The explosive physics of pooping penguins: they can shoot poo over four feet | Ars Technica

Meyer-Rochow maintains that it wasn’t a stupid question, particularly since it prompted him to take a closer look at his slides, among which he found several photographs that captured penguins mid-poop. Measuring the lengths of the streaks fanning out from the nest was a simple-enough matter. Estimating the height above ground and aperture of the cloaca the opening through which penguins defecate was equally simple. He also determined the surface “stickiness” of penguin dung. With that information, Meyer-Rochow and his co-author, Jozsef Gal of Loránd Eötvös University in Hungary, were able to calculate the force that would be required to propel the poop 30-40 centimeters. Then they used that figure to estimate how much pressure penguins must exert to shoot their poo away from the nest.

The answer: internal penguin pressures can reach 10 to 60 kilopascal (0.1 to 0.6 atmospheres, or 600 grams per square centimeter), significantly higher than the pressure the average human can exert when defecating. Meyer-Rochow said the pressure was comparable to “at least one half of the pressure of our cars’ tires,” adding, “Not bad for a little fellow one third the size of a human.” However, the study did not address why the streaks radiate out from the nest in all directions with no noticeable preference. Is this dependent on wind direction, or does a penguin somehow “choose” where to fling its feces? That remains an unresolved question.

via arstechnica.com

I have a good story about this sort of thing, but I really can’t tell it. Sorry.