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CNN Saturday Morning News
Physicist Discusses Arena Wave
Aired September 14, 2002 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, listen up sports geeks. Researchers in Hungary are going with the flow, quite literally. They're analyzing "the wave." Researchers combed through videos of 14 "waves" at large Mexican soccer stadiums. Their findings: the wave usually rolls in a clockwise direction at a rate of about 20 seats per second, and they say at any given time it's about 15 seats wide, and they say those conclusions apply across the board, not only to Mexican fans or to soccer matches but to every wave, every where.
Joining us on the phone from Budapest to talk more about the dynamics of the wave is physicist Tammas Vicsek.
Dr. Vicsek, good to have you with us.
TAMMAS VICSEK, PHYSICIST: Yes, thank you.
O'BRIEN: I'm very curious what led you to this realm of research?
VICSEK: Oh, yes, it sounds like a strange object but it's very nine fit into our line of research on collective human behavior which previously include such topics as synchronized clapping which is more common in the former Eastern Bloc countries. And follows great shows. And people clap in unison.
We also studied panic, when people are trying to leave through a narrow door, which sometimes happens in stadiums, also. And, it is -- these are simulations, theoretical studies of how people behave and when there are big crowds of them.
O'BRIEN: So, what's the point, Dr. Vicsek? What are we able to...
(CROSSTALK)
VICSEK: The point is that we can calculate how people react to certain conditions and we can predict what may happen. And the Mexican wave is just a case -- a prototype -- for this.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Is -- go ahead...
(CROSSTALK)
VICSEK: And science can, and if we become sure that we can simulate people's behavior, in the computer, then we can apply this to much more complex and more realistic and more practical situations.
O'BRIEN: Like what? VICSEK: For example, after a football game, people leave the stadiums in Europe it happens that they may be very excited about the results some sort of a riot type of behavior can happen, excitement travels through the crowd, and we can calculate how this excitement can be controlled.
O'BRIEN: What is the single most surprising thing you learned and discovered about the wave?
VICSEK: For us, it was a surprising that the number of people needed to initiate the wave. That if it -- quite gratifying numbers -- it's about a few dozen -- ten people cannot, 30 can already with a almost 100 percent chance initiate a wave which then could be taken on by tens of thousands of people.
O'BRIEN: So does it matter if those people initiating the wave have their shirts off, for example, and are painted in the team colors. Is that initiate it more likely?
VICSEK: In the process we learned that of course every human behavior is much more complex that we can eventually simulate in the computer. And, yes, even five people can do it as I discovered now from my correspondence if they do it several times and that case it somehow effects the neighbors and there's a social pressure to follow that in there immediate neighborhood. So, next time they jump, they are already 30, and the -- it will have already seen that something is going on and they just join in.
O'BRIEN: All right, and just quickly, you discovered that the waves you looked at go clockwise.
VICSEK: Most of the time.
O'BRIEN: I'm curious -- any suggestion on why that is?
VICSEK: Yes, yes, we actually do this with the right-handed man. They somehow expect things to happen from the right.
O'BRIEN: Oh, so it's not counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere?
VICSEK: No.
O'BRIEN: OK, just checking.
VICSEK: Yes, yes.
O'BRIEN: All right, Tammas Vicsek, excellent, very fascinating, and we wish you well in your studies and check in with us again when you figure out a little more about group behavior.
CALLAWAY: Hey haven't you ever felt that pressure? It is peer pressure. You're eating your hot dog and everyone standing up...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: The pressure I feel is to get away from the guy with the shirt off, painted like the team colors.
CALLAWAY: All right.
O'BRIEN: All right.
CALLAWAY: We'll be back with more in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Stay with us.
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