Run! RUN! THE MOON IS FALLING!
Omg
WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!
Or are we?
Or are we?(wink)
[Intro music plays]
Hello, Internet, Welcome to Game Theory!
The show that - at one time - fostered thoughtful, intellectual debate in the comments,
And now...well...Google+.
In less depressing news, let's talk about
Death.
By moon-fall!
In Majora's Mask, you're constantly working against the clock to prevent THIS [the moon] from crashing towards Earth,
Killing everyone and everything...
or rekilling them, I suppose - it's a long story, we covered it in the last episode.
Anyway, Link - who may or may not already be dead -
Is rushing around like Bill Murray on Groundhog's Day to stop this thing [moon] from falling.
The question I pose is this:
Is he wasting his time?
Now, I don't mean, "Are his attempts to stop this glowing piece of radical rock futile?"
But rather, does this moon falling into this planet necessarily mean insta-death?
1 hit kill?
Game over?
[It] SEEMS like it should be a no-brainer, right?
Giant space rock hurdling towards planet = DEATH!
But I can tell you right now,
The biggest threat to Link, toilet-hand, and this Wiggles reject
isn't a falling hunk of space rock, but we'll get there.
Episode, GO!
First, we need to figure out what sort of damage this falling moon would actually cause.
To figure that out, we need to know how much energy it generates.
To do THAT, we need to know how large it is, and how fast it travels,
but to figure THAT out, we need a sense of scale.
So, a lot of questions to answer here
and the first one, a sense of scale, is, as any loyal theorist knows, ALWAYS one of my "favorite" subjects to address on the show.
But this time? I've got it covered.
Hyrule Historia tells us that Ganondorf is 230cm - or about 7'6" - tall.
By comparing character models and double-checking against scenes with Link and Ganondorf together,
We're able to calculate that young Link is about 4'2" tall.
BUT, if you're skeptical about the book and character comparisons,
another fun way to figure this out is to go diving.
In Dr. Mizumi's lab in Ocarina of Time, there's a diving pool with meter marks.
Using the Iron Boots, you can sink yourself to the bottom and literally measure yourself.
Adult Link, at full height, is about 1.5m - or 5'.
Pretty darn short.
- But remember, it's not about size, it's about how you use it -
Now compare adult Link's height to young Link's height - and again, you get just over 4' tall.
Which is pretty cool, 'cause now we officially know the heights of 2 Nintendo mascots - Samus and Link.
I wonder if we can use that information, at some point, to calculate ALL their heights.
Accurately, of course.
Wario, I'm looking at you.
Knowing this, we need to find a way to compare Link's size to the moon.
Meaning we need a screenshot that has the camera positioned to capture both Link,
and the FULL WIDTH of the moon from a relatively neutral angle.
The widest cinematic shots of the moon ALSO include the outer wall of Clock Town.
And, if you look, those markings can serve as a guide.
Young Link is just at the height of that lowest dot.
That gives us our comparison.
So, when I took this into Photoshop, the moon was 150 grid marks across,
And the space up to that first dot was 3 grid marks tall,
Meaning that the moon is 150/3 - or 50x - Link's height.
Since we know Link is 4'2" - or 1.27m,
We know the moon is about 208' - or 63.5m - wide.
It's cool to know the numbers, but just to put that into perspective,
OUR moon is nearly 55 THOUSAND times larger - with a diameter of 3,474km.
So, Majora's moon is really just a little baby moon.
Little moon in training.
Goodnight, moon.
Moon Jr.
Junior Mints.
Moooon over Miami.
Moooon... uh... mooon... there's a joke here, and I can't figure it out.
I got nothin'.
BUT, while knowing its diameter is all well and good, we need its MASS to calculate the damage it'll cause.
And THAT means we need to know its volume first.
So, to avoid it getting too math-y, we'll run through this part quickly.
Volume of a sphere is 4/3πr^3, meaning Majora's moon is 134,000 cubic meters,
And we'll just have to assume that the moon is the same density as OUR moon,
which is 3,346 kilograms of mass per cubic meter.
Fun fact: OUR moon is actually the 2nd densest in the solar system - next to Jupiter's moon, Io.
The more you know.
Anyway, since mass=density*volume, Majora's moon is about 450 MILLION kg.
Sounds like a lot, right?
That's about the same as 75 Great Pyramids.
Definitely massive, but NOWHERE CLOSE to our moon.
In fact, OUR moon is 1.6 QUADRILLION times more massive than Majora's moon.
Take that, creepy face!
Not so scary now, huh?
So, Majora's moon might not be that massive,
but remember, it's not about how big you are - it's how you use it.
Maybe this thing is packing a ton of destructive energy.
To know THAT, we need to figure out how fast it's falling.
Think about it this way: Consider a bowling alley.
If you're having trouble knocking down pins, there's 2 solutions.
1.Throw a heavier ball at the same speed, or 2. Throw the same ball - same mass - at a faster speed.
Both of those are doing something to increase your overall destructive kinetic energy.
So, in this case, Termina might not have a massive moon,
But maybe it's TRAVELING fast enough to increase its destructive potential.
So we need to figure out the speed of its fall.
By watching from Termina Field, on the final day,
I was able to calculate that the moon falls 27 Photoshop grid marks during the world's last 5 hours.
Since this was from a different camera angle, I had to re-calibrate my numbers,
Meaning that the moon traveled 27' - or 8m.
This means the moon - in Termina time - is traveling 1.6 meters per hour,
Or a whopping 0.001 MILES per hour.
That's 30 times slower than a SNAIL.
Ho-ho-ho! Scary!
But it gets even MORE underwhelming when you look at the energy it's producing.
Kinetic Energy = .5mv^2
Knowing that the mass is 450million*.004m/s
- Just so you know, I had to convert that 1.6m/h into a more standard format to work in the formula -
That equals an ASTOUNDING... 36 Joules of energy.
36.
Now, you might be asking yourself, "What does that equal?"
Well, wait for it...
In the second you just waited, your body just released TWICE that amount of energy in the form of heat.
1 Joule is what it takes to lift an apple - AN APPLE! - up 1 meter.
So, basically, you're lifting 36 apples.
According to a paper published by the University of Leicester,
It would take 2.25*10^32 Joules of energy to destroy a planet like Earth.
With such a low amount of energy, this "terrifying moon" crashing into Termina
would ACTUALLY be stopped by Clock Town's clock tower - if it could handle that weight.
But if THAT wasn't ironic enough, there's more.
None of it matters.
By the time Link starts his 3-day journey to save Termina,
It would already be too late.
Whether or not the moon is powerful enough to destroy Termina, Hyrule - or Earth, for that matter,
Most people would be dead LONG before it happened.
Here's why:
Moving a moon - any moon - closer to a planet will increase the gravitational pull that moon exerts onto that planet.
And with that, comes some pretty extreme consequences.
You see, first and foremost, the moon's gravity is responsible for the tides.
So, if it were slightly closer, the tidal bulge would grow.
Low tides would be lower, and high tides would be higher,
Meaning that any low-lying coastlines would be flooded.
If the moon got MUCH closer - say, 20 times closer,
It would exert a gravitational force 400 times greater than what we're used to.
A mighty tidal bulge would be created, hitting the land, and causing TREMENDOUS flooding, with major cities disappearing underwater.
In other words, the land of Termina would be more Wind Waker, and less Majora.
Someone call the King of Red Lions over from the adult timeline!
But, if the rising tides don't take you, the irreparable shifting of planetary orbits will.
You see, as the moon gets closer to the planet, and the gravity exerted from one body to the next gets stronger and stronger,
The delicate balance between the Earth - or whatever planet Hyrule and Termina exist on,
and their respective moon - gets thrown off more and more.
This, in turn, results in its orbit changing.
And with a changing orbit, the climate of the planet ALSO will see a shift.
WILD fluctuations in weather occur.
With changes in gravity, and with weather, and with climate - that also means that we're going to see more natual disasters.
Increased earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes...
The list can go on and on.
It's like a giant astral game of dominoes that hinges on an INCREDIBLY fine balance of gravitational pull.
Despite us talking at the level of PLANETS here, when you look at it this way, it's incredible that some perfect natural balance was found on Earth,
For us to be able to survive and live here.
One little shift in the gravitational equation here or there, and we wouldn't be here today to talk about the hypothetical effects of a hypothetical moon crashing into a hypothetical WORLD.
To sum up: The largest threat that this moon poses to Termina,
ISN'T it crashing into the Earth like an asteroid.
Between the shifting waters, the fluctuating gravity, the destabilized rotation in orbit, the altering climates, and the intense weather conditions,
Link would be LUCKY to survive long enough to see the moon touch down.
With Termina's moon hanging SO LOW in the sky THAT EARLY in the game,
In a realistic portrayal, the damage would already be done.
No amount of repeating the same 3 days would change that.
But, hey! It's just a theory!
A Game Theory!
Thanks for watching!
Welcome back to the SUPER AMAZING END CARD TOURNAMENT
Where, over the last few episodes, I WAS successfully able to convince you that Mario is a monster,
And MOST of you want to get your Zora on to take your chance with Princess Ruto!
Post 7-year jump, I hope.
This week, I'm asking you something simple: What game series do you want to see me tackle in upcoming episodes?
Classic games, like Mega Man and Kirby.
Modern FPS games, like Call of Duty and Battlefield. They're all the rage with youngsters nowadays!
PC Games, like Half-Life and StarCraft.
...or, something else!
Let me know by clicking, Let me know by leaving a comment - if you can stomach Google+,
And I'll put it on the schedule.
So, thanks for the support, guys!
Ultimately, this show is for you! (Really? Thanks MatPat!)
So, if there's anything I can do to make it better - like choosing better topics - let me know!
Alright. That's all I got. MatPat out!