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The Physics of Superman

eieken writes "The physics of Superman mostly belong in the realm of comic books, but some scientists decided to give their input on the matter. The article tells of 'a scientific experiment in which a researcher put several chickens in a centrifuge and raised them in twice-normal gravity for months at a time. When they emerged, the chickens were stronger and had larger bones and muscles, and greater endurance. In other words, they were superchickens.' Do they have human sized centrifuges?"

45 of 421 comments (clear)

  1. Question... by crazyjeremy · · Score: 4, Funny

    But can the superchickens fly now?

    1. Re:Question... by HTTP+Error+403+403.9 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't these physicist have anything better to do than make super strong dizzy chickens?

      --
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    2. Re:Question... by simdan · · Score: 2, Funny

      I wonder if they would have adapted their balance while in the centrifuge. Only to have it thrown off when placed on stationary land.

      Scientist, "Um, Frank? Are they all supposed to be walking to the left all the time with thier heads upside down?"

      Hate to see such a chicken lay an egg......

    3. Re:Question... by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 5, Funny
      But can the superchickens fly now?

      Not only can they fly, but they think nothing of beating up Klingon chickens. These chickens are so bad, they'll rip off their drumsticks and smack you upside the head with them. These chickens are so strong, you have to fry them in 40 weight motor oil. These are SERIOUS chickens.

    4. Re:Question... by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 5, Funny
      Chickens can fly

      Not really. Chickens can fly...

      'Nuff said.

      --
      Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
    5. Re:Question... by LoverOfJoy · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's called falling...with style.

    6. Re:Question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      The solution in three words: solid rocket boosters.

    7. Re:Question... by jlarocco · · Score: 4, Funny
      But can the superchickens fly now?

      Possibly, but in any case, here are some facts:

      1. Super-chickens are chickens.
      2. Super-chickens fight all the time.
      3. The purpose of the super-chicken is to flip out and kill people.

      Super-chickens can kill anyone they want! Super-chickens cut off heads ALL the time and don't even think twice about it. These chickens are so crazy and awesome that they flip out ALL the time. I heard that there was this super-chicken who was eating at a diner. And when some dude bit into a drumstick the super-chicken killed the whole town. My friend Mark said that he saw a super-chicken totally uppercut some kid just because the kid opened a window.

    8. Re:Question... by WilliamSChips · · Score: 1, Funny
      When are they going to cross chickens with octopii?
      Once they actually find an octopius.
      --
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    9. Re:Question... by Warg!+The+Orcs!! · · Score: 5, Funny

      A the risk of going off topic

      When I was at school one of the Biology teachers (let's call him Mr Mudie) was covering the topic of "Birds 'n Flight 'n Stuff" and he borrowed a quail from the city university. Quail tend to be more on the 'flutter' rather than 'soar' end of the flight scale. So, Mr Mudie has this quail in his hands and says (I paraphrase) "..and of course quail don't fly so well" and launches the bird high into the air...

      It went up..... ...and came down. With a thud and without a single solitary flap. Stone dead. Ooops.

      Of course, he proved his point - they don't fly so well

      --
      Travelling forward in time at a rate of 1 second per second.
    10. Re:Question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Thats why I prefer lion meat, followed by cougar tartar and a cobra heart smoothy.

    11. Re:Question... by Random+Destruction · · Score: 5, Funny
      They also can maintain a near verticle glide when jumping off of a high space.

      Me too. It's called falling.
      --
      :x
    12. Re:Question... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2, Funny

      Unfortunately, however, super-chickens are *not* mammals...

      Chris Mattern

    13. Re:Question... by JohhnyTHM · · Score: 1, Funny

      It's time to call Chuck Norris!

    14. Re:Question... by hey! · · Score: 2, Funny

      A researcher is doing an experiment on frogs. He takes a normal frog, and yells "Jump, froggie jump!". The frog makes an amazing jump of about thirteen feet. Experimenter writes in his notebook, "Frog with four legs, jumps four meters."

      Then he chops of one of the frog's legs, and yells "Jump froggie, jump!" The frog jumps just about ten feet, and the experimenter writes in his notebook: "Frog with three legs, jumps three meters."

      He repeats this process twice more, with the frog jumping six, then just over three feet, and writing the results in his notebook. Finally he chops the last leg off, and yells "Jump, froggie, jump!" No response. So he repeats, "Jump froggie jump!". Still no response. Finally he yells at the top of his lungs: "JUMP FROGGIE, JUMP!". Still the frog does not move.

      So he writes in his notebook: "Frog with no legs is deaf."

      We can conclude that clipping the chickens' wings disables the inbuilt navigation systems that birds have; in short, a chicken with no wings has no sense of direction. After all, what is flying but throwing yourself at the ground, and missing.

      --
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  2. its that time again... by freemywrld · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it time to welcome our new super-chicken overlords?

    1. Re:its that time again... by g-doo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why did the superchicken cross the road?

    2. Re:its that time again... by sanman2 · · Score: 3, Funny

      To get to that phonebooth on the other side? :D

    3. Re:its that time again... by AndroSyn · · Score: 2, Funny

      I for one welcome our new joke playing out overlords.

  3. Web server by mh101 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Looks like they should have put their web server in the centrifuge as well...

    --
    Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
  4. Obligatory by delirium+of+disorder · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the chickens will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new centrifuge generated superchicken overlords.

    --
    ------ Take away the right to say fuck and you take away the right to say fuck the government.
  5. No news... by benjaminperdomo · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Sayan of Planet Vegeta know it for a long time...

  6. No wringing their necks! by psyclo · · Score: 4, Funny

    My grandma used to kill chickens by twirling them over her head to break the necks, then throwing them down. Like to see her try that with a "superchicken"!
    Can't you just see it? Hank comes outside to find his wife, and there the is, cornered in the hen house. "Look out Hank! That one by the door knows judo or something!"

    --
    =======================
    Psyclo, the dark night.
    Mike, the computer geek.
  7. Super Chicken? by jcostantino · · Score: 4, Funny

    Super Grover unavailable for comment.

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  8. Another weird thing about those superchickens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently they tasted just like Christopher Reeve.

  9. Humping Lois by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If Superman humped Lois and discharged, would those projectiles do her damage?

    1. Re:Humping Lois by schon · · Score: 2, Funny

      What about if he used a kryptonite condom?

      (cue scene from Mallrats.)

  10. Re:About Flying by kc32 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would assume it's because she's still alive to feel it rather than being killed instantly.

  11. Yes, but... by patio11 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... it turns out super takes like chicken.

  12. Oh man, I am so old! by gooman · · Score: 5, Funny

    When you find yourself in danger,

    When you're threatened by a stranger,

    When it looks like you will take a lickin',

    There is someone waiting,

    Who will hurry up and rescue you,

    just Call for Super Chicken!

    Fred, if you're afraid you'll have to overlook it,

    Besides you knew the job was dangerous when you took it

    He will drink his super sauce

    And throw the bad guys for a loss

    And he will bring them in alive and kickin'

    There is one thing you should learn

    When there is no one else to turn to

    Call for Super Chicken!

    --
    "Kittens give Morbo gas!"
  13. Yea yea... by MrNaz · · Score: 2, Funny

    *mumbles something about welcoming centrifuge raised chicken overlords*

    --
    I hate printers.
  14. Please, think of chickens by hierro · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everytime you mod me down, a scientist centrifuges a chicken.


    Please, think of chickens.

  15. Quoth Mitch Hedberg: by mpathetiq · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think a rotisserie is like a really morbid ferris wheel for chickens. It's a strange piece of machinery... "We will take the chicken, kill it, impale it, and then rotate it. And I'll be damned if I'm not hungry! Because spinning chicken carcasses make my mouth water! I like dizzy chicken. With a side of potatoes of some sort."

    1. Re:Quoth Mitch Hedberg: by nacturation · · Score: 4, Funny

      With a side of potatoes of some sort.

      I believe the technical term around here is "hot grits".

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  16. Whatever you do, don't swing a sword at them by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've heard rumors to the effect that if you attack them with a sword repeatedly, it will send a call out to dozens of other superchickens which will all attack you until you flee indoors or scroll to the next area.

  17. Re:About Flying by Dunarie · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The question is more how can YOU ethical approve eating chicken?!?!?"

    Cause they are tastey?

  18. Billywitchdoctor.com feel more comfortable... by k3vlar · · Score: 2, Funny

    You mean ultra-mega-hyper chicken? Shh! He is legend!

    --
    Unlike porn, which yada yada rimshot hey-ooh!
  19. I Had a Problem Set Like This Once... by SonOfFlubber · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I was an undergrad taking lower division Newtonian Physics my prof assigned a problem set along the lines of:

    "Superman: the man of steel. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound:
    1) Calculate Superman's kinetic energy to go faster than the bullet
    2) Determine the amount of work Superman would do pushing against the locomotive to make it go backwards 1 km on a level track
    3) Compute the impulse generated by Superman to leap a tall building

    Most of the class did OK, I got all the answers in the ballpark, but one student had answers that were an order of magnitude greater than anybody elses'. When the prof asked the student why his answers were so high, he replied "Well, it seems as if I used a higher mass than anybody else - you DID say that Superman was the man of steel, didn't you?"

    He got full credit.

  20. Re:Larry Niven is wrong by Itchy+Rich · · Score: 4, Funny

    Given that he's powered by the Sun, I'd lean more towards an optical nervous system.

    I'd lean more towards getting out more.

  21. Re:Human centrifuge - the Gravitron by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It took me a few weeks, but I pefected tweaking the speed just right to have those panels slide up and down repeatedly. And in doing so, I managed to "jiggle" many a breast out from under a bikini top!

    That's hilarious! You lucky bastard, that must have been awesome. Maybe that explains your fetish for abnormally flat breasts...

  22. Re:Superman as an Energy Being by CmdrGravy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think if you take your theory a little further and make the assumption that Superman is in fact a fictional character and lives soley in our imaginations where anything is possible regardless of any laws of physics, or anything else, you may get closer to discovering Supermans true nature.

  23. No, but they do *FRY* pretty well by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Thank you folks, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to try out our potato bar, the finest in all Des Moines!

    -Eric

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  24. only one explanation why superman can fly by shadownine · · Score: 2, Funny

    The man has a serious GAS problem, you can always see him lean his but out just a little before he takes off. Same thing goes when he levitate, it's just one constant steady flow of but wind. If a person were on krypton then they would be able to smell the difference, but on earth superman's gas emits no odor. The same theory can be applied to his super speed, i'm still working on the other abilities.

  25. KFC by Jobeson · · Score: 2, Funny

    15 years from now at your local KFC... Hi, yes I would like to order 1 bucket of Extra crispy Super Chicken

    --
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  26. Q: Do they have human sized centrifuges? by macraig · · Score: 2, Funny

    A: Yes, there's a ride a Magic Mountain in southern California, but I don't know that they'd keep it running for you months at a time, and it would cost you a bloody fortune in ride tickets and daily admission. :-)