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What laws of physics does Superman break?
- Thread starter KarishBHR
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StrikerObi
Member
Well, for one, he can blow a load like a shotgun right through a woman's back. Does that count?
Seriously though, I was thinking and I thought maybe that he can stop a train, but when he does all the force then crushes the train as if it were a beer can slamming into a frat guy's forehead.
Sure, he can fly, which breaks the law of gravity, but does it really? I'm sure gravity is pulling down on him, he just has an opposite, stronger, force pushing against it, thus casuing him to fly. When he's not flying he's not exerting that force against gravity. It's like jumping... only it lasts longer.
Seriously though, I was thinking and I thought maybe that he can stop a train, but when he does all the force then crushes the train as if it were a beer can slamming into a frat guy's forehead.
Sure, he can fly, which breaks the law of gravity, but does it really? I'm sure gravity is pulling down on him, he just has an opposite, stronger, force pushing against it, thus casuing him to fly. When he's not flying he's not exerting that force against gravity. It's like jumping... only it lasts longer.
Wellington
BAAAALLLINNN'
Transfer of focused energy through moderate distances with heat vision.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
He flys
Wellington
BAAAALLLINNN'
StrikerObi said:
That's true. The force required to turn a train into an accordion like that is ridiculous. Does he instantaneously gain weight in order to completely defy the law of conservation of momentum?
StrikerObi
Member
Wellington said:
No, he's just that fucking strong that his legs can withstand the force of momentum and keep them from breaking. They don't call him superman for nothing.
StrikerObi
Member
karasu said:
Well we haven't proven that light-speed is impossible. We think it can't happen but we haven't even gotten close to going that fast and we'll never know for sure until we do. Then we'll rewrite the textbooks.
The lifting shit is true though. If you put all the weight of a skyscraper on to one man's hand (obviously assuming he can hold it up) the building would probably crack at that point and then the whole thing would go.
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
Oh, like nearly all of them.
Wellington
BAAAALLLINNN'
StrikerObi said:
I don't deny his superstrength, but he needs to brace himself against something in order to generate the force to stop the train. Think of the Train scene in Spider-Man 2 and how he kept breaking the tracks.
AlphaSnake
...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
HE CAN TURN BACK TIME! :O
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
DMczaf said:
I <3 Superman IV.
Er, yeah, the ultrathin atmospheric pressure would have probably killed as well and then there is the temperature...
That depends on which Superman your teacher is refering to. Is he thinking of Golden-Age Superman? Silver-Age Superman? Movie Superman? The current comicbook version of Superman's power has already been described in a couple of issues I think. Superman generates a forcefield like aura that is like a millimeter from his skin(that probably explains why his costume is whole most of the time even after being in an explosion). The forcefield aura is what makes him invulneble, super-strong, survive in space, and allows him to fly. This was explain in a Superboy issue on why Superboy only has half of Supermans power(he doesn't have complete invulnebility for example or laser vision).
Yup, his flight is due to the forcefield aura around his body(called tactile-kenisis AFAIR)
Yup, his flight is due to the forcefield aura around his body(called tactile-kenisis AFAIR)
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
I'm sure anyone able to describe/explain such physics as his aura will probably have to write and rewrite new laws of physics anyway and get a noble prize in physics for it, that's if of course...
Cauliflower of Love
Banned
DaMan121 said:
His nose is the thrust
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
It's probably just silent propulsion from his ass....eg powerful farts that don't smell.
Gotta run to the gym, but here are a few thoughts off the top of my head. (I'm going to restrict this to laws of physics that he himself breaks, rather than the objects or other entities in the comic book. There are some other obvious violations, but those don't apply to Superman per se: objects not deforming under their own weight or other forces when being picked up, no generation of sonic booms causing damage to surrounding objects when flying near populated areas, etc.)
1) Newton's Third Law of Motion (as applied to flight). In order for him to fly, he must be exerting a force in the opposite direction...but what is that force? He does not appear to be shaped in a way to generate aerodynamic lift (like an airplane wing), and he does not appear to be ejecting mass at a high rate of speed in the opposite direction of flight (like a rocket engine).
2) Newton's Third Law of Motion (as applied to moving heavy objects). There is another violation of the Third Law which comes up all the time. Consider the example of Superman pushing something heavy. When he exerts force on the object, the object exerts force on him as well...and from Newton's Second Law of Motion (F=ma), a less massive object will tend to "move" (e.g. experience acceleration) more than a more massive object.
Even if he's strong enough to move the object, he still has the problem of how to maintain his footing, which is supplied by friction. (As an example, consider the case where you are trying to push a heavy box while standing on ice. You will slide away from the box, even if you are strong enough to push it on other surfaces. As the box gets heavier and heavier in the example, you would find yourself even slipping on surfaces with better traction.) Friction is proportional to the coefficient of friction between the two surfaces and to the normal force, which is itself proportional to mass. Since Superman's boots appear to be smooth, we do not suspect them to provide extra friction...
So, the only logical possibility for explaining how Superman can move heavy objects would be if he has an incredibly high mass (and consequently an extremely high density, since he is the size of a normal human). However, we have to reject this possibility since we see him sitting in chairs, driving in cars, etc., and these objects do not break. It would also be impossible for him to disguise himself as a normal human being -- a handshake with a super-dense "human" would feel like touching a brick wall, and that would DEFINITELY be noticed.
3) Conservation of energy. All of Superman's incredible feats must require incredible amounts of energy -- but where does that energy come from? It can't come from food -- it's nowhere near enough energy-dense to supply the kind of power needed to lift a skyscraper or shoot heat rays. The comics claim that his powers are derived from Earth's yellow sun, but that also seems to fail inspection. For one, he wears clothes over most of his skin, so the effective surface area to absorb the energy is fairly small. More importantly, though, solar energy is ALSO woefully insufficient to perform those kinds of feats. If you calculate the flux due to the radiation intensity at the Earth's surface and multiply by the effective surface area of his skin, I suspect you will find that he absorbs several orders of magnitude energy less than what he would require. Finally, where does he store the energy when the sun isn't visible? The comics never show him having difficulty fighting at night or on rainy days.
4) Time dilation. Superman arrived on Earth as an infant after traveling in a rocket from Krypton. We know that objects traveling at a high percentage of the speed of light experience time dilation in their local reference frame, so the fact that Superman's aging would have been slowed during the journey is not surprising. However, given that Krypton was implied to be FAR from Earth, and given that he ages at a rate comparable to humans, he SHOULD have aged quite a bit more by the time he arrived. (The nearest star to Earth is four light-years away.) Further, a "rocketship" traveling a 0.9999999...c would have to experience an incredible deceleration in order to enter the Earth's atmosphere and survive the impact -- and avoid destroying the planet!
5) X-ray vision. When using X-ray vision, Superman should only be able to see things as seen from that spectrum...however, some comics show him using it to see through walls, but observe the goings-on in the visible spectrum. He should only be able to see bones, metal, and other things which reflect X-rays.
6) Super-hearing. While not a "violation" of the laws of physics, his use of super-hearing in the comics is also completely unrealistic. If you have ears which can detect something very faint, at a great distance, or both, then those ears will be overwhelmed by loud, close sounds. You can detect faint sounds amid a lot of clutter with pattern matching, but that presupposes that you already know what sound you are looking for...not the case in the comics.
1) Newton's Third Law of Motion (as applied to flight). In order for him to fly, he must be exerting a force in the opposite direction...but what is that force? He does not appear to be shaped in a way to generate aerodynamic lift (like an airplane wing), and he does not appear to be ejecting mass at a high rate of speed in the opposite direction of flight (like a rocket engine).
2) Newton's Third Law of Motion (as applied to moving heavy objects). There is another violation of the Third Law which comes up all the time. Consider the example of Superman pushing something heavy. When he exerts force on the object, the object exerts force on him as well...and from Newton's Second Law of Motion (F=ma), a less massive object will tend to "move" (e.g. experience acceleration) more than a more massive object.
Even if he's strong enough to move the object, he still has the problem of how to maintain his footing, which is supplied by friction. (As an example, consider the case where you are trying to push a heavy box while standing on ice. You will slide away from the box, even if you are strong enough to push it on other surfaces. As the box gets heavier and heavier in the example, you would find yourself even slipping on surfaces with better traction.) Friction is proportional to the coefficient of friction between the two surfaces and to the normal force, which is itself proportional to mass. Since Superman's boots appear to be smooth, we do not suspect them to provide extra friction...
So, the only logical possibility for explaining how Superman can move heavy objects would be if he has an incredibly high mass (and consequently an extremely high density, since he is the size of a normal human). However, we have to reject this possibility since we see him sitting in chairs, driving in cars, etc., and these objects do not break. It would also be impossible for him to disguise himself as a normal human being -- a handshake with a super-dense "human" would feel like touching a brick wall, and that would DEFINITELY be noticed.
3) Conservation of energy. All of Superman's incredible feats must require incredible amounts of energy -- but where does that energy come from? It can't come from food -- it's nowhere near enough energy-dense to supply the kind of power needed to lift a skyscraper or shoot heat rays. The comics claim that his powers are derived from Earth's yellow sun, but that also seems to fail inspection. For one, he wears clothes over most of his skin, so the effective surface area to absorb the energy is fairly small. More importantly, though, solar energy is ALSO woefully insufficient to perform those kinds of feats. If you calculate the flux due to the radiation intensity at the Earth's surface and multiply by the effective surface area of his skin, I suspect you will find that he absorbs several orders of magnitude energy less than what he would require. Finally, where does he store the energy when the sun isn't visible? The comics never show him having difficulty fighting at night or on rainy days.
4) Time dilation. Superman arrived on Earth as an infant after traveling in a rocket from Krypton. We know that objects traveling at a high percentage of the speed of light experience time dilation in their local reference frame, so the fact that Superman's aging would have been slowed during the journey is not surprising. However, given that Krypton was implied to be FAR from Earth, and given that he ages at a rate comparable to humans, he SHOULD have aged quite a bit more by the time he arrived. (The nearest star to Earth is four light-years away.) Further, a "rocketship" traveling a 0.9999999...c would have to experience an incredible deceleration in order to enter the Earth's atmosphere and survive the impact -- and avoid destroying the planet!
5) X-ray vision. When using X-ray vision, Superman should only be able to see things as seen from that spectrum...however, some comics show him using it to see through walls, but observe the goings-on in the visible spectrum. He should only be able to see bones, metal, and other things which reflect X-rays.
6) Super-hearing. While not a "violation" of the laws of physics, his use of super-hearing in the comics is also completely unrealistic. If you have ears which can detect something very faint, at a great distance, or both, then those ears will be overwhelmed by loud, close sounds. You can detect faint sounds amid a lot of clutter with pattern matching, but that presupposes that you already know what sound you are looking for...not the case in the comics.
karasu
Member
tenchir said:
I mean that his costume is constantly destroyed and he still fights after he bruises and bleeds. If he has a force field up, by the time he bleeds it would mean that his force field was down and he was totally vunerable so he'd die from one punch. They don't do that. I don't think the forcefield makes sense at all as some stuff clearly touches him. He wouldn't even be able to leave finger prints or make real contact with a thin forcefield around him. And how would he eat, or
get his throat cut
Well no. I only mentioned it because he doesn't fart his way thorugh the airways.
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
Well jinx just schooled our asses and very interesting to read when put into Superhero comic context comparison, university professors should do that!!
I guess my ass flight is thrown out the window, Superman would need the equivalent of a rocket ass and things would certainly be blown away just from flyiing.
I guess my ass flight is thrown out the window, Superman would need the equivalent of a rocket ass and things would certainly be blown away just from flyiing.
karasu said:
Being bruised and bleeding doesn't mean that the forcefield aura was down, it just means that it doesn't completely protects him from overwhelming physical force(against Doomsday or from attacks that is stronger than his aura can handle) or against other forces(magic). It also seems that the aura gets weaker as Superman uses up his energy. Also, the aura thing wasn't completely explained on how it works, so it doesn't really conflict with him not being able to touch or feel things. They only says what the aura does, not how it works.
FreakyFink
Member
karasu said:
Thors a God, he's primary magic. Surfers a comsic beings who's mostly energy. I have no idea who Exodus is, but I at least all of the above have something in common, they are all incredibly dense, or how else are they able to lift up tons of weight without their arms ripping off?
Can you explain why Superman suddenly loses all of his power(and becomes pretty much a human in terms of strength) when he doesn't have his power source? Without the aura, he has to be really dense(and heavy) to be able to lift 100s of tons, but he isn't dense. The aura explains that issue perfectly and it's a simple concept. Superman is from a race of Kryptonian who genetically engineered themselves so his power is based on science and not from freak accidents or magic. Think about it, Superman has lots of unidentified organs(also read from comics) that lots of fans theorized generates each of his abilities(vision, hearing, aura) and they shutdown once he doesn't have access to a power source that fuels them.
P.S. I now realize I read too much comics.
karasu
Member
tenchir said:
Because it's a comic book and they're near invunerable. Rogue isn't incredibly dense and she does the same crud. Same with Maxima, Power Girl, Wonder Man, Strong Guy, Mr Majestic, etc etc etc. I don't really see how a force field would keep Superman from dislocating his shoulder when he lifts some of these things. I could understand if it protects him from external damage, but internal? Come on.
No I can't explain it in a believable way because it's not believable. His powers are energy based. If he doesn't have the energy he doesn't have the power. Maybe his skin just hardens, Like The Hulk's or whoever. The character was created in 1938, they were far more simple times and the books were aimed at kids. None of these characters are dense enough to lift the millions of tons that they constantly lift or withstand the crap that theyd o. There is no justification for certain aspects of the characters. Superman punched Captain Marvel from Metropolis to Hawaii with one shot. It had nothing to do with density or force fields. It's entertainment. The 'aura' just raises even more questions. And to me, the entire idea is ignored from book to book.With a force field, Parasite surely wouldn't be a threat. When Metallo shot Superman with that Kryptonite Bullet, I didn't see any force field break.
Huh. Dunno about that. I know Kryptonians have Triple Helix DNA but everything I've read said that the only differences that can be seen between them and humans are on a molecular level. Not anything to do with organs.
karasu said:
I am recalling this from a Superman arc. After the fight against Gog, when Gog injected liquid kryptonite into him. Superbo and Wonderwoman rushed Superman to the hospital, his powers were on and off like crazy. Anyway, the doctor that was examining him noticed that he has extra unidentifiable organs when he was scanning Superman. The doctor was able to scan Superman(look inside) because whatever powers(seems to be the aura) that prevents people from looking inside Superman seems to be shut off.
Jade Knight 08
Member
What about flying in space?
Since space is weightlessness then how come superman changes directions when he's flying though space? He just can't turn left or right or changes his mind and fly back to earth.
my only guess is if he's using his breath to change his flying direction, or using planet's gravation or any other object force to help him to change his trajectory. <---- only if that in real life.
it must be:
Since space is weightlessness then how come superman changes directions when he's flying though space? He just can't turn left or right or changes his mind and fly back to earth.
my only guess is if he's using his breath to change his flying direction, or using planet's gravation or any other object force to help him to change his trajectory. <---- only if that in real life.
it must be:
let the fart force be with thee :lol j/k
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
Do you get higher grades if you deliver weak content in a quirky format?
Then again, possibly you're at a level where including something like that stuff jinx came up with would make it obvious you got it from elsewhere.
Lois was on the verge of tears? Did she have something in her eye?
Then again, possibly you're at a level where including something like that stuff jinx came up with would make it obvious you got it from elsewhere.
Lois was on the verge of tears? Did she have something in her eye?
Arrowgigantic
Member
I'm a believer that eventually a Grand Unified Theory will be developed, so I will have to say one.
One of the few things I remember from the incredibly lightweight Astronomy class I had in college seemed to vaguely explain how heat rays from the eye could work...
If I remember correctly, if you have a sealed object with a single hole in it (and the object is black?), the internal pressure/density/SOMETHING of the object will impact light energy sent in and reflect it out as a different kind/level of light radiation.
Yes, that's vague. I'm sure someone here could explain it better.
Anyway, it seemed to me (at the time) that if a human had rather impressively tough eyeballs, and could somehow control the pressure at which the contents of eyeball were kept, one could convert standard light that enters the pupil into other forms of light radiation (?) in the spectrum... allowing intense infrared beams.
Am I correct in any of this?
If I remember correctly, if you have a sealed object with a single hole in it (and the object is black?), the internal pressure/density/SOMETHING of the object will impact light energy sent in and reflect it out as a different kind/level of light radiation.
Yes, that's vague. I'm sure someone here could explain it better.
Anyway, it seemed to me (at the time) that if a human had rather impressively tough eyeballs, and could somehow control the pressure at which the contents of eyeball were kept, one could convert standard light that enters the pupil into other forms of light radiation (?) in the spectrum... allowing intense infrared beams.
Am I correct in any of this?
Phoenix
Member
karasu said:
Actually he can travel faster than the speed of light, so much faster than he can reverse the process of time in mere moments.
His clothes seem to defy all the laws of physics as they never get destroyed - hell torn, in most his battles.
When he starts flight there is no downward force on the ground. What the folks did in the Matrix is closer to being correct when Neo crushes the ground beneath him before taking off. For every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. You take off at Mach2, a force of that magnitude will be directed behind you either at the ground, or at the innocent civies in the area (squish, just like grape).
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