A5_3 Sonic the Dead-Hog

Abstract

Sonic is the protagonist of a video game series that goes by the same name. The games revolve
around sonic crossing obstacles at high speed. A signature of Sonic is that he rolls himself up into a ball and spins up to bolt off at the speed of sound. In this paper we will be looking at the heat Sonic produces from the friction of spinning up to this high speed and the conequences this has on him. Moreover, we will demonstrate that the generated energy per second of 89kJ leads to a temperature increase of 850°C per second in Sonic. Lastly, we will briefly cover why he cannot roll at a linear speed of the speed of sound due to limited frictional torque the ground can provide.