1. Bad Physics in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
By:
Evan Butterworth & Brad Rocco

2. Physics Concepts
Projectile Motion
Velocity
Acceleration
Mass
Distance

3. The Scene
In this scene, a battle royal breaks out between San Diego’s news teams. During this bilingual blood-fest, Champ Kind, the sports anchor on Channel 4 News, picks up an adversary and tosses him a great distance through a car windshield.

4. Weatherman Edition (1:35)
The Scene
Weatherman Edition (1:35)
Anchorman Edition (2:45)

5. Scene Layout
DIVIDER
DIVIDER
WINDOW
WINDOW
WINDOW
DOOR
DOOR

6. Estimations Distance traveled Mass of thrown man
In the video, a man was thrown from near the corner of a building over a distance of three windows the length of loading dock doors, separated by small dividers
Found size of standard doors, measured wall in relationship to the doors
Added all together to get a distance of approximately meters
Mass of thrown man
verage mass of an American male (86.09kg)
Initial velocity of thrown man
Measured three strides of Brad at a run
Took 1.48 seconds and went 12.1 feet
Converts to 2.49 m/s

7. Reality Calculations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeu8Moi80Ms
Because the throwing motion in the clip is similar to that of an Olympic shot put toss, the force needed to throw the world record toss was calculated
Distance= m
Mass= 7.26 kg
Δt in air= 1.95 s – Δt during acceleration = 0.18s
V= d/t = 23.12m/1.95s = m/s
A= Δv/Δt = ( )/0.18 s = m/s2
F = ma = (7.26 kg)(65.89 m/s2) = N

8. Anchorman Calculations
We used the same formulas for the movie calculations
Distance = 9.88 m
Mass = kg
Δt in air = 2.3 s Δt during acceleration = 0.2 s
V = d/t = 9.88 m/2.3 s = 4.30 m/s
A = Δv/Δt = ( )/0.2 = 9.05 m/s2
F = ma = (86.09 kg)(9.05 m/s2) = N

9. Conclusion
The calculations show the amount of force created during the world record shot put throw is less than the force needed to throw the newsman in the movie. Since the world record holder for shot put could not achieve the force needed to make that throw, it is safe to say that Champ, an average guy, could not achieve that force with the same throwing method. In fact, Randy Barnes only generated about half the force needed to throw the man that distance in his record breaking throw.

10. Works Cited
"Shot put -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 11 Apr <
"What is the average weight of a grown man? - Average weight – Topic | ChaCha Answers." ChaCha - Mobile Search | Text Search | Questions and Answers. 11 Apr < average-weight-of-a-grown-man%3F>.