Friday, March 30, 2012

It's science: The physics in Angry Birds Space is fun, but batsh*t crazy

![][1] [Rovio][2] may have teamed up with [NASA][3] to help launch [Angry Birds Space][4], but it's clear the developer took some ... creative liberties. At least that's what Southeastern Louisiana University associate professor of physics Rhett Allain [told Mashable][5]. In fact, they're not even close to realistic, according to Allain, but at least it makes for a good game.

"For Angry Birds Space, it looks like gravity on the birds is just a constant value," Allain told Mashable. "One of the things that's important for orbital motion is that the further away you get the less that force is. In this case, it looks like that's not true. In space, if this were actual gravity, the mass of the planets would have to be so large in order to get these kinds of orbits-bordering black hole density. At least neutron stars."


Unless the Angry Birds were sent to a dimension in which mass itself behaves differently, Allain says the physics in Angry Birds Space are blatantly bonkers. Of course, Allain also is smart to point out that this isn't necessarily a knock on the game, because nearly all games with real-time, unpredictable interactions have their own physics engines. And if you ask Allair, "Some are more interesting to look at than others."

[Image Credit: Mashable]

**Are you bummed to hear that the physics in Angry Birds Space are bogus? Do things like that matter to you? Sound off in the comments. [Add Comment.][6]**

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[1]: http://o.aolcdn.com/dims/GAME/5/168/168/100/http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.games.com/media/2012/03/learn-physics-with-angry-birds-space-600-275x171.jpg
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[5]: http://mashable.com/2012/03/30/physics-angry-birds-space/
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