Book Read Free

The Physics of Superheroes: Spectacular Second Edition

Page 44

by Kakalios, James


  Page 345 “Doctor Octopus, is able to walk.” See Amazing Spider-Man # 3, 11, 12 (Marvel Comics, July 1963, Apr. 1964, May 1964), reprinted in Essential Spider-Man Volume 1 (Marvel Comics, 2002). Written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko.

  Page 346 JLA # 58 (DC Comics, Nov. 2001). Written by Mark Waid and drawn by Mike Miller.

  Page 346 Detective Comics # 225 (National Comics, Nov. 1955) written by Joe Samachson and Jack Miller and drawn by Joe Certa.

  Page 348 “A common misconception is that the pressure change . . .” K. Weltner, American Journal of Physics 55, pp. 50-54 (1987).

  Page 350 “Birds such as the California condor . . .” “The Simple Science of Flight: From Insects to Jumbo Jets,” Henk Tennekes (MIT Press, 1997).

  Page 350 Avengers # 57 (Marvel Comics, Oct. 1967), reprinted in Essential Avengers Volume 3 (Marvel Comics, 2001). Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema.

  Page 352 Power of the Atom # 12 (DC Comics, May 1989). Written by William Messner-Loebs and drawn by Graham Nolan.

  Page 352 Showcase # 34 (DC Comics, Sept./Oct. 1961), reprinted in Atom Archives Volume 1 (DC Comics, 2001). Written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Gil Kane.

  Page 353 “When you speak, complex sound waves . . .” The Way Things Work, David Macaulay (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988) has an accessible description of the physics underlying telephones. See also How Does It Work? by Richard Mikoff (Signet, 1961).

  Page 355 “When a low mass star . . .” Astronomy. The Solar System and Beyond (2nd ed.), Michael A. Seeds (Brooks/Cole, 2001).

  Page 356 “Some astrophysicists have suggested . . .” “Disks of Destruction,” Robert Irion, Science 307, pp. 66-67 (2005).

  AFTERWORD

  Page 358 Fantastic Four # 22 (Marvel Comics, Jan. 1964). Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Volume 3 (Marvel Comics, 2003). Written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby.

  Page 358 Footnote. Green Lantern # 24 (DC Comics, Oct. 1963), reprinted in Green Lantern Archives Volume 4 (DC Comics, 2002). Written by John Broome and drawn by Gil Kane.

  Page 358 JLA # 19 (DC Comics, June 1998). Written by Mark Waid and drawn by Howard Porter.

  Page 359 “turned him into a human marionette.” Flash # 133 (DC Comics, Dec. 1962). Written by John Broome and drawn by Carmine Infantino.

  Page 359 “if you could travel one thousand years into the past . . .” In What If Tale # 33 (Marvel Comics, Jun. 1982), written by Steven Grant and drawn by Don Perlin, Iron Man is trapped back in the days of King Arthur by a double-crossing Doctor Doom. With no way to return to the present, he employs his twentieth-century knowledge of science and engineering to usher in a millennium of worldwide peace and prosperity.

  Page 360 “Knowledge is itself the basis of civilization.” “To the United Nations,” Niels Bohr, Impact of Science on Society 1, p. 68 (1950).

  Page 361 “A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to the Battlefield,” Tim Weiner, New York Times, Feb. 16, 2005; “Who Do You Trust: G.I. Joe or A.I. Joe?,” George Johnson, New York Times, Ideas and Trends, Feb. 20, 2005.

  Page 361 Superman # 156 (DC Comics, Oct. 1962), reprinted in Superman in the Sixties (DC Comics, 1999). Written by Edmond Hamilton and drawn by Curt Swan.

  Page 361 “Face Front,” à la Stan Lee, in practically every Marvel Comic in the 1960s.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  THE SEED OF THE IDEA for the freshman seminar on the physics of superheroes that preceded the writing of this book was unintentionally planted by Prof. Terry Jones of the astronomy department at the University of Minnesota during a student’s preliminary oral exam. A traditional academic hurdle in many physics graduate programs involves an examination of the students’ general knowledge of physics, administered by faculty members who direct their questions to a student, who is armed only with chalk and a blackboard, and must answer in real time. Terry’s question: “How much energy would it take for the Death Star to blow up the planet Alderaan in Star Wars (Episode IV—A New Hope)?” led me to think of other exploding planets, and inspired me to develop my freshman seminar on superhero science.

  Speaking of inspiration, I owe a debt to my many physics teachers and mentors at the college, graduate, and postgraduate levels. In particular I would like to thank Steve Cotsalas, John Jacobson, Peter Tea, Robert Alfano, Narkis Tzoar, Timothy Boyer, Frederick W. Smith, Kenneth Rubin, Sidney R. Nagel, Robert A. Street, and Hellmut Fritzsche. They taught me physics and, by their example, how to be a physicist.

  I am also grateful to the creators of the many comic book adventures I have enjoyed over these many years. There are too many names to list them all, but I am especially appreciative of the efforts of the comic book creators of my youth: Gardner Fox, John Broome, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Gene Colan, John Romita, Robert Kanigher, Steve Ditko, and the big three, Julius Schwartz, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby. Their stories, featuring heroes that employed their intelligence as well as their superpowers to save the day, taught me an early lesson on the importance of “brain power,” though a power ring can be handy also.

  I would like to thank Prof. Lawrence M. Krauss for graciously agreeing to write the foreword for this book. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Craig Shutt (Mr. Silver Age), from whose book Baby Boomer Comics I shamelessly lifted the joke in the afterword’s title (quoting a Stan Lee Fantastic Four story, who in turn got it from the Bible).

  I am grateful to my mom for instilling in me a love of reading and setting an example of lifelong learning and critical thinking. My own children, Thomas, Laura, and David, have served as willing test subjects for many of the arguments presented here, and I benefited from their feedback. I also thank Laura Adams and Allen Goldman for the STM image in fig. 38. My thanks to friends, family, and the employees at Dreamhaven Books and Comics for support and advice.

  I could not have written this book without the input from the students in my freshman seminar course from 2001 through 2003, and the evening Compleat Scholar class I taught in 2003. They enriched the class with their insightful comments, clever ideas, and unique perspectives on superhero physics. In particular, questions raised by Eric Caron, Kristin Barbieri, Matt Bialick, Drew Goebel, and Christopher Brummund directly inspired the discussion of some of the topics covered in this book.

  One of the bonuses of writing a book on the physics of super heroes is that it has provided a new perspective from which old problems can be viewed. However, a drawback to seriously considering fantastic topics such as running at superspeed or being able to adjust one’s tunneling probability at will is that one cannot rely on experiment as a check on analysis. This handicap was mitigated by the thoughtful consideration provided by my colleagues in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. I am extremely grateful to Prof. E. Dan Dahlberg, who generously volunteered his time to carefully read the entire manuscript in draft form, and caught many mistakes or oversimplifications. In addition, Professors Benjamin Bayman, Charles E. Campbell, Michel Janssen, Russell Hobbie, Marco Peloso, and John Broadhurst reviewed selected chapters of this book—the book is much improved for their input. I also benefited from the helpful comments and suggestions of Mark Waid, Gerard Jones, and Kurt Busiek. The paperback version has benefited from the close reading and comments of Markus Poessel. Any errors or confusion that remain are solely my responsibility, though I reserve the right to claim that they have been deliberately left in the text as “Easter eggs” for the attentive reader to discover.

  Finally, I would like to offer thanks and acknowledgment for the contributions of the following individuals—without their assistance this book would have been much poorer: my agent, Jay Mandel, for wondering whether there might be a book in this superhero approach to teaching physics, for crucial guidance in the early drafts, and for helping to set the tone of the book. I am very fortunate to have Brendan Cahill of Gotham Books for an editor. His technical advice for structuring the book greatly improved the manuscript and saved this first-time author from s
everal “freshman mistakes.” Brendan’s vision for this book complemented my own, and—just as importantly—his own knowledge of superhero comic books enabled him to suggest examples that I hadn’t considered. In addition, the copy editor, Rachelle Nashner, played a large role in improving the readability of the final version of the text. Jenny Allen went above and beyond the call of friendship in scanning all of the figures used here. The occasional technical crisis was always ably resolved at William Morris by Tali Rosenblat (present at the beginning) and Liza Gennatiempo (there at the end) and by Patrick Mulligan at Gotham Books.

  My wife, Therese, has been a constant source of encouragement. She has, from its inception, been more supportive of this project than I could ever have hoped. She has read through all of the many drafts of the manuscript, and I cannot imagine this book without her editorial advice and general counsel. I am a lucky man.

  INDEX

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations

  Abra Kadabra (Flash foe)

  absolute zero

  acceleration

  bubbles and cube-square law

  centripetal

  defined

  flight and

  forces and motion

  simple harmonic motion and

  stopping and kinetic energy of

  traveling near speed of light and

  acceleration due to gravity

  Action Comics

  Action Comics ,

  Action Comics ,

  Action Comics ,

  Action Comics# ,

  Adamantium

  adenosine triphosphate (ATP)

  Adventure Comics

  Adventure Comics ,

  Adventure Comics ,

  Adventure Comics,

  “Adventure of the Cancelled Birthday, The” (Atom )

  aerodynamics

  Agincourt, battle of

  air

  breathing underwater

  humidity of, and breathing

  as insulator

  air bags

  air compression

  air currents,

  air flow and wind

  air molecules

  entropy and

  kinetic energy of

  airplanes

  air pressure. See also atmospheric pressure

  drinking from straw and

  explosion and

  shock front and

  air resistance

  All-American Comics

  Allen, Holless

  All-New, All-D ifferent X-Men

  All-Star Comics

  All-Star Comics ,

  alternating current (AC)

  Amazing Fantasy ,

  Amazing Spider-M an

  Amazing Spider-M an, ,

  Amazing Spider-M an ,

  Amazing Spider-M an ,

  Amazing Spider-M an ,

  Amazing Spider-M an ,

  Amazing Spider-M an , ,

  Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1

  Amazing Stories

  Amazo (JLA foe)

  Amontons, Guillaume

  Ampère, André-Marie

  Ampere effect

  Ampere’s Law

  Angel (Warren Worthington III)

  Animal Man ,

  antenna, television

  antigravity

  antimatter

  anti-vortex

  Ant-Man (Dr. Henry Pym) . See also Giant Man

  ants as transportation for

  hearing and speaking ability of

  Iron Man saved by

  mass and density of

  materials science and

  miniaturization of

  origin of

  punching ability of

  “Pym particles” and

  spring- loaded catapult of

  vision of

  ants, neurons of

  Aquaman

  breathing underwater

  fish telepathy and

  strength of

  super-swimming speed of

  tough skin of

  archery

  arrows, trick

  Asimov, Isaac

  Astonishing X Men ,

  Astounding Stories

  astrophysics. See also stars

  Atlantis

  atmosphere. See also air

  atmospheric pressure

  atmospheric temperature

  Atom (Ray Palmer)

  breathing of

  costumes of

  Golden vs. Silver Age

  hearing of

  micro-worlds and

  miniaturization of

  miniaturization of, and matter-waves

  origin of, and white-dwarf meteorite found by

  size and mass control by

  telephone travel by

  thermal air current travel by

  Time Pool and-

  vision of

  Atom ,

  Atom

  Atom

  Atom ,

  Atom ,

  Atom,

  Atom Comics

  atomic bombs

  atomic grenade

  atomic magnetic moments

  atoms. See also chemical bonds; electrons; neutrons; protons

  average energy per

  Brownian motion and

  chemical bonds and

  chemical stacking of

  crystalline vs. amorphous structure of

  drag and friction and

  electrically charged. See ions

  electrostatics and

  energy levels of electrons in, and quantum physics

  food and energy and

  light and Schrödinger equation and

  magnetic fields and

  mass and density and

  microwave heating and

  micro-worlds and

  miniaturization and

  nuclei of

  phase transitions and

  quantum vs. classical mechanics and

  size of

  synthesis of, in core of stars

  vibrational frequency of

  Aunt May (Spider-Man’s relative)

  automatic door openers

  automobile

  air bags and

  centripetal acceleration and

  hybrid

  kinetic energy and

  static electricity and

  Autumn, Keller

  Avengers

  Avengers,

  Avengers,

  Avengers ,

  Avengers,

  Avengers,

  Avengers ,

  average values, quantum mechanics and

  axis of rotation

  Baade, Walter

  Ballard, Carl (Atom foe)

  Bardeen, John

  Bartman Comics ,

  Batcave

  Batman (Bruce Wayne)

  Batman Begins (film)

  Bat-Mite (Batman imp)

  Beast (Henry McCoy)

  Beetle (villain)

  Bell Laboratories

  Bernoulli effect

  Bester, Alfred

  “Beware the Atomic Grenade” (Flash )

  Big Bang

  binding or bonding energy

  birds

  Bizarro planet

  Black Canary

  Black Condor

  black holes

  Black Mask

  Blob (X Men foe)

  Bloch, Robert

  blood, magnetism and

  blubber

  Blue Beetle

  body, human or animal

  biological limits of size of

  cells and functions of

  diamagnetism of

  temperature, energy need to maintain

  Bohr, Niels

  boiling, bubbling and. See also phase transition

  bones, strength of

  Boole, George

  Boolean logic

  Booth, John Wilkes

  Boraz, Toughy (Flash foe)

  Bouncing Boy (Chuck Taine)

  bow

  Bradbury, Ray

  brain
>
  “brain amplifier,”

  Brave and the Bold

  Brave and the Bold ,

  Brittain, Walter

  Broglie, Louis de

  Broome, John

  Brotherhood of Evil (Doom Patrol foes)

  Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (X Men foes)

  Brown, Buster

  Brown, Robert

  Brownian motion

  Bruttu (foe)

  bubbles

  buildings

  Electro using electric rays to climb up

  Flash running up sides of

  Spider-Man swinging from

  Superman lifting

  bullet

  Flash stopping

  passing through Kitty Pryde

  Wonder Woman deflecting

  buoyancy

  Burroughs, Edgar Rice

  Buscema, John

  butterfly effect

  Byrd, Senator (Iron Man character)

  Byrne, John

  Byzantine Empire

  calendar, Gregorian vs. Julian

  caloric fluid (phlogiston)

  calories physicist’s vs. nutritionist’s

  Captain America (Steve Rogers)

  shield of

  Captain Cold (Flash foe)

  Captain Marvel (Avengers heroine)

  Captain Marvel (Billy Batson)

  carbon atoms

  chemical bonds of

  diamonds and

  electron orbits in

  liquid crystals and

  scanning tunneling microscope image of

  carbon dioxide

  carbon nanotube

  Carr, Dr. John (scientist in World’s Finest)

  Carter, John (Burroughs character)

  “Case of the Innocent Thief, The” (Atom # 4)

  cat. See Schrödinger’s cat

  Catwoman

  CD players

  cell phones

  center of mass or gravity

  centripetal acceleration

  Cerebro (amplifier)

  “Challenge of Comrade X, The” (Tales to Astonish )

  “Challenge of the Weather Wizard, The” (Flash )

  Challengers of the Unknown

  Chandler, Raymond

  Charleton Comics

  chemical bonds. See also atoms

  covalent

  covalent, vs. metallic

  defined

  food energy and

  fossil fuel energy and

  materials science and

 

‹ Prev