Science and Counting all in one!

The physics of Sesame Street's pinball machine are completely out of whack


Which is a darn shame, really. Pinball is one of the greatest examples of all that is good and pure with physics.


Exactly! There's nothing but physics going on inside a pinball machine. Gravity is pulling the ball toward the hole, flippers apply a force back upwards, deflection angles, ramps, friction, and Gene Simmons.


Gene Simmons?


It made sense at the time. Just go with it.

Anyway, so a little while back, Sesame Street, with the help of the Pointer Sisters (I learned that recently) produced a series of short cartoons involving a pinball machine that counted to twelve.


We'll give you a second here to sing the song to yourself...then you can proceed.


So as we Watch The Cartoons, we clearly see some shenanigans. For example...the first 5 seconds, where the ball is curving along, staying perfectly between the walls with no force acting on it. There's no reason for it to be turning like this. Later, it's coming down some twisty corkscrew-looking thing, and it stays on the path, despite the fact that there are no walls holding it in. Anyone with even the most rudimentary understanding of centripetal force would know that the instant the path turned, the ball's momentum would carry it right off the side. Don't even get me started on when a cannon or something launches the ball into the air and it stays aloft far longer than gravity would normally allow. That's simply not a legitimate ballistic trajectory! Come on, Sesame Street! What are you teaching the kids?

If you watch those cartoons, you just see that they are rife with scientific inaccuracies, and it's supposed to be part of an educational TV show. What's up with that? It pains me to say this a little, but I'm forced to Call Bunk on Pinball Number Count. There goes the internet ruining my childhood again.