The Physics of Angry Birds

How does physics connect to the game app Angry Birds? Well, physics is all about the broad field of science having to deal with nature and the properties of matter and energy. It is based off the seven branches which are mechanics, thermodynamics, waves and vibrations, optics, electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics. Mechanics focuses on the motion and interaction between objects. Thermodynamics is based off the study of temperature, heat, and energy. Waves and vibrations is based off the study off sound, electromagnetic waves, x-ray, and light. Optics focuses on light, lenses, mirrors. Electromagnetism is all about electricity and magnetism. Relativity is the relationship between speed, time, and mass at extreme conditions. Quantum Mechanics is the behavior of subatomic particles, especially electrons. Angry Birds is the most addicting app that was launched in 2009 by a guy named Rovio Entertainment for the Apple company.

The whole concept of the game was created by Jaakko Lisalo from Finland and the designs were by Markus Tupperainen and Peter Urbanics. The main synopsis is that the pigs are stealing the birds' eggs causing them to get very angry and turn the wingless birds into the pig structure to demolish them. At the time of development, there was a swine flu outbreak. There are many different versions of Angry Birds and can be accessed on the computer, tablets, smartphones, and iPhones.

Angry Birds play a part in physics because of the calculations into finding the velocity and distance. Velocity is the rate of an object changing of displacement and it tells the magnitude and direction that the object is moving. When the bird leaves the catapult, it has a velocity at a certain angle. When it comes to velocity, there are two components which are the vertical and the horizontal. The vertical component is based off the acceleration due to gravity constantly pulling the bird down closer to the Earth. The horizontal component is constant which means there is no forces repelling on the bird and there is no friction due to air resistance. The gravity will end up slowing down the vertical velocity to zero and it becomes negative. This mean that the vertical velocity of the bird will decrease from v to 0 upwards. Then increase from 0 downwards. Distance is the total length between two things by a moving independent of the motion.

Now, there are two components with distance which are vertical and horizontal. The distance travels horizontally which means that the time multiplies the constant speed. To figure out the distance travels vertically, the kinematics formula is needed which is w = v + at.


 By Tierra T Smith


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