Concert mosh pits are a niche phenomenon even among humans, but researchers at Cornell have found that their movement can be modeled using parameters based on the collision of gas particles. “These are collective behaviours that you wouldn’t have predicted based on the previous literature on collective motion in humans,” lead author Jesse Silverberg tells New Scientist, noting that they wouldn’t have been caught observing pedestrians or other non-moshing humans. While parts of their research were based on watching YouTube videos of mosh pits, the team also built a functioning online simulation of them, even discovering a potentially new mosh formation in the process. The paper itself was recently submitted to Physics and Society.
Creating a mosh pit physics simulator with gas particles as a model
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
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