Mosh Pits: They're A Gas!

[Justin Tonation]

Mosh Pits Teach Us About the Physics of Collective Behavior

Stop me if you've heard this one. A Cornell graduate physics student takes his girlfriend to her first heavy metal concert. Instead of diving straight into the mosh pit, as he typically would, he hangs back "to keep an eye on her."

Being a physicist first and a mosher second ("fieldwork was independently funded"), the student, Jesse Silverberg, can't help but notice curious patterns in what had always felt like the epitome of chaos. "Being on the outside for the first time, I was absolutely amazed at what I saw -- there were all sorts of collective behaviors emerging that I never would have noticed from the inside." So for an even better perspective, he turns to YouTube, to figure out what happens to people under the "extreme conditions" borne of a combination of "loud, fast music (130 dB, 350 beats per minute) ... bright, flashing lights, and frequent intoxication."

What he found, of course, was the "collective phenomenon consisting of 10^1 to 10^2 participants commonly referred to as a mosh pit." And he was able to prove his initial observation: While the individual movements of moshers may be random, their collective behavior follows a few simple rules.

cont.

[RatBastard]

Only a physicist would type 10^1 to 10^2 instead of 10 to 100.

[i am gay and i like cats]

im enjoying these here assults of new threads we have here going on. 

[RatBastard]

Oh come on I was pointing out how humorous that was.  I found it even funnier given that we are in these days "wen e1 surtnz eting wen dey typ".

[i am gay and i like cats]

im enjoying that i don't understand what you are saying.

[RatBastard]

Me too

[Relaxer]

you guys are basically the same person to me

[RatBastard]

As long as that is what makes you happy.

[i am gay and i like cats]

you guys are basically the same person to me

i curse so much more than he ever does . . . oh and i suck cock.

[Relaxer]

well so does the other one

[i am gay and i like cats]

[grateful]

you guys are basically the same person to me

i curse so much more than he ever does . . . oh and i suck cock.

OK.  That's funny as shit.

[RatBastard]

you guys are basically the same person to me

i curse so much more than he ever does . . . oh and i suck cock.

fucking false as shit . . . god damn true as a motherfucker

[Jaguar]

As one who always avoids a mosh pit whenever possible, I absolutely agree with the guy who wrote this article. In fact, to survive in that thing, one must be able to understand and move like birds during a group murmuration flight or you'll just end up colliding with them in a bad way. They also remind me of iron filings when a magnet is passed over them. Seems some sort of magnetic attraction or movement may be involved though not necessarily of the metalic sort.

[RatBastard]

As one who always avoids a mosh pit whenever possible, I absolutely agree with the guy who wrote this article. In fact, to survive in that thing, one must be able to understand and move like birds during a group murmuration flight or you'll just end up colliding with them in a bad way. They also remind me of iron filings when a magnet is passed over them. Seems some sort of magnetic attraction or movement may be involved though not necessarily of the metalic sort.

iron filings-> magnet ->