Comments on: Judge Performs Own Experiments & Rules That Pizza Is, in Fact, a Solid

By: Escher7

Escher7 — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:16:00 +0000

Would a Kleenex (which is clearly a solid) be an offence under that statute? The lawyer’s argument was clearly about whether the pizza was a harmful solid. (He would still lose.)

By: Angels3640

Angels3640 — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:59:00 +0000

This Judge is amazing….he should have his own tv show..truly brilliant and witty Judge. Honorable to the Maxx!! He should run for president in my opinion.

By: Rick Nuthman

Rick Nuthman — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:36:21 +0000

Oh really? OK, It’s obvious that a slice of pizza is made up of many components which are in idividual states of matter. The sauce is liquid, with possible chunks of solids throughout. There is also potential that there is gas in the form of steam emanating from the sauce/crust if it is still hot enough. The crust is without a doubt a solid, albeit a porous solid. Any vegetable or meat toppings would be solids as well.

By: Clint

Clint — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:23:50 +0000

More of a quasi-solid I’d say.

By: kyle

kyle — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:26:38 +0000

Plasma Pizza. That actually sounds like a pretty good restaurant name.

Unless of course it was a Bose-Einstein pizza.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:47:10 +0000

I don’t think it really matters what argument the attorney was trying to make. The point is you can’t just throw things at cars and not expect some sort of consequence. If you threw paint on a car while it was driving, shouldn’t you expect some sort of punishment? Not only are you vandalizing property, but you’re potentially doing something that could cause a car accident.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:29:27 +0000

Well, in fairness, pizza is only partially solid. There is plenty of water (in liquid form) contained in a pizza, not to mention some grease. It would have to be a frozen slice of pizza to be 100% solid. I suppose the law is intended to differentiate throwing a rock at a car and, say, spraying a garden hose at a car. Technically, there will be plenty of particulate solid matter contained in most liquids, so I imagine the argument goes both ways. There are also certain tar-like substances that are technically liquids (they flow over the course of many years) but are so firm that they would do some serious damage! (see http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=7555 for instance)

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:28:58 +0000

What a douchebag judge. I agree with the attourney, the judge is arguing something else completely, and is ignorant of the real issue.

By: lewax00

lewax00 — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:55:30 +0000

@Tim – Unless you can find a legal definition for solid or some legal measure of how rigid an object must be to be considered “solid” then I’d say what he did was perfectly correct. The point is, throwing things at cars is a hazard, and he dealt with the case in a way that upheld the spirit of the law and its definition, if only by a technicality.

By: James Smith João Pessoa, Brazil

James Smith João Pessoa, Brazil — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 21:22:25 +0000

This ruling should be overturned because the judge failed to consider the fourth state of matter, the plasma.

Having personally sampled some pizza with certain peppers generously applied, I can attest that pizza can be hot enough to be considered a plasma.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:00:04 +0000

Should the judge have tested whether pizza is a colloid? I think that counts as neither liquid nor solid.

By: Kestrel

Kestrel — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:59:05 +0000

Where are Einstein, Podolsky, & Rosen, & Schrodinger ‘s feline, when you need them?

By: AmoebaMike

AmoebaMike — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:55:00 +0000

So what happens when the term “organic” makes it into his courtroom?

Does he take it to mean 1) something natural, or 2) any substance containing at least 2 carbon atoms in a chain, or 3) a semi-vague way to describe the way in which a certain item (esp food) is grown?

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:34:33 +0000

All I know is that when I consume them, most pizzas generate gas!

By: Michael Berry

Michael Berry — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:46:56 +0000

That pizza looks awesome. Thanks, Discover. I think I know what I’m having for dinner tonight.

By: DNA

DNA — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:19:15 +0000

I’ve always considered pizza to be some form of Bose-Einstein Condensate.

By: Brian Schmidt

Brian Schmidt — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:17:13 +0000

Ian’s got a good point. That picture is of a fraudulent pizza, and not the test pizza.

Re the plasma issue, the first box test probably rules it out, but the judge should’ve verified the lack of any confining magnetic fields just to be sure.

By: Ian Tindale

Ian Tindale — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:00:34 +0000

But it isn’t cut into six slices, it’s quite clearly cut into eight.

By: Mike Licht

Mike Licht — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:09:39 +0000

And if the defendant had actually thrown a can of worms ….

By: Philip Gibbs

Philip Gibbs — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:36:46 +0000

The word solid when used as an adjective has more meanings than just the scientific one, but thank goodness it was not a glass bottle. That would really have opened a can of worms.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:30:00 +0000

The word “solid” refers not to the state of the object, but of its rigidity. A rigid object is much more likely to cause damage than a soft object, which is why that adjective is used in the law. While the judge’s interpretation of science is commendable, his interpretation of the law is not.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:55:11 +0000

To bad the judge didn’t fine the attorney. Science TRIUMPHS.

By: Aurora

Aurora — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:40:20 +0000

If I were a primary school teacher, I’d be seriously considering using this to teach the states of matter in class…