Jack Reacher Physics with Dr. Alan Ritchson
How can Amazon promote their new season of Jack Reacher? What about a short video with Alan Ritchson going over some physics stuff? Yeah, that should work. Check it out.
It’s not a bad video, but of course I am required to offer my professional physics break down. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Here are some things to consider. At the end, I’m going to give my recommendations about how this could be improved.
Breaking a Zip Tie
Alan claims that he really did break a zip tie holding his hands together. I mean, look at that dude — I’m sure he’s telling the truth. The video claims that that it takes 120 pounds (of force) to break a zip tie. I’m not going to experimentally reproduce this value — but we all know that these zip ties come in different sizes. This value seems legit.
I guess I should comment on “pounds of force”. Yes, this is aimed at a USA audience so that it seems reasonable to use units of pounds. Since pounds is often used to describe weight (which is technically a force), they needed to add the…
