The Physics of Superheroes

381 Pages·2005·7.98 MB·English

by  James Kakalios

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James Kakalios
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Physics of Superheroes, The
Gotham Book / published by arrangement with the author
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2005 by The Gotham Books Publishing Group.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by
mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could
subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.
For information address:
The Gotham Book Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com
ISBN: 0-7865-5945-4
GOTHAM BOOK®
Gotham Books first published by Penguin Publishing Group,
a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
GOTHAM BOOK and the "GOTHAM BOOK" design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.
Electronic edition: September 2005
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To Therese
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CONTENTS
Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Introduction:
Secret Origins: How Science Saved
Superhero Comic Books 1
Section 1—Mechanics
1. Up, Up, and Away—
Forces and Motion 21
2. Deconstructing Krypton—
Newton’s Law of Gravity 33
3. The Day Gwen Stacy Died—
Impulse and Momentum 42
4. Can He Swing from a Thread?—
Centripetal Acceleration 53
5. Flash Facts—
Friction, Drag, and Sound 57
6. Like a Flash of Lightning—
Special Relativity 69
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viii contents
7. If This Be My Density—
Properties of Matter 75
8. Can Ant-Man Punch His Way Out of a Paper Bag?—
Torque and Rotation 84
9. Is Ant-Man Deaf, Dumb, and Blind?—
Simple Harmonic Motion 92
10. Does Size Matter?—
The Cube-Square Law 100
Section 2—Energy—Heat and Light
1 1. The Central City Diet plan—
Conservation of Energy 111
12. The Case of the Missing Work—
The Three Laws of Thermodynamics 129
13. Mutant Meteorology—
Conduction and Convection 146
14. how The Monstrous Menace of the Mysterious
Melter Makes Dinner Preparation a Breeze—
Phase Transitions 158
15. Electro’s Clinging Ways—
Electrostatics 166
16. Superman Schools Spider-Man—
Electrical Currents 176
17. How Electro Becomes Magneto When He Runs—
Ampere’s Law 184
18. How Magneto Becomes Electro When He Runs—
Magnetism and Faraday’s Law 191
19. Electro and Magneto Do the Wave—
Electromagnetism and Light 202
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contents ix
Section 3—Modern Physics
20. Journey into the Microverse—
Atomic Physics 215
21. Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Tale!—
Quantum Mechanics 229
22.Through a Wall Lightly—
Tunneling Phenomena 249
23. Sock It to Shellhead—
Solid-State Physics 257
Section 4—What Have We Learned?
24. Me Am Bizarro!—
Superhero Bloopers 281
Afterword: Lo, There Shall Be an Ending! 300
Ask Dr. K! 305
Recommended Reading 311
Key Equations 317
Notes 323
acknowledgments 345
index 349
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Foreword
While Wile E. Coyote is by no stretch of the
imagination a superhero, I have to admit that it was this hapless
villain—who escaped almost certain death episode after episode
while continuing to fruitlessly chase the Road Runner with almost
Sisyphean intensity day in and day out—who first got me thinking
about the physics of illustrated characters. Even as a relatively
young boy hooked on television, I suspected there was something
fishy whenever I saw Wile E. run off a cliff and hover indefinitely
until the moment he realized there was no solid ground under-
neath. Somehow it seemed to me even then that gravity should
continue to work, whether or not one was conscious of it.
I bring this example up, in spite of the fact that it involves no
superheroes, and in fact involves a television cartoon rather than a
comic book figure, because it illustrates a point that has become
central to the way I think about teaching physics: Few things are
more memorable than confronting one’s own misconceptions. In-
deed, some among those of us who study “physics education” for
a living suggest that it is only by directly encouraging students to
run up against their own misconceptions that one can hope to
truly cause them to internalize what one is teaching them. I don’t
know whether this is true or not, but I do know that if you want to
reach out to understand popular misconceptions, then exploiting
where we get our cultural perspectives from is a good place to
start. And if that means borrowing from Superman, or Star Trek,
Iam all for it!
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xii foreword
Now, I don’t want you to think that I bring up comic books and
popular misconceptions in the same paragraph because I want to
denigrate the former. Far from it! Indeed, the comics sometimes
actually get it right, and as James Kakalios describes in his intro-
duction to this far-reaching journey from the gravity of Krypton to
the quantum mechanics of the X-Men, students often seem to
grumble about how the standard examples from his introductory
physics class have nothing to do with the real world they will en-
counter upon graduation. But when they are instead introduced to
the physics of superheroes, this complaint never arises!
One might initially wonder whether Superman might seem
more real to students than pulleys, ropes, and inclined planes. But
the real reason students don’t complain is undoubtedly that the
comic book examples are fun, while inclined planes aren’t. And
that is perhaps one of the most useful reasons for thinking about the
physics of superheroes. Not only can you imagine, and be intro-
duced to, lots of interesting physics, from everyday phenomena to
esoteric modern subjects, but it is actually fun to think about.
Moreover, while subjects like Quantum Mechanics might seem
intimidating, who could be intimidated by cute Kitty Pryde?
Some who remember the comic books that enthralled them as
young people might also recall a sense of wistfulness in pondering
whether our own world could ever capture the excitement and
drama of the worlds of comic book superheroes. In truth, however,
it is far more interesting and exciting, if only we open up our
minds to the hidden wonders of nature that science has revealed
to us over the past four hundred or so years. Truth is far stranger
than fiction, even comic book fiction. And finding out why is all
part of the fun.
Lawrence M. Krauss
Cleveland, Ohio, April 2005