# What animal has the most momentum? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115 "2005-04-13T12:32:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/41 "2005-04-15T14:53:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And rightly so, since the OP specified “other than humans”… It seems reasonable to me to limit ourselves to an animal’s natural modes of propulsion. You are quite right about the OP - sorry. But I’m not sure about natural modes of propulsion. If that were accepted, there’d be no reason for the human exclusion - no one is going to argue that a self-propelled human is a contender for the Most Momemtum prize. ---
**Author:** ![FlippyFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/42 "2005-04-15T17:43:53Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > But I’m not sure about natural modes of propulsion. If that were accepted, there’d be no reason for the human exclusion - no one is going to argue that a self-propelled human is a contender for the Most Momemtum prize. As the OPer, I think I can speak with authority. I added the other than humans comment specifically to avoid someone talking about Chuck Yeager or something… but now I am curious… would our Apollo astronaut have more momentum with space craft and all (the little re-entry thing) than say, the enormous and massive but relatively slow modern aircraft carrier? For that matter, which has greater momentum, the Apollo rocket on the way out or the Apollo landing pod on the way back in? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/43 "2005-04-15T19:41:56Z")
Just a few nitpicks: > [@yBeayf](#): > > What about being hit by the tail of some of the largest sauropods? From what I’ve read, some of them may have actually come close to blue whale-sized. They came close to the _length_ of a blue whale, but not the mass. I’ve never heard of a sauropod estimated to be even half the mass of a blue whale. > [@Desmostylus](#): > > **Finagle** pretty much nailed this one. The blue whale is the biggest thing that ever lived. No dinosaur ever came close. The blue whale isn’t the biggest thing that ever lived. Not by a _huge_ margin. It is, however, the biggest _animal_ that ever lived. When I was growing up, they taught us that the largest living thing was a sequoia called the General Sherman Tree. Net weight: 1385 tons. That’s almost ten times the weight of the largest blue whale. Then, they announced that a particular grove of [quaking aspens](http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/scizone/brainz/sugarman/default.asp?sugarmanIdEN=13) were actually one single organism growing from a single root base. Net weight: 6,500 tons! Currently, there’s a [fungus](http://www.extremescience.com/largest-fungus.htm) laying claim to the “largest living thing” title. I haven’t seen a weight estimate, but this fungus apparently covers 2,200 acres! ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/44 "2005-04-15T21:50:32Z")
Just out of curiosity, if that mother of a sequoia fell over, could it beat out a blue whale? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/45 "2005-04-15T23:21:42Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > … the largest living thing was a sequoia called the General Sherman Tree. Net weight: 1385 tons. That’s almost ten times the weight of the largest blue whale. Ah ha, so if a giant sequoia reached a speed of only 3 mph, its momentum would beat that of a blue whale! Anyone here seen a giant sequoia moving like that? If so, then I think we have our winner. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Agent\_Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Cooper)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/46 "2005-04-15T23:27:30Z")
Good thread. To continue with the hijack (sorry) … I have heard Great Barrier Reef referred to as a single organism. But it doesn’t quite move (or does it? other corals can.), so I guess that’s not a contender. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/47 "2005-04-16T00:29:44Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Anyone here seen a giant sequoia moving like that? Mrm…no. If such a tree fell on me, I don’t know what would be worse: The moving, or the halting. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/48 "2005-04-16T00:37:50Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > There are chickens and turkeys that have managed to break the sound barrier. That’s got to be a lot of energy. But this was with NASA’s help, so they are probably disqualified as well. Besides, they were dead before they started moving and were utterly destroyed after they went through the cockpits and windshields they were testing. “As God as my witness I thought turkeys could fly!” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/49 "2005-04-16T02:43:48Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Ah ha, so if a giant sequoia reached a speed of only 3 mph, its momentum would beat that of a blue whale! > > Anyone here seen a giant sequoia moving like that? If so, then I think we have our winner. Interestingly, a branch fell off of a giant sequoia some years back (I think it was in the 1960s or '70s). Typically, the branches _start_ 100 feet off the ground on those monsters. They said that the branch by itself massed more than any tree in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains. I’ll bet that branch had some serious momentum after falling 100 feet! ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/50 "2005-04-16T02:53:39Z")
> [@](#): > > They came close to the length of a blue whale, but not the mass. I’ve never heard of a sauropod estimated to be even half the mass of a blue whale. [_Argentinosaurus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentinosaurus) weighed at least half that of a blue whale, and it’s speculated that, if they were described correctly and are not hoaxes, [_A. fragillimus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicoelias_fragillimus) and [_Bruhathkayosaurus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruhathkayosaurus) may have even exceeded the blue whale in weight. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/51 "2005-04-16T03:17:12Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I think polar bears can be quick when pressed, but I expect 200mph is out of their range. If they were _panserbjorns_ wearing full plate mail, like Iorek Byrnison in the **His Dark Materials** trilogy, you’d be well advised to step lively. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115.md?page=2)