for a variety of reasons such as an electric shock, a bomb explosion and a whip
from a vine. Most of these would knock the wind out of them or like the
explosion just kill them on the spot or send them a small distance into the air
but that’s about it. How they survive the fall of these astronomical launches
is beyond me.
With
so many animations breaking the law of inertia, it’s clear that there’s some
benefit to making the physically impossible possible. These moments are so
memorable to me and many others because of the visual surprises they bring. It’s
hard to imagine what Road Runner would be without his speed and quick stops,
what Dash would do if he couldn’t escape by running on water or Team Rocket if
they never “blasted off again”. It looks like some laws are just meant to be
broken.