Analyzing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse Using the Physics of Free Fall

75 years ago the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed, an event well known because it was captured on film and is shown in video format in physics classrooms to this day. Using the physics of free fall and Tracker software for video analysis, we can determine the frame rate of the original 16mm movie camera and can answer the question: Does the video show the free fall sped up, slowed down, or at the correct speed as observed by eyewitnesses on November 7, 1940.