{"id":21619,"date":"2025-02-05T15:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21619"},"modified":"2025-02-05T16:32:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:32:23","slug":"the-physics-that-keeps-a-crowd-from-becoming-a-stampede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21619","title":{"rendered":"The Physics That Keeps a Crowd From Becoming a Stampede"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of scientists studying the San Ferm\u00edn festival in Pamplona, Spain, believe there\u2019s a way to predict the motions of a large crowd.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Scientists mounted cameras on the upper balconies of buildings on opposite sides of the central plaza of Pamplona, Spain, to film the attendees amassed below and measure their movements.<\/span>Bartolo Lab\/ENS de Lyon<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n

Every July, at the opening ceremony of the San Ferm\u00edn festival signaling the imminent start of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, more than 5,000 people cram into the city\u2019s central plaza. The crowd starts the morning dressed in white. By noon, much of their clothing has been dyed pink by the free-flowing sangria.<\/p>\n

Participants in the event have described the raucous crush of people to Denis Bartolo<\/a>, a physicist at the \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure in Lyon, France, who hasn\u2019t dared step foot in the plaza himself. \u201cThe density of people is so high that it\u2019s not just that you\u2019re feeling uncomfortable,\u201d he said he\u2019d been told. \u201cIt becomes painful, like you can feel pressure on your chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over several years, he filmed and studied the event with the goal of perhaps one day helping prevent stampedes that can turn lethal<\/a> in large public events. In a paper published Wednesday<\/a> in the journal Nature, Dr. Bartolo and his colleagues say it may be possible to predict the spontaneous motion of a large crowd in a confined space once the density of people crosses a critical threshold.<\/p>\n

Studying large, densely packed crowds is notoriously difficult. \u201cYou cannot just invite a thousand people to participate in an experiment,\u201d Dr. Bartolo said. Even if he could, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t know how to guarantee their safety,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

That\u2019s why the San Ferm\u00edn festival was so appealing. It involves thousands of people who gather predictably, and relatively calmly, each year.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bartolo and his colleagues mounted cameras on the upper balconies of two buildings on opposite sides of the plaza to film the attendees amassed below. \u201cIf you take a look at the video, indeed the dynamics seem to be erratic, chaotic, turbulent,\u201d he said. But he wondered whether he could tease out an organizing principle that governed the movements of the crowd.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of scientists studying the San Ferm\u00edn festival in Pamplona, Spain, believe there\u2019s a way to predict the motions of a large crowd.Scientists mounted cameras on the upper balconies of buildings on opposite sides of the central plaza of Pamplona, Spain, to film the attendees amassed below and measure their movements.Bartolo Lab\/ENS de LyonEvery July, at the opening ceremony of the San Ferm\u00edn festival signaling the imminent start of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, more than 5,000 people cram into the city\u2019s central plaza. The crowd starts the morning dressed in white. By noon, much of their clothing has been dyed pink by the free-flowing sangria.Participants in the event have described the raucous crush of people to Denis Bartolo, a physicist at the \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure in Lyon, France, who hasn\u2019t dared step foot in the plaza himself. \u201cThe density of people is so high that it\u2019s not just that you\u2019re feeling uncomfortable,\u201d he said he\u2019d been told. \u201cIt becomes painful, like you can feel pressure on your chest.\u201dOver several years, he filmed and studied the event with the goal of perhaps one day helping prevent stampedes that can turn lethal in large public events. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Dr. Bartolo and his colleagues say it may be possible to predict the spontaneous motion of a large crowd in a confined space once the density of people crosses a critical threshold.Studying large, densely packed crowds is notoriously difficult. \u201cYou cannot just invite a thousand people to participate in an experiment,\u201d Dr. Bartolo said. Even if he could, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t know how to guarantee their safety,\u201d he added.That\u2019s why the San Ferm\u00edn festival was so appealing. It involves thousands of people who gather predictably, and relatively calmly, each year.Dr. Bartolo and his colleagues mounted cameras on the upper balconies of two buildings on opposite sides of the plaza to film the attendees amassed below. \u201cIf you take a look at the video, indeed the dynamics seem to be erratic, chaotic, turbulent,\u201d he said. But he wondered whether he could tease out an organizing principle that governed the movements of the crowd.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21621,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21619"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21622,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619\/revisions\/21622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}