The Physics of Murder

It was too late. The ball did not stop an inch from his face, but smashed into it. He was knocked backward, the back of his head hitting the bricks and his body hitting the ladder. The ladder went down with him on top of it. The ball continued to swing back and forth.

Many in the class screamed. A young man seated in the third row on the aisle watched in shock for less than a second. Then he quickly stood up, dashed to the front of the room, and out the side door where the bowling ball swung. A little over a second later everybody heard a cry for help from outside the lecture room.

Amy had been standing on one side of the room looking at the audience and smiling, as she had been instructed to do when she was not actively assisting with a demonstration. When she heard the sound of the bowling ball hitting Matsen, she turned and watched him as he went down and lay motionless. The bowling ball was still swinging.

Amy ran to the path of the bowling ball, caught it when it was motionless, and walked it to its equilibrium position. Then she ran to Matsen’s side and put her ear to his chest. She tried to breathe into his mouth and start him breathing, but after several minutes she gave up. She stood up again and buried her face in her hands. Some students crowded around Matsen, but most sat riveted to their seats. Several walked out of the lecture room.

Amy did not stand over Matsen for long. After a few seconds she shouted to the class, “I think he’s dead. Everybody stay in your seats. Call an ambulance. Call the police. But don’t all of you call at the same time. I’ll be right back.”

Without waiting for some of the students to call 911 on their cell phones, Amy rushed out of the lecture room to the main office.  Instead of asking the secretary for permission to see the department chair, she burst into his office without knocking. He was at a meeting with four other faculty members. He looked at Amy severely, although he could not help admiring her in her T-shirt and shorts.

“What is your name?” he asked, disapprovingly.

“Amy Burton.”

“We are in the middle of an important conference. What is the meaning of this interruption?”

Sobbing, she blurted out, “There’s been a terrible accident.

Professor Matsen has been killed by a bowling ball in the big lecture room.”

She ran back to the lecture room, the faculty members following her. The department chair ordered the students around Matsen to go back to their seats. The five men looked at him for a few seconds. Then the department chair, whose name was John Ashbury, knealt down and felt Matsen’s pulse. There wasn’t any.  He listened for breathing and a heartbeat, but heard nothing.

Ashbury got to his feet and asked Amy, “What happened?”

Amy told him that she was an assistant in the course. Then she said, “Professor Matsen was illustrating conservation of energy with a bowling ball, just as he did in his eight-o’clock class. The ball is supposed to swing up to his face but no farther. For some reason, in this class the ball struck him.”

“Did you see it happen?”

Amy shook her head. “Sorry, but I was facing the students instead of watching Professor Matsen. I heard the ball hit him and ran to him. I tried to revive him but couldn’t.”

Ashbury faced the students, some of whom were crying. He said, “I’m afraid Profsessor Matsen is dead. I know this is a terrible shock to all of you, but I have to ask you some questions.  Did Professor Matsen accidently push the bowling ball away from him?”

The students started to reply all at once, but Ashbury said, “If you have something to say, please raise your hand.”  Many hands went up, and the students who were called on

said that Professor Matsen just let the ball go from rest.

Then Ashbury asked, “Did Professor Matsen faint or stumble forward as the ball approached him?”

Again, many hands went up. The students were sure that Matsen was motionless with the back of his head against the bricks and his eyes closed.

Amy gasped. “My God!” she cried out in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “Then it was not an accident.  Somebody in the storeroom beyond the side door gave the ball a push. Professor Matsen was murdered.”