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FICTION VS FRICTION-WHERE SUPERHEROES DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

 FICTION VS FRICTION-WHERE SUPERHEROES DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

By Saachi Khemchandani

·     Introduction

 

Comic books have spent decades rewriting the rules of genetics and chemistry, but have not managed to do so with the mechanics of physics. If our favorite superheroes were to step out from the pages of fiction comics and enter the real world, the dangerous villain would not be a mad-scientist but the laws of physics.        

To understand this, we can look at the mechanical limitations of two of our     favorite superheroes- Spider-Man and Flash.

·     Spider-Man and mechanics of tension

When Spider-Man leaps from a building and swings through the streets, his movement mirrors that of an elastic pendulum (often called a swinging spring). It essentially combines two different types of motion: the back-and-forth swinging of a pendulum, and the up-and-down bouncing of a spring.

In this case, the system is comprised of a heavy mass (Spider-Man) attached to an essentially massless spring (his web line).

 

3-dimensional figure of elastic pendulum

The Swinging Spring: Regular and Chaotic Motion

Another point to notice about Spider-Man’s movement is that it isn’t linear. This means that when he swings, the webs are not only supporting his resting weight, but also the additional force that continuously alters the direction of his motion.

This is directly governed by Newton’s second law of motion,

F=ma

Where a net force is required to change an object’s acceleration. In physics acceleration does not just mean speeding up or slowing down. This refers to a change in its magnitude or its direction. Even if Spider-Man’s speed’s magnitude doesn’t change, the direction is changing every millisecond. Since he is moving in a curved path rather than a linear one, he undergoes centripetal acceleration. Which is why there’s an additional force acting while he’s swinging.

An additional force can only pull an object into its own direction. For example, gravity can only pull us downwards because it acts in that direction.

Therefore, tension force in the webbing has to balance with two forces such as Spider-man’s weight and the additional force that changes the direction while he swings.  The tension in the webbing and the gravity force is making the swinging happen in circular motion. If this force suddenly vanishes, Spider-man will be able to escape from the circular motion.

This would also mean that the webbing would have to carry the weight of both Spider-Man and the force acting on it. According to the book titled “The physics of Superheroes” written by James Kakalios, the estimated tension would be 300 pounds (approximately 1,335 Newtons), and significantly more if Spider-Man was to carry someone along while swinging.

A single strand of textile fiber would instantly snap under 1,335 N of tension. However, if the Spider-Man’s webbing is anything like a dense cluster of real spider silk, it would be able to withstand 300 pounds of tension easily since it is capable of holding up to 15,000N before structural failure.

 

 

 

While the web survives the bounce, real-world architecture does not. The decorative brickwork and concrete window ledges are designed to support weight vertically not to withstand an instantaneous tug. Instead of a swing, Spider-Man’s web would yank the bricks clean out of the walls.

 

·      The flash: Cruel reality of atmospheric drag

While Spider-Man’s powers clash with non-linear mechanics and structural engineering, The Flash runs into a completely different physical nightmare- fluid dynamics and literal atmospheric friction.

Comic books claim that the Flash can sprint at hypersonic speed i.e. over 5 Mach, or five times the speed of sound. However, in real life this wouldn’t mean just running quickly – it means trying to violently travel through a dense ocean of gas molecules. Since the flash travels through atmosphere, it experiences aerodynamic drag.

The force on an object that resists its motion through a fluid is called drag. When the fluid is a gas like air, it is called aerodynamic drag or air resistance.

In fluid dynamics, this resistive force (FD) is quantified using the following equation-

                    

FD =CDA

Where-

 is the density of Earth’s air

CD is the drag coefficient of an upright human body

A is the frontal surface area of the runner

 is the velocity of the runner

 

The physics of The Flash

https://www.everydaysciencestuff.com/the-physicis-of-the-flash/

 

 

·     Conclusion

 

Deconstructing superhero abilities using modern physics does not take away the magic of comic books. Instead, it showcases the boundaries of our universe’s laws. Ultimately, while the harsh realities of friction and mechanics make these powers impossible for regular humans, these heroes provide the ultimate scientific playground, proving that even in fiction you can never escape the laws of physics.

 

 

·     References

 

 

·      The Physics of Spiderman's Swing | Wolfram Demonstrations Project

·      The Swinging Spring: Regular and Chaotic Motion

·      The dynamics of the elastic pendulum

·      https://medium.com/@The_Science_of_Superheroes/how-does-the-flash-phase-through-walls-b922c21daec4

·      https://www.everydaysciencestuff.com/the-physicis-of-the-flash/

·      https://physics.info/drag/
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