P3_6 Catch Me If You Can

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to investigate how the speed of the Roadrunner, in the classic Looney Tunes show, affected the infamous ‘Meep Meep’. It was hypothesised that the frequency shift of the sounds that arise due to the Doppler shift would result in a sufficiently high frequency that would lie above the hearing range of Wile E. Coyote. By calculating the frequency shift by assuming a nominal speed of 67.1 ms−1, the frequency of the inbound Roadrunner was found to be 80,100 Hz and that whilst outbound 30,400 Hz. Through an investigation of the literature, these frequencies were found to lie outside of the upper and lower boundaries of the hearing range of a canine, supporting the hypothesis that Wile E. Coyote would be unable to hear Roadrunner and so it would not be possible to initiate a trap. This would therefore be a significant contributing factor to the ongoing failure of Wile E. Coyote to catch the Roadrunner.