The Physics of Almost Whacking Someone With a Bowling Ball

Every once in awhile a new science show comes on TV. I find some of them pretty good and others not that great. I was pleasantly surprised to find Outrageous Acts of Danger on the Science channel features a reasonable amount of science and makes it interesting. It does this by making otherwise common science demonstration absurdly dangerous. One recent episode riffed on the classic physics demo in which you hang a heavy ball (bowling balls are common) on a wire and release it near someone's head.