I was on YouTube and went down the YouTube rabbit hole. Ended up watching a [compilation](https://youtu.be/WDY7uD4E8p4) of water towers collapsing. That’s what sparked this question. It’s portrayed well in movies when a giant monster is destroying a city. It seems as if Godzilla is moving in slow motion. Anyone know why this phenomenon occurs?
In: Physics
Two things. Inertia and perspective.
Inertia. If an object have more mass, it have more inertia. Meaning that it will resist movement more. This is why it’s harder to get something to start moving when its bigger. This is why those tower move really slowly at the beginning and then start to fall faster.
Perspective. What you are looking is high, so you need to be further aways to see it completely. The speed at which the tower fall is as quick as anything else (once it get starting), but you see it from further aways so the distance see smaller to you. It’s the same reason why when you look outside your car’s window you can see the building next to the road go past you really fast, but the mountain far aways move slowly.
Latest Answers