MatPat, the host of "Game Theory," explores the video game "Kindergarten" and its infamous "Nugget Cave" scene, where a character can survive a 10-story fall if they land on a pile of chicken nuggets. MatPat sets out to determine if this is physically possible.
Using the game's physics and real-world data, MatPat calculates the fall distance and speed, determining that the character would reach a speed of 60 miles per hour and experience a force of 30 Gs upon impact, which would be fatal.
To survive, the character would need a massive pile of chicken nuggets to cushion their fall. MatPat tests the compressibility of various chicken nuggets and finds that they are not effective at breaking a fall. However, if the pile of nuggets is tall enough, it could reduce the fall distance and make the impact survivable.
MatPat calculates that a stack of 1,772 nuggets would be needed to reduce the fall distance to a survivable height. However, to create a cone-shaped pile of nuggets that could catch the character, he estimates that over 340 million nuggets would be required, which would cost over $51 million.
Ultimately, MatPat concludes that while it is theoretically possible to survive a fall into the Nugget Cave with a massive pile of chicken nuggets, it is not practical or feasible.
1. The "Kindergarten" game is an 8-bit game where the player relives the same Monday over and over, trying to figure out the right series of events to complete each character's storyline.
2. In the game, a character can survive a fall into a hole called the Nugget Cave if they land on a pile of chicken nuggets.
3. The game's host, MatPat, decided to investigate whether this is actually possible by doing some physics calculations.
4. He timed a character's fall from the top to the bottom of the hole and found it took 2.7 seconds.
5. He calculated the depth of the hole to be 35.7 meters or 117 feet.
6. He found that the character's speed at the bottom of the hole was almost 60 miles per hour.
7. He determined that humans can survive an impact of up to 38 miles per hour.
8. He calculated that the maximum fall distance to stay under that speed has to be less than 14.2 meters or 46.5 feet.
9. He determined that even a stack of hundreds of chicken nuggets would not be enough to compress and break the fall.
10. To survive the fall, a stack of chicken nuggets would need to be 73 feet tall.
11. To calculate the volume of chicken nuggets needed, he used the angle of repose of a cone made of bark, which is 45 degrees.
12. He calculated the volume of the cone to be almost 12,000 cubic meters.
13. He determined that this translates to approximately 340 million chicken nuggets.
14. The cost of buying that many nuggets would be over $51 million.