Did you catch what was strange about how Elfaba flies in the new Wicked movie? This is not a normal witch's broom. Not that it looks like one. Let's use physics to understand something incredible about how the magic actually works, which is tied to the soul of what makes this show and movie so amazing. Yes, I just use physics and magic in the same sentence. Like a true nerd. Warning, there will be spoilers. Let's dive in. On the surface, the movie would have us believe that Elfaba casts a spell from the grimmery that causes the broom to fly, which she can then ride in a classic witchy fashion. But during this epic, defying grubes, gravity scene, she manages to strike poses such as this, which looks super cool and dramatic. But if we put our science hats on, Cynthia Revo is 5'1. Let's assume 110 pounds or 50 kilograms. But don't quote me on that. The distance from her arm to the broom is roughly 19 inches, or 48 centimeters. Now let's do some very rough calculations. If the magic is in the broom, i.e. it's flying and she's just riding or holding onto it, then all the force fighting gravity is coming from it, producing some crazy torque on her 50 kilograms times 9.81 meters per second squared for gravity times the length of the lever arm equals 235.44 Newton meters. And she'd have to counteract this with the weakest type of wrist motion, what us nerds call radial deviation. This study measured a bunch of healthy females and found that the maximum force they could exert in this direction was roughly 1.3 Newton meters. Some simple division tells us that this would make Alphaba a whopping 181 times the strength of a normal human female. when she's angry. But there's another option, which ties into the soul of what makes this movie so amazing. But it takes me five minutes to go into it, so check out the tubes.
Additional notes
Using science to EXPLAIN the magic of the new Wicked Movie… not to tear it sown, but to give greater meaning to Elphaba's journey. 🙋♂️If you’re someone who would actually watch a 5-minute landscape video on here, let me know! (If i get enough comments I’ll post it) If I were going really detailed with the calculations, I would have talked more about the better Center of Mass calculation (taking into account the broom weight, arm, body, clothes, etc.), the separate lever arms of the different muscle groups involved, the core strength required to remain upright rather than pivot inwards towards the broom, and a lot more that would have had all of you immediately scrolling past 🤣. When I began working on this video I didn't even really know where it would take me, but as I started really analyzing the movie it all just made sense! #science #wicked #wickedmovie #wickedthemusical @Wicked Movie
References
No DOI, PMID, or source link was listed in the spreadsheet caption. The transcript references a wrist/radial-deviation strength study, but the workbook row does not include a direct source URL.