Float Designers Are Disputin’ Newton
Letter to the Editor

I've been thinking about Mission Viejo’s Rose Parade float. I'm no wizard when it comes to physics, but the numbers seem off. 

The pool on the Mission Viejo float contains 10 tons of water according to the folks at city hall. Ten tons of water is only sufficient to fill a pool that is 12 feet deep, 4.5 feet wide and 6 feet long. That doesn't seem large enough for a person to dive into safely. A pool that is 12 feet deep, 6 feet wide and 9 feet long would require more than 20 tons of water to fill. The Rose Parade proceeds at the rate of 2.5 mph. Considerable force must be applied to accelerate 20-plus tons to a speed of 2.5 mph. And that's just the water weight, not the total weight of the float. 

Applying Newton's Laws of Motion: 

Newton's First Law of Motion
I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

Newton's Second Law of Motion
II. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma.

Newton's Third Law of Motion
III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I wonder what happens when the parade pauses.

Lisa De Paul-Snyder
Mission Viejo