Professor to describe 'uncanny physics of comic book superheroes'

University of Minnesota ^ | 15-Feb-2004 | Press release

[AdmSmith]

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL--Can you teach a physics class with only comic books to illustrate the principles? University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios has been doing it since 1995, when he explained the principle of conservation of momentum by calculating the force of Spider-Man's web when it snagged the superhero's girlfriend as she plummeted from a great height.

Kakalios will describe a freshman seminar class he teaches, "Physics of Comic Books," at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, during the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. His talk is part of the symposium "Pop Physics: The Interface Between Hard Science and Popular Culture," one of two symposia in the Science, Entertainment and the Media category.

"Comic books get their science right more often than one would expect," said the gregarious Kakalios. "I was able to find examples in superhero comic books of the correct descriptions of basic physical principles for a wide range of topics, including classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and even quantum physics."

Take, for example, the strength of Superman. To leap a 30-story building in a single bound, Superman's leg muscles must produce nearly 6,000 pounds of force while jumping, Kakalios calculates. The Man of Steel was that strong because he was designed to resist Krypton's powerful gravity. But for a planet with an Earth-like surface to have so much stronger gravity, it would need neutron star material in its core--a highly unstable situation. No wonder the planet exploded. Other topics considered in Kakalios' class include:

Is it possible to read minds as Prof. X of the X-Men does?

If Spider-Man's webbing is as strong as real spider silk, could it support his weight as he swings between buildings?

Can the mutant master of magnetism Magneto levitate people using the iron in their blood?

If you could run as fast as the Flash, could you run up the side of a building or across the ocean, and how often would you need to eat?

"Once the physical concepts such as forces and motion, conservation of energy, electricity and magnetisms, and elementary quantum mechanics are introduced to answer these and other questions, their real-world applications to automobile airbags, cell phones, nanotechnology and black hole formation are explained," said Kakalios. "The students in this class ranged from engineering to history majors, and while not all were comic book fans, they all found it an engaging and entertaining way to learn critical thinking and basic physics concepts."

[MikeD]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Superman's costume was made from the blankets he was wrapped in in the space capsule that took him from Krypton to Earth - his stepmother unraveled them and wove his costume from the thread. Since the blankets are from Krypton, they become "super" on Earth.

You remember correctly. Pre-1985, that's why his costume was indestructible. In fact, others could wear it and benefit from its bullet-proof properties. Post-1985, Superman projects a skin-tight forcefield. This field gives him his strength, protects him from harm, and allows him to fly. It also prevents his skin-tight costume from ripping. His cape, however, is not indestructible. MD

[dpa5923]

self-ping for interesting article and comments

[Fedora]

> One of my prizes is AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko at their peak. Spidey vs. the Sinister Six.

That was a classic :) The SS had a couple different membership rosters, didn't they? I know the original team had Doc Ock, Vulture, Sandman, Electro, Mysterio, and Kraven. I seem to vaguely recall one of those getting replaced with the Lizard temporarily at some point; and I also seem to remember a revived SS in the late 80s/early 90s that had the Rhino it it. Anyone else remember the details on that?

[Fedora]

> Bedtime now....but thank you of reminding me of Gene Colan's work. His stint with Marv Wolfman and Tom Palmer on "Dracula" was simply great (as was his DareDevil run)

Yeah, his DD stuff was good, too. The way he can invoke mood with shade and shadow is amazing.

Heading to bed here soon, too, but good talking to everybody! I was just asking someone privately if there's a FR comic-book ping list--anyone know?

[Richard Kimball]

Watterston took inspiration from quite a few sources, but I believe "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", Little Nemo in Slumberland, and some old Chuck Jones cartoons were the primary inspirations. Calvin was named after John Calvin and Hobbes after Thomas Hobbes.

[Fledermaus]

Current "Justice League" on Cartoon Network constantly has Flash eating sugar like in candy bars.

Same on TV.

[Fledermaus]

It goes back and forth.

In the more current Superman cartoons on TV they went back to his limits - gets tired, moving large objects strains him, etc. The ones with Tim Daly were like that.

They always update and change them like with the Spider-Man movie. It went from a "radioactive" spider to a "genetically altered" spider that bit him.

And in the comic books, Peter Parker made his own webs with a formula he came up with and a web-shooter he built. It wasn't natural like in the movie. But the movie wouldn't have worked as well if they didn't make the webbing a part of his change.

Even in the very old Superman serials, he couldn't fly...only "leap" in a single bound.

[Fledermaus]

Wasn't Dr. Doomsday (? guy in iron mask face the Fantastic Four fought) also a common villian for many Marvel characters?

[Fledermaus]

I remember Kent even had his suits made of the same material and he'd bundle them and put them in a pocket in his cap when he quick-changed!

[Qwinn]

Ahhh, this is an awesome thread so far. Larry Niven's always been one of my favorite authors, and I read "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" ages ago. He does other fun little essays regarding the principles of time travel and teleportation. Both are great reads (though obviously not as tongue in cheek as the Superman one).

Incidentally, I believe Larry Niven was a MAJOR Green Lantern fan, and contributed heavily to his writing during a fairly long stretch of the series. Don't ask me for details, but I do believe it was in the latter Hal Jordan days. If anyone can fill in the gaps on that, I'd love to hear more details.

As for the physics... one BIG question I always had when I was a little kid was this: the original Flash (Barry Allen) was constantly running through walls. Haven't seen Wally West do that lately, but anyways. It was explained that what he did was vibrate his molecules so fast that he could basically pass through solid matter. I wanted to know if that was possible (of course assuming the capability of vibrating molecules that fast).

The answer was a qualified yes. Theoretically, yes, you could vibrate your molecules fast enough that the bonds holding your molecules together would fall apart, and assuming they had enough forward inertia to keep them moving, your molecules would pass through the wall easily. The problem would be reassembling yourself on the other side ;)

Qwinn

[Qwinn]

Oh, another note of interest to Superman fans.

Did you ever wonder why Lois Lane (and everyone else for that matter) was so incredibly stupid that they couldn't figure out that Clark Kent was Superman?

Here was the explanation that was given at one point in time.

Just as Superman's costume was woven from his baby blankets (yes, I know, pre-1985), so were Clark Kent's glasses made from the glass of his ship. Apparently, Superman has a very low-level Hypnosis power. Normally, it doesn't do much at all. But totally unbeknownst to him for a long time, the Kryptonian glass of his glasses magnified that low level hypnosis, and people saw him as he semi-consciously -wanted- to be perceived, which was thin and rather frail. This led, on one occassion, to Lois Lane catching Clark undressing (but still wearing his glasses), and she cracks up at how ridiculous he looks half dressed as Superman.

Pretty clever way to deal with the fact that until then we had little other alternative but to believe that most of his best friends were complete idiots for not figuring out who he was.

(This is from pre-crisis, btw, so don't know how it would jibe with the current explanation of his powers)

BTW - I was actually unaware of the current "force field" explanation for his powers. Is this still tied to the yellow sun, and is the sun still also responsible for heat vision, etc?

Qwinn

[SquirrelKing]

Re: #17

Holy Flubber!

[TheBigB]

And in the comic books, Peter Parker made his own webs with a formula he came up with and a web-shooter he built. It wasn't natural like in the movie. But the movie wouldn't have worked as well if they didn't make the webbing a part of his change.

Needless to say, the movie also wouldn't have worked as well if they had had him shoot the webbing out of his butt, like a real spider. ;)

[AdmSmith]

the original Flash (Barry Allen) was constantly running through walls.

The authors of the comic books probably read Georg Gamow's books about Mr. Tompkins from the 30s and got some idea on the tunneling effect.

[VadeRetro]

For all I know, Watterston never read The Other--or saw the movie based on the book--before starting Calvin and Hobbes. I was joking, except that both indeed present a person's fantasy/delusion as story narrative. As you point out, that's really an old device.

[Richard Kimball]

The character was Dr. Doom. I've mentioned on several threads, but Lucas stole just about this entire character in making Darth Vader. Doom was one of those villians that was better than the heroes he faced (not a "good" character, but a brilliantly devised and well-thought out character. He guest-villianed in several different comics. I remember Daredevil crossing him once, and I think Captain America.

[Richard Kimball]

I'm not sure what the current comic book version is, but in Smallville, it looks like they're going the genetic route. Those X-men were really ahead of the game. They were mutants in the early sixties.

[VadeRetro]

The only wet blanket in this whole affair was the fact that at some point during the many months the notoriously late Neal Adams toiled away at the artwork, Muhammad Ali lost his championship title. So it was that by the time the book hit the stands, Muhammad Ali was -- at least in the eyes of the boxing commission -- no longer "The Greatest." Proving, one might argue, that it really is a dumb idea to mix superheroes with real-world celebrities after all.

This would seem to imply that Leon Spinks could have really cleaned Superman's clock. 1978 was a little late for this story line.

[rabidralph]

I think it's one of those collective singular thingies. Sort of like couple, staff and team. However, I is never a English Lit major.

[nuconvert]

Bump (for later)

Thanks