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."

[VadeRetro]

One issue explained it as his costume is made out of the blankets we was wrapped in when the ship from Krypton crashed. Ma Kent sewed it, and boy Superman helped by cutting threads with his super fingernails

Which explains why he tends to always show up in the same clothes, I guess. And that, in turn, is why he has trouble getting dates.

[Fedora]

> Good as Ali was, I can't imagine how the writers gave Supe any problem in a matchup with an ordinary Earthling. If I'm at the story conference, I say, "Naah! We can't go there and it doesn't work."

That's what I would've said if I was at the story conference, too :) But I have a feeling the marketing people won out over the writers on that one. This was back in the day when DC would publish anything that had a remote chance of a TV tie-in--for instance, about the same time they did an adaptation of "Welcome Back Kotter". For the Superman/Ali fight, they had Superman win the initial fight, but then they came up with some convoluted way of arranging a second, even fight by temporarily taking Superman's powers away. Ali won the second fight and then helped Superman save the earth from an evil alien, or something like that. I think shortly after that Ali got his own Saturday morning cartoon, too. Ah, the 70s. . .

[TheBigB]

Not quite. In S vs. MA, the fight is on another planet, under a red sun. Ali wins the bout (Supes gives it his all, be refuses to fall. Ali, instead of battering him, walks away and refuses to continue. Supes falls anyway and Ali is declared the winner by TKO). Ali goes on to fight the Scrubb champion Hun'Ya and wins, whereupon the Scrubb Commander says he intends to destroy the earth anyway. Supes (disguised as Ali's cornerman Bundini Brown) sneaks into the Scrubb's ship and tricks them into leaving the galaxy. Out of range of the red sun, Supes regains his powers and destroys the Scrubb fleet.
<p.
Toldja I was a fan. :)

[Fedora]

Thanks for filling in the details on that :) It's been a while since I read that one and I don't remember it as well as others, as it was my brother's copy and I only got to read it a couple times before he traded it. Don't Superman and Ali have a previous fight before the red sun planet one, though, back on Earth earlier in the issue? Seems like I remember them doing something back on Earth before they went to the red sun planet.

[TheBigB]

They have a sparring match inside the Fortress of Solitude. Supes uses a "red sun ray" to temporarily remove his powers. Ali teaches Supes about the "Sweet Science." :)

[eddie willers]

I used to have the original

Me too.
Gerry Conway and Gil Kane IIRC.

[mhking]

The LEAGUE plays here.

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[eddie willers]

The time he boxed Muhammad Ali for the universe heavyweight title is also up there :)

That one I still have.
Giant (and I do mean GIANT) Sized Neal Adams.

Way cool.

[ECM]

Not to geek it up too hard, but that's been part of the Wally West Flash since he got his start way back in the current (ahem) run of Flash many, many years ago.

In fact, the Flash TV show gave the Barry Allen Flash the same 'weakness', showing him consume pizza after pizza in one ep.

[Fedora]

> They have a sparring match inside the Fortress of Solitude. Supes uses a "red sun ray" to temporarily remove his powers. Ali teaches Supes about the "Sweet Science." :)

LOL! Thanks! I gotta find a copy of that again :)

[Slings and Arrows]

I can't answer your questions as to what he is made of. Maybe someone with more knowledge of Superman can answer that. I can say that the force field extends outward from his body and this protects the clothing he wears. I bet lots of people have wondered about that. Too bad we don't have a real Superman to kick some butt.

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. (Why they don't become Kryptonite is beyond my pay grade.)

[eddie willers]

Great review here Superman vs. Muhammad Ali

[Fedora]

>> I used to have the original
>
>Me too.
>Gerry Conway and Gil Kane IIRC.

Oh, yeah :) I used to have all the Conway-Kane issues. Had every issue from #100-350, most of the ones below #100 down to about #10 or so, and reprints of all the ones I didn't have; plus every issue of "Marvel Team-Up" and "Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man". Then I had to sell it. Since then the prices have gone through the roof--it's gonna cost me a fortune to get that back. Sigh. Here's all I've managed to recover so far:

Amazing Spider-Man:
98 (Green Goblin LSD issue)
125 (Man-Wolf)
147 (Tarantula and Jackal)
149 (Jackal, Spider-Man vs. cloned Spider-Man)
156 (Mirage--candidate for lamest Spider-Man villain list!--well, he's got competition. . .)
161 (Jigsaw villian--like I said, Mirage has competition; Nightcrawler and Punisher guest-star)
186 (Chameleon)
187 (Electro and Captain America)
188 (Jigsaw)
190 (Man-Wolf)
192 (Spencer Smythe)
399 (Jackal reborn)
400 (death of Aunt May)
Annual #4 (Human Torch)

Plus a bunch of Marvel Team-Ups and Peter Parkers. Gotta get to a convention again one of these days. . .

[Zack Nguyen]

LOL.

[Fedora]

> That one I still have.
> Giant (and I do mean GIANT) Sized Neal Adams.
>Way cool.

Neal Adams giant-sized issues rocked! I used to have a couple of the DC Limited Editions he did: one with Batman on the cover looking up the Bat Signal showing Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and Two-Face; and one an adaptation of the Bible. Two of my favorite lost issues. I only have a few of my giant-sized issues left: DC Limited Collectors Edition Secret Origins of Super-Villains and More Secret Origins; Marvel's 2-part Star Wars adaptation reprinting #1-6; and--ahem--Marvel Treasury Edition Howard the Duck :)

[Fedora]

> Great review here Superman vs. Muhammad Ali

Excellent--thanks! :) Loved the Spider-Man panel at the bottom, too--I didn't realize that was spoofing the S vs. MA issue, LOL!

[eddie willers]

I stole FF #1 from my best friend (hey...I was only 9 and Jack Kirby's cover just blew me away after all the bland DC books I had been buying) but bought my own #2 (The Skrulls). Couldn't find 3 or 4 anywhere, but then got 5 on up until sometime during Roy Thomas/Rich Buchlar's run.

Had all of Spidey until some time after he lost those extra arms and quit comics for a while until Frank Miller's "Dark Knight" and Moore/Gibbon's "Watchman" got me on a quality kick that lasted until Neil Gaiman gave up "Sandman".

Haven't read anything since Todd McFarland et al took over.

PS...Got any Micheal Ploog "Werewolf By Night"?

[Fedora]

You had FF #1 and all the Spider-Mans up to #100?--you da man! :) By the time I started collecting seriously it was hard to get lower than #100 without paying an arm and a leg. I haven't read much past #350 or so.

"Dark Knight" got me back into Batman, also, though I haven't collected actively, have caught up mostly through the cartoons. I like Miller's Batman, but I still prefer Kane's and Adams'.

On Ploog, unfortunately I don't have any of my "Werewolf by Nights" anymore. I love Ploog's style, though--I have some of his "Man-Thing" issues (my favorite is #5, the one with the clown on the cover they adapated into the Power Records book-and-record set), and I used to have his Morbius series from "Creatures on the Loose". For horror comics I like his stuff and Gene Colan's "Tomb of Dracula" run.

[TheBigB]

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

[eddie willers]

it was hard to get lower than #100 without paying an arm and a leg.

When they went from 10 cents to twelve, I had to go find more Coke bottles in the ditch.

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)