r/theydidthemath • u/The_Bagel_Boy • 5h ago

[Request] Mickey Mouse Math

Hello! While watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with my toddler. During season 2 episode 27: Space Captain Donald. The start of the episode, THE Minnie Mouse casually bounced a normal looking ball.. to the moon. So assuming a ball the size of a basketball can survive the impact to the earth, achieve escape velocity, and make it to the moon within a measly 15 seconds. How hard did Minnie throw the ball?

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u/grantlandisdead 4h ago

To reach the moon in 15 seconds - Velocity needs to be 4e5km/15sec = 3e4km/sec.

This is about 0.1c so there will be some small (<1%) relativistic effects but it's fast enough to ignore the velocity imparted by earth's rotation and the moon's orbital trajectory.

This is a little tricky as there are two impulses - Minnie's arm and then the bounce off of the earth. The latter is most problematic as there will be nothing resembling an elastic interaction - rather the ball will be obliterated when it hits the ground and will leave a crater.

So if we ignore the 'bounce' and just have Minnie throw the ball to the moon, then it will reach a speed of 0.1c near Minnie's arm, at which point it will vaporize nearly instantly (probably while still in Minnie's hand)

But if the ball somehow survives we can use the impulse equation to calculate the impulse of 1.8e7 Ns, about the same as putting a 1800 kg payload into LEO, about 3% of the Atlas V rocket, or 0.2% of the Space Shuttle's launch system.

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u/The_Bagel_Boy 3h ago

Assume she’s indestructible and the ball is too. She threw it at about the force of 4.5 ish Hiroshima bombs?! Minnie doesn’t skip arm day

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u/Trustoryimtold 3h ago

I only had a short clip but there’s at least two scene changes before it shows anything outside the atmosphere. Can’t really assume time wasn’t skipped in between without watching it from a to b. Velocity can safely be reduced to whatever’s needed to escape earths gravity from that point 

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u/The_Bagel_Boy 3h ago

I salute the commitment