Cartoon Physics

Cartoons constituted an integral part of our childhood as we grew up, Especially legends like Tom and Jerry and Bugs bunny..... It was the movement more so than the plot that fascinated children.... The physical laws that children knew and believed in no longer applied in these cartoons. It has been, long since debated that cartoon physics can be used as a effective replacement for Newtonian mechanics or Einstien's theory of Relativity, Because it seems to explain working of the universe more concisely and in better terms than any other systems available today. We credit , Hannah Barbera, Metro Goldwynn Mayer, and Walt Disney for the postulation of theories in cartoon physics.

Let us look back into the important laws that made cartoons function:

• Law of infinite elasticity : This is a the most important law working behind the cartoon universe. It is a law that is exploited many a times in many a situations.
  
  
  "Any animate character posses infinite elasticity and isapparently boneless, and application of any kind of Force, sheer, stress or compression only results in the change in shape of the character in direction of said force. The character reverts to original form not immediately upon removal of force but soon after"
  
  
  As a result of this law any character run over by a bus or obstructed by a pole while running, merely changes its shape for a few frames
  
  
• Law of perceived gravity : This is also used numerous times, especially by Wile E Coyote.
  
  
  "An animate character shall remain suspended in free space until it becomes aware of its predicament, at which time, the regular newtonian rules of gravity apply"
  
  
  Corollary 1 : Certain times upon realization, it is possible that the character return to land before normal newtonian gravity apply, in case of characters like Daffy or bugs.
  
  
• Law of propagating gravity : Also used mostly by wile e coyote although is most usually coupled with the previous law
  
  
  "When newtonian gravity starts being applicable for a an animate character, gravity is now applied to individual units of the body of the character"
  
  This implies that when a body starts to fall, it falls body first, with head still in place, effectively making the neck infinitely long, until which time the head starts to fall, after which the neck returns to its normal length.
  
  




• Law of Superimposed structure : This is mostly seen in Tom and Jerry and Bug's Bunny cartoons.
  
  
  "Any moving animate character is so absolute in its momentum that any inanimate object in its path, stops the character only after the body structure of the character is indented on the inanimate objects"
  
  For example, when Tom Beats Jerry with a long pole, the outline of jerry is seen on the pole, with no physical damage to jerry.
  Corollary 1 : In case of thin Structures like doors, a moving character leaves a cut out on the body similar to the instantaneous position of the character in course of its motion.
  
  





• Law of interchangeable animation : This is applicable in pursuits,

"When an animate character trying to escape from an inanimate moving projectile, the inanimate body acquires animate characteristics, by which it can follow the character irrespective of direction change, until such time it collides with the character"

This is as seen when Tom is using Jerry as a cue ball in Billiards and the other ball chase jerry, especially the 8 ball which seem to have visual life like characteristics.

• Law of alternative gravity for anvils : This is widely used in the Looney tunes universe,
  
  
  • "Everything falls faster than Anvils"
  
  Corollary 1: All parachutes used by any character except bugs bunny are usually Anvils.
  Corollary 2: The character falls to the ground faster than the anvil, and the anvil always impales the character to the ground.
  
  
• Law of quantum visibility : This is a rather rare and less understood law, it is often seen in the Wile E Coyote series.
  
  
  • "The quantum Signatures of a large vehicle are present every where throughout the road, The moment the plotting character (eg. Wile E ) steps on to the road with plans to cross it, the quantum signatures materializes as the vehicle which inevitably runs over the character. This however is not the case for protagonists like bugs or the roadrunner"
  
  
• Murphy's Law : This is the last, and the pivotal law behind the Road Runner show
  
  
  • "Anything that can go bad, will always go bad"
  
  This is in reference to all the elaborate ruses that Coyote draws up in order to capture the roadrunner, These plan inevitably fail, and eventually backfire upon Coyote.
  This is also the case many a times, when Bugs and Daffy are in the same episode, Daffy's planning always backfire on him. Who could forget the legendary "Rabbit season, Duck season" bit.
  
  

• This are some of the important laws prevalent in the cartoon Universe. There are also a few other situation specific laws.

1. The art reality interchange : Drawings of 3D spaces can be considered real as long as the character is unaware that it is a drawing. This means a character can go rite through a drawing of a hypothetical road ( Road runner ) but it precludes the artist of the drawing, thus when coyote tries to run through, he ends up flat against the cardboard.
2. The fear pain gravity reversal hypothesis : In event of fear or a prick to the bottom of the character, Gravity ceases to apply and the character is shot yards into the air without any apparent force. The Effect of loss of colour in event of fear is also explained here.
3. Theory of multiple materialization: This is not a law, as it is not universal. It is applicable to certain main focus characters like bugs, and the road runner, who can conjure previously non existent objects from behind them. This also extends to Granny, who can draw out infinite amount of things from her purse before she finds the required trinket.
4. Theory of Instant cloth change : Certain characters can spin around and instantaneously change into clothes of one's desire as and when required.
5. Movement sound singularity : Movements are incontrovertibly associated with sounds. Bach , Chopin or Mozart most of the times.

These are some of the rules and laws that I have observed and i would gladly welcome any amendments or addendum, so please comment with anything else in mind.