Beep Beep

What’s my favorite cartoon? Easy — The Road Runner.

Now here’s the best part: all seven of my grandchildren love watching it with me. We’ll sit together, and I turn every episode into a mini science class — without them even knowing it. They think I’m just teasing them, but I’m actually sneaking physics into a cartoon marathon.

I’ll pause the show and throw their imaginary ideas back at them:

“Could the Coyote fly if he flaps homemade wings?”
Nope. Wrong muscles, wrong anatomy — and zero chance of liftoff. He’d just create a dust cloud shaped like disappointment.

“Could he jump the canyon using one giant spring?”
Only if that spring can store enough energy. ACME’s springs? They usually fire sideways and launch him straight into a rock shaped like a fist.

“What if he ties balloons to himself to float across?”
That can work — if you use enough balloons to create more lift than weight. Six balloons from a birthday party? That’ll lift a cupcake, not a coyote.

“Could a rocket actually catch the Road Runner?”
Absolutely — rockets follow real physics. The problem is aiming, accuracy, and surviving the landing. Wile E. is 0-for-1000 on all three.

“Can an umbrella work as a parachute?”
Only if your life goal is to fall slightly slower while looking fancy.

“What about a magnet to pull the Road Runner in?”
Unless that bird is wearing metal underwear, all the Coyote’s catching is every frying pan in Arizona.

“Could rolling on skates make him faster?”
Skates reduce friction — good. But you still need something to push you forward — missing. All you get is faster falling.

And here’s the simple rule I teach them:

Anything that uses forces from outside the object can work.
Anything that tries to push on itself… doesn’t.

That’s why the fan-on-a-cart with a sail fails every single time — the fan is pushing air that comes from the same system. Everything cancels itself out. End of story.

But the kids love tossing wild ideas at me:

Catapults?
Maybe — if you have great aim and excellent insurance.

Jet packs?
Sure — until gravity files an official complaint.

Painting tunnels on cliffs?
Only works in the Looney Tunes universe. In real life you’d be picking drywall out of your ears.

We laugh our way through the whole thing. And the funny part is, they’re learning physics without even noticing — they just think they’re outsmarting Wile E. Coyote.

And if you don’t understand what I’m talking about… then obviously you never watched the Road Runner with me.