(Corollary 2: Cartoons cats have the uncanny ability to emit piano sounds when their teeth are transformed into piano keys after having a piano dropped on them.)

Corollary: A cat will assume the shape of its container.

The painter is flattened against the wall when he attempts to follow into the painting. This is ultimately a problem of art, not of science.

A `wacky' character has the option of self-replication only at manic high speeds and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocity required.

(Appendum: Any species capable of flight, upon distraction of vertigo, will lose ability of flight. Conversely, any two feathers held in each hand and waved will (temporarily) give flight to any character that does so.)

(Exception: This does not apply to cool characters who've never studied law.)

Amendments

A sharp object will always propel a character upward.

When poked (usually in the buttocks) with a sharp object (usually a pin), a character will defy gravity by shooting straight up, with great velocity. The laws of object permanence are nullified for "cool" characters.

Characters who are intended to be "cool" can make previously nonexistent objects appear from behind their backs at will. For instance, the Road Runner can materialize signs to express himself without speaking. Explosive weapons cannot cause fatal injuries.

They merely turn characters temporarily black and smoky. Gravity is transmitted by slow-moving waves of large wavelengths.

Their operation can be witnessed by observing the behavior of a canine suspended over a large vertical drop. Its feet will begin to fall first, causing its legs to stretch. As the wave reaches its torso, that part will begin to fall, causing the neck to strech. As the head begins to fall, tension is released and the canine will resume its regular proportions until such time as it strikes the ground. Dynamite is spontaneously generated in "C-spaces" (spaces in which cartoon laws hold).

The process is analogous to steady-state theories of the universe which postulated that the tensions involved in maintianing a space would cause the creation of hydrogen from nothing. Dynamite quanta are quite large (stick sized) and unstable (lit). Such quanta are attracted to psychic forces generated by feelings of distress in "cool" characters (see Amendment B, which may be a special case of this law), who are able to use said quanta to their advantage. One may imagine C-spaces where all matter and energy result from primal masses of dynamite exploding. A big bang indeed. Any bag, sack, purse, etc. possessed by a cool character is a tesseract - any number of objects of any size may be placed in it or removed from it with no change in its outer dimensions. Characters can spin around and change into any set of clothes appropriate to the situation. Rabbits can dig a burrow from here to there in less than 20 seconds and emerge spotlessly clean. Movements are accompanied by funny sound effects. Especially eye blinks, which usually are accompanied by xylophone or or other percussive noise type tinkles with each blink. Vehicle Uncertainty Principle: A vehicle travelling along a straight path which extends to the horizon uninterrupted remains in state of indeterminacy-- existing invisibly at all points along the road simultaneously-- until its waveform is collapsed by a villain entering the road. This causes the vehicle to coalesce into an observable form at that location, maintaining high velocity. Classical cartoon physics take over at this point. RDB translation into plain English: As soon as Wile E. Coyote steps into the road, the bus appears to run him down.

"Rules we obeyed in the Coyote/Road Runner Series" From an autobiography of Chuck Young, creator of the Road Runner cartoons ("Chuck Amuck: The Life And Times Of An Animated Cartoonist", and "That's All Folks: The Art Of Warner Bros. Animation". Copyrights and trademarks C. Jones et Warner Bros)

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going "Beep Beep!"

2. No outside force can harm the Coyote-only his own ineptitude or the failure of the ACME products.

3. The Coyote could stop anytime -- IF he were not a fanatic. "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim" -George Santayana.

4. No dialogue ever, except "Beep Beep!"

5. The road Runner must stay on the road -- otherwise, logically, he would not be called Road Runner.

6. All Action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters -- the Southwest American desert.

7. All material, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the ACME Corporation.

8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote's greatest enemy.

9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

10. The audience's sympathy must remain with the Coyote.