The Physics of Cow Tipping
Two Canadian scientists, Margo Lillie, a doctor of zoology at the University of British Columbia, and her student Tracy Boechler have conducted a study on the physics of cow-tipping. Their conclusion: It's not that easy. Ms Boechler, now a forensics analyst in-training for the Royal Canadian Mounted Corps, determined that it would take five people to topple an upright cow. A cow of 1.45 metres in height pushed at an angle of 23.4 degrees relative to the ground would require 2,910 Newtons of force, equivalent to 4.43 people, she wrote in the study. An article about this in Times Online features a detailed illustration of the phyics involved. One of the publication's readers took issue with the study, insisting, "Cow tipping is possible, it is very simple and I’ve done it. It requires three people..."
