Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Comic Book Physics

Posted by michael on from the shazam! dept.

hij writes "NANDO net has an article about a physics professor at the University of Minnesota is offering a class in Comic Book Physics. He looks into such things as the amount of calories that the Flash burns and the tension in spider-mans web."

2 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Superman's cape. by AJWM · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to the comic books I read, Superman's cape has a pouch/pocket in it where he stores his (highly compressed) Clark Kent clothes.

    That way they're always handy for him to change back into his secret identity (and I guess with super powers its easy to get the wrinkles out), and he doesn't have to worry about somebody ripping them off from the phone booth where he changed when he's off fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

    --
    -- Alastair
  2. Spider-Man catching falling Gwen Stacey by Seth+Finkelstein · · Score: 3, Informative
    Gwen is knocked from a bridge by the evil Green Goblin, but Spider-Man catches her with his webbing an instant before she hits the water. When Spider-Man pulls her up, he discovers to his horror that she is dead.

    While Spidey was shocked, Kakalios was not.

    The professor estimated Gwen's falling velocity, applied Newton's Second Law of Motion and calculated the G-forces exerted when she went from 95 mph to a standstill in an instant. "It's not surprising her neck broke," Kakalios says.

    This story-point has in been fact been subject to much, much debate and discussion by fans.

    The consensus seems to be that the sudden stop broke her neck, but that this was more a failed rescue attempt at someone who going to die anyway, than a problem totally unknown to Spidey. That is, he was shocked because he thought he'd been able to save her, and failed. Not that he didn't know that he could fail.

    Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)