Mosh Pit Math: Physicists Analyze Rowdy Crowd

NPR "Morning Edition" have featured a special report on the physics of moshing.

ITP V.013 EDITORS NOTE:
ITP V.013 has "thought about" the psychics on moshing as ITP V.013: THE ART OF DANCE will further
analyze the physics of the pit.

FROM NPR: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/22/174962714/mosh-pit-math-physicists-analyze-rowdy-crowd?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130322
Matt Bierbaum and Jesse Silverberg are physicists and they've spent some time studying patterns in how we move when we mosh. 
Using variables like speed of movement and denseness of crowd they managed to work out a mathematical model of moshing!
This article explains more and has a pit simulator: http://n.pr/ZZpyKm

Mosh Pit Math: Physicists Analyze Rowdy Crowd : NPR

www.npr.org

At a heavy metal concert five years ago, physicist Jesse Silverberg had a "eureka" moment: The jumping, raucous fans at the show seemed to be moving about like molecules in the air we breathe. So he and friend Matt Bierbaum set out to understand the patterns within mosh pit motion.

via NPR

FROM http://mattbierbaum.github.com/moshpits.js/help.html:

Soft sphere -how elastic the MASHers appear to one another.

Flock strength -how strongly MASHers tend to follow each other.

Noise strength -how random their motion is (without collisions)

Speed -how fast red MASHers want to move.

Damping -sets the timescale to reach the desired speed.

Box size -the physical system size.

Delta t -the integration timestep.

Frameskip -how many integration timesteps to skip between redraw.

Fraction Red -how many participants are red MASHers.

Color Scale -sets the scale for the force colors (must check 'Show forces').

{x,y}-periodic -enforces periodic boundary conditions on each axis.

Show forces -whether or not to show the forces on each particle.

Circular ICs -when restarted, whether to begin with a circle of active MASHers.

Show Graphs -whether to calculate and display graphs at the bottom.

FROM NPR MORNING  EDITION:


Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-