The Physics of Superheros and Comic Books

These academics. They just have to ruin everything. Even superheros aren't safe from their wanting us to learn something.

Take University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios, for instance. He just can't let us get by with a few hours of escapism and amusement. Nooo, he has to make it "educational" by providing technical explanations and pointing out scientific bloopers in superhero comic books.

For instance, as Kakalios recently pointed out in his lecture "The Uncanny Physics of Superhero Comic Books" that was part of the MIT Physics Colloquium Series, when the Green Goblin kidnapped Spiderman's girlfriend, Gwen Stacey, and pushed her from the George Washington Bridge to her death, was it the fall that killed her or Spidey's attempt to save her by catching her in webbing mid-fall, causing her neck to snap? In fact, this was a question Kakalios posed to his students in an introductory physics exam. The answer? According to Kakalios, if Gwen has a mass of 50 kilograms, fell 300 feet, and acquires a velocity of 95 mph, there would be 10g of force on her body, which she could potentially survive. But stopping short against all that force in half a second would break her neck. In other words, when she hit the web, the impact on her body would have been 10 to 20 times the force of gravity. "That proved -- mathematically at least -- that Gwen Stacey died of a neck snap when Spider-Man caught her in his webbing," he says.

Then there's Kakalios trying to force-feed Newton's laws when calculating the force needed to leap over tall buildings in a single bound. Superman would need 140 mph of liftoff velocity and his legs would have to exert 6000 pounds of force.

But Kakalios just can't stop at teaching classes and giving lectures. He also found it necessary to write a book The Physics of Superheroes, launch a web site, and teach a class entitled The Physics of Everyday Heroes.

Give us a break. All I can say is that I wish Kakalios had been teaching when I was in university. I would have loved to taken a couple of his classes, and possibly enjoyed comic books even more than I do anyway -- and better understanding the world around us. When it comes to teaching physics, Kakalios is a superhero in my book.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 09:30 AM  Permalink