The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios

IntroductionP6 Golden Age of Comics (1940s)

-less scienceSilver age of Comics (late 1950s-60s)-more science

P7 newspaper rivalry in 1890s between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst-printed comic strips in papers-comics appealed to immigrants with limited English skills

P8 Superman rejected by papersP9 Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) for 10 centsP10 1940s Green Lantern

-made ring and received powers from mysterious Chinese lantern-not powerful against wood

P10 Green Lantern reinvented in 1959-lantern and ring (and powers) from outer space-chemical impurity in ring left him vulnerable to yellow

P10 Spiderman created in 1962-bite from radioactive spider

P10 Spiderman reinvented in 2000 (comics) and 2002 (film)-bite from genetically engineered spider

P10 heroes reinvented with the current cultural settings and fearsP11 Comics Code Authority (CCA)

-self regulation to avoid government interference-could not show: gore, lewdness, drug use, zombies, vampires

P12 Marvel no longer belongs to CCA regulations-self regulates using a system similar to movies

P14 comic book writers used to be pulp science fiction writers who were paid by the word-include facts and trivial information to increase number of words-give educational value to keep government away

Section 1: Mechanics

Chapter 1: Up, up, and away-Forces and MotionP21 Superman’s powers on Earth due to Krypton having a stronger gravityP22 flight, heat and x-ray vision, super-hearing, super-breath, super-hypnotism

-can’t be explained with gravityP22 Action Comics #262: powers now explained by fact that Krypton had a red sun

and Earth has a yellow sun-surface temperature and atmosphere it is viewed through affect color

P22 sky is blue because blue light is scatteredP24 kryptonite’s effects on Superman introduced so radio actor could go on vacation

-different actor could just moan into microphone

P24 leap a tall building-660 feet (Superman #1)

P24 Newton’s 3 Laws of MotionP25 F=maP26 Why can’t an astronaut pick up Space Station?

-it has a large mass (even if weightless)P28 force pairs

-Superman jumping: legs push down on ground; ground pushes up on his legsP30 Superman must jump at 140 mph to leap a tall building (660 ft)P32 5,600 lbs. of force needed to jump buildingP32 gravity on Krypton 15X larger than on Earth

Chapter 2: Deconstructing Krypton-Newton’s Law of GravityP33 Newton’s Law of Gravity

P34 Superman’s mass = 100 kgP34 acceleration of gravity:

P34-35tie a string to a bucket and swing in a horizontal circle-tension of string not acting in direction that bucket is moving-tension in string can only change direction, not speed

P35 if there was no gravity, moon would fly past Earth in a straight lineP35 if there was gravity but the moon was stationary, the moon would be pulled into

the EarthP35-36

Large bodies can only be spheres because of gravity-spherical shape separates planets from asteroids which have odd shapes-Kakalios implies he would group Pluto with the planets

P36 Bizarro’s home planet (cubical) must be small-radius from center to any side face must be 300 miles-too small to hold an atmosphere

P36

P37 Krypton unlikely to be 15X denser than EarthP37 size of atom analogy to explain why 15X as dense as Earth is unlikely

-nucleus is size of a marble (1 cm)-electron 100 yards away

P38 Earth density 5 g/cm3 (densest planet)15X greater = 75 g/cm3 (no normal matter is this dense)

P38 if Krypton has the same density as Earth, it would need to have a radius 15X larger than Earth’s to have the gravity it does-Jupiter is 11X larger than Earth-if Jupiter were 10X larger, it would be same size as sun

P39 large planets will be gas because they need a lot of atoms and most of universe is gas: the universe is 73% H by mass and 25% He by mass

P39 large planets are far from sun: if they weren’t, the gases would boil offP39 Krypton can’t be made of normal matterP40 nuclei up to Fe created in starsP40 elements up to U created as star collapses in a supernovaP40 neutron stars-remnant of really large starsP40-41

A sphere of r = 600 m of neutron star material at core of Earth-sized planet would give g = 150 m/s2

P41 this would make the planet unstable-would explode like Krypton did!

Chapter 3: The Day Gwen Stacey Died – Impulse and MomentumP43 DC comics had the Justice League of America (Wonder Woman, Flash, Green

Lantern, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, etc.)-Marvel did not have superheroes

P43 Stan Lee created the Fantastic Four for Marvel (1961)-heroes complained about their powers

P44 Spider-Man debut in Amazing Fantasy #15-bit by radioactive spider-able to lift several times his weight-made web shooters for wrists-2002 movie had webs shoot from within his wrists

P45 “with great power there must also come great responsibility”-Uncle BenP45 Peter Parker’s girlfriend Gwen Stacey dies in Amazing Spider-Man #121 (1973)P45 Green Goblin debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #14P45 Green Goblin drops Gwen Stacey from top of tower on George Washington

Bridge-Spider-Man catches her with a web near bottom-pulls her up and finds her dead-Green Goblin stated, “She was dead before your webbing reached her! A fall from that height would kill anyone-before they struck the ground!”

P48 How large is the force supplied by Spider-Man’s webbing when stopping the falling Gwen Stacey?

P48 assume she fell 300 feet before the webbing caught her-her velocity at this point would be 95 mph

P49P49 air bags

-increase impact time to lower force-increase area of impact

P49 boxer rolling with punch

P50 assume Gwen is 50 kgTime to stop 0.5 secondsThen stopping force will be: F = 970 pounds (~10 Gs!)Therefore, the rapid deceleration from Spider-Man’s web broke her neck!

P50 Col. John Stapp (1954) rode a rocket sled at 40 Gs during deceleration and livedP51 2002 Spider-Man movie

-Green Goblin drops Mary Jane from Queensboro Bridge-Spider-Man catches up to Mary Jane before shooting a web to swing away

Chapter 4: Can He Swing from a Thread?-Centripetal AccelerationP53 a force can only produce an acceleration in the direction it actsP54 webbing has to supply 2 forces

1) Spider-Man’s weight2) a force to cause parabolic motion

P55 for circular motion

P55 web must supply these 2 forces:1) mg

2)

P55 if Spider-Man’s web is 200 feet long, swinging at 50 mph, then the centripetal acceleration would be a = 27 ft/s2, and g = 32 ft/s2

-assume his mass is 73 kg (160 lbs)-Fc = 135 lbs-total force on web = 160 lbs + 135 lbs = 195 lbs

P55 a spider’s dragline silk webbing is 5X stronger per pound than steel cable and more elastic than nylon

P55 spider webs filled with fluid to distribute tensile force-control tensile force by varying chemical composition of web

P55-56Spider web making genes spliced into goats-goats’ milk will contain webbing to collect-has run into problems (unspecified)

P56 success with injecting it into viruses, E. coli, plantsP56 webbing can withstand impact 5X stronger than KevlarP56 real webs can support 20,000 lbs/cm2

Chapter 5: Flash Facts-Friction, Drag, and SoundP57 police scientist Barry Allen exposed to lightning and chemicals-became the FlashP58 ran up side of office building in Showcase #4P58 action-reaction forces for walkingP59 Captain Cold would use his “freeze ray” gun to create ice in front of the Flash

-couldn’t moveP59 friction first addressed scientifically in early 1500s by Leonardo Da VinciP59 atomic physics of 1920s lead to fundamental understanding of friction

P59 2 ways for matter to be arranged:1) crystalline structure2) random, amorphous grouping

P59 friction like flipping Rocky Mountains upside down on Himalayas and dragging across them

P60 when Flash ran up the side of a building, none of his weight was perpendicular to the wall-frictional force should have been zero-shouldn’t have been able to run up wall

P61 when running/walking, your foot pushes at an angle with the ground-propels up and forward

P61 if Flash bounces up 2 cm with each step, then he is in the air for 1/8 of a secondP61 if Flash runs at 3,600 mph, then in 1/8 s, he moves about 1/8 mile forward

between steps (660 feet…like Superman’s building)-in this way, he doesn’t have to touch building to “run” up it

P61 must tolerate acceleration needed to change direction from horizontal to verticalP61-62

Flash can run across water because viscosity increases with density and velocity(page 64 has an exception: Ketchup-hit the bottom of bottle and viscosity actually decreases with increased velocity)

P62 speed of sound/shock wave-when trying to move faster than air molecules, they can’t get out of way fast enough and pile up in front

P62-63Flash used this principle to stop the Weather Wizard (Flash #110)-knocked him over with the pressure of the piled up air

P63 running at over 100 mph, water molecules can’t move out of the way fast enough and form a shock front (meaning you can run on water if you do so at 100 mph)-water skiers

P64 region behind Flash becomes partial vacuum as he pushes air out of the way-air rushes in from sides and back-supplies forward force

P64 whenever Flash runs 750 mph, he outruns sound waves approaching him-can’t communicate with sound

P66-67Doppler Effect-for frequency detected by the Flash to be 20,000 Hz (if 100 Hz was emitted), he’d have to run 150,000 mph (0.02 % speed of light)

P67-68Flash stops bullets by moving his hand at same speed (1,000 mph) as bullet-relative velocity is zero-so he can grab bullet (Flash #124)

Chapter 6: Like a Flash of Lightning-Special RelativityP69 Flash is running faster than sound

-Flash is running at you from a distance of 10 miles-he yells “Flash”-when 5 miles away, he yells “Rules”-you’ll hear “Rules Flash”

P70 Flash is running at the speed of sound, and does everything as above-you’d hear both words at the same time

P70 In Flash #202 (vol 2) he blew out windows from his sonic boom caused by his super speed

P71 Special Theory of Relativity1) can’t travel faster than light (186,000 miles/second)2) laws of physics same for everyone everywhere

P72 Flash running toward you near the speed of light1) he appears thinner to you2) time slows down for him3) he makes same observations about you

P73 can’t exceed speed of light-force of feet on ground is constant-if acceleration doesn’t keep increasing, then mass must increase (F=ma)-JLA #89 (near light speed travel increased his mass)-mass only increases while moving

Chapter 7: If This Be My Density-Properties of MatterP75 Dr. Henry Pym…Ant-Man-was a biochemist

-taunted by other scientists for not doing practical research-worked on shrinking potion

P75 his 1st exposure to his potion led him to an adventure in an ant hillP79 miniaturization is physically impossible because of the atom-to make something

smaller requires:1) making atoms smaller2) removing a large % of atoms3) pushing atoms closer together

P79 size of atom ~1/3 of a nanometer-all atoms same size to within factor of 3

P80 size of atom determined by:1) mass of electron2) charge of electron3) # of protons in nucleus4) Planck’s constant, h-these are all constants, so you can’t change the size of an atom

P81 2nd option to shrink-remove atoms-to go from 6 ft to 6 inches (and corresponding reduction in width and thickness) would require only keeping 1 of every 1,729 atoms (keep 1, remove 1,728)

P81 it is a myth that humans only use 10% of their brains-if true, it would be a huge evolutionary waste of space

P81 brain neuron has a width of 1/1,000 cm (ant or human)P81 humans have ~400,000 times more neurons than antsP82 remove a large % of these and we’d lose a lot of intelligence

P82 3rd option to shrink-push atoms closer together-electrons repel the electrons in other atoms (difficult to keep close together)-rigid, like marbles-can’t compress smaller without crushing atoms

Chapter 8: Can Ant-Man Punch His Way Out of a Paper Bag?-Torque and RotationP84 Ant-Man rode on carpenter ants so he could travel faster

-implies his mass decreased with his sizeP84 built spring-loaded catapult to launch himself across town

-called upon insects to break his landingP85 Ant-Man punched his way out of a vacuum cleaner bag in Tales to Astonish #37

(had strength of a normal human)-could he do this?

P86 human strength comes from muscles and skeleton structure by way of levers-teeter-totter: balance torques, not forces

P87 try closing a door by pushing near hinges, then try closing by pushing near handle-will be easier to close by handle-same as a wrench-longer lever arm

P87 example of lifting a rock in your hand-bicep compresses which forces part of forearm closest to elbow down-this raises the end furthest from elbow (hand goes up)

P87 muscles only contract and pull (do not push)P87-88

Fulcrum of forearm is at elbow-like a fishing rod

P88 bicep pulls 2 inches in front of elbow (forearm ~14 inches long)-factor of 7 to 1-to lift 2 lbs requires 14 pounds of lifting force from the bicep

P88 likewise, when the bicep contracts 2 inches, your hand raises 14 inchesP88 hand displacement of 12 inches occurs in about 0.1 s (7 mph)P88 from evolutionary point of view: able to throw rocks/spears at animals much

faster than if we didn’t have this reverse lever (requires more force to lift, but increases speed)

P89 force of muscles depends on cross-sectional areaP89 if Ant-Man is 0.01X his normal height, his muscles have a cross-section of

(0.01)2=0.0001-if he can punch with 200 lbs when full size, then scaled down force is 0.02 lbs-assume Ant-Man’s hand is 1 mm wide (0.0005 in2)-pressure of punch would be 40 lbs/in2 as Ant-Man-as full-sized Henry Pym, pressure of punch would be: 200 lbs/5 in2 = 40 lbs/in2 as well

P89 Ant-Man can punch out of a paper bag

Why being bitten by a radioactive spider isn’t all its cracked up to beP89 if a spider can jump 1 m (500X its body height), then Spider-Man should have

been able to jump 3,000 ftP90 (jumping height does NOT depend on mass)P90 acceleration needed to jump up (and hence v) does depend on mass (F=ma)P90-91

Insects: small force but a small massHumans: large force but a large mass-same effect

Chapter 9: Is Ant-Man Deaf, Dumb, and Blind?-Simple Harmonic MotionP92 all shrunken superheroes would have difficulty communicating with non-

shrunken peopleP92 as Ant-Man shrinks, his voice becomes higher pitched

-will be at upper range of normal-sized human hearing-he will also only be able to hear higher frequencies

P92 his vision will be blurryP94-95

Pendulums-shrinking length of pendulum decreases period or increases frequency

P95 Henry Pym shrinks 300 times-increases frequency 17 times ( )

P95 normal human speech is ~200 cycles/second-Ant-Man would be 17X this (3,400 cycles/s)-normal range is 20 to 20,000 cycles/s

P96 resonant frequency of eardrum rises as its diameter shrinksP96 since lowest pitch a normal human can hear is 20 cycles/s, at 17X larger, it is 340

cycles/s for Ant-Man-normal speaking is below this at 200 cycles/s-Ant-Man can’t hear this speech

P96-97Because of shrinking, Ant-Man’s voice will not forcefully move air-the volume of his speech will be low-conversely, normal sounds for a human would be too loud for him to distinguish

P97 Ant-Man’s vision will be blurry-visible light ~500 nm-normal pupil 5 cm (10,000X larger than light)-Ant-Man’s pupil 300X smaller (30X larger than light)-light will diffract (like water waves diffracting between docks)-vision will be blurry (out of focus) as a result

P99 smell is least sensitive sense, and least affected by shrinking

Chapter 10: Does Size Matter?-The Cube-Square LawP101 Henry Pym developed a growth potion and became Giant-Man (Goliath) in Tales

to Astonish #49

P102 being larger means more light could enter larger pupils and you’d have to wear protective goggles

P102 also, can only be a certain size because of strength of bonesP103 sometimes scientists have to make simplifications in order to understand natureP104 assume Giant-Man is a cube (cylinder is a more accurate approximation, but the

math is more complicated)-each side has length, L

P104 doubling each side makes the volume 8X larger-sides 10X longer makes volume 1,000X larger

P104 to keep same density as he grows, mass must increase by same factor as his volume (NOT length)-get too large, and his bones will break

P104 ability to withstand being pulled apart or crushed is tensile strength-depends on cross-sectional area

P105 think of fishing line rated at 20 lbs-more length will not lift more weight-only a thicker line will lift more weight

P105 apple trees (and other trees) make use of this for reproduction-apple becomes too heavy-stem breaks and apple falls to ground-eaten by animals and seeds then taken to new locations

P105 this limits how far Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) of the Fantastic Four can stretch-cannot extend length of body beyond 500 yards (Fantastic Four Annual #1)

P105-106Mr. Fantastic’s muscles become weaker the further he stretches-consider a 6 ft 2x4 board supported at each end: it won’t sag much in the middle-however, a 60 ft 2x4 board supported at each end would sag a lot in the middle-my note to self: like my “Strong-Man Demo” with a brick on a string

P106 As Henry Pym grows into Giant-Man, his volume increases faster than his cross-sectional area-volume and mass increase as the cube of the growth factor-cross-sectional area (and bone strength) only grows as the square of the growth factor

P106 assume Henry Pym is 6ft tall and 185 lbs-femur can support 18,000 lbs-vertebrae can support 800 lbs-femurs of elephants and dinosaurs thicker and denser than human femurs

P106 at 60 ft tall, Giant-Man’s growth factor is 10-weight and volume would be 1,000X greater (185,000 lbs)-cross-section of bones would be 100X greater-femur can support 1,800,000 lbs but vertebrae could only support 80,000 lbs-since his weight would be greater than the breaking strength of his neck, his neck would break!

P107-108Cube-square law applies to bubbles rising in a fluid like Coke-volume (and buoyant force) depends on r3

-resistance depends on surface area which depends on r2

-bubble would accelerate to top of liquid-if glass was tall enough, bubble would reach terminal velocity

Section 2: Energy-Heat and Light

Chapter 11: The Central City Diet Plan-Conservation of EnergyP111 How often does the Flash need to eat?P112 ‘”energy” is a measure of the ability to cause motion’P113 Conservation of Energy

-pendulum exampleP114 as a car travels 1 mile, it must move 1 ton of air out of the wayP115 the smaller the surface area of a car, the greater its fuel efficiency if the mass is

the sameP115 all the energy of the universe was present at the Big Bang

-volume was smaller than an electronP115 within the first second after the big Bang, energy density had dropped enough for

matter to form (E=mc2)-protons and electrons-like cooling water forming crystals

P116 in 1997, scientists collided high-energy gamma rays and created electron/positron pairs

P116 nobody really knows what energy is or where it came fromP116 work is performed when a force acts on an object over a certain distance

-changes kinetic energyP116 for a falling mass, work=mghP118 in Flash #106, the Flash needed to stop chasing an object moving at 500 mph

-stops in 15 feet-W=Fx-F=80,000 lbs!

P119 KE=

-the Flash’s caloric requirements increase as the square of his velocityP119 if the Flash’s mass is 70 kg and he runs at 1% of the speed of light (not near his

top speed)-75 trillion calories

P120 to a physicist, 1 calorie is defined as the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 10 C

P120 the food calorie = 1,000 physics calories-divide the Flash’s 75 trillion calories by 1,000-still needs 75 billion Food Calories-would need to eat 150 million cheeseburgers (probably twice as much as ½ our caloric intake goes into maintaining metabolic functions)

P120 if the Flash stops running, and wants to go this fast again, he needs to eat this amount again!

P123 the helium nucleus weighs 99.3% of the mass of 2 deuterium nuclei (proton + neutron) [E=mc2]-if it was 99.2%: too much energy would be released

-all protons in the early universe would have formed He nuclei and no fuel would have been left for stars

-if it was 99.4%: deuterium would not form-fusing of He could not proceed; stars would shine too dimly to synthesize elements or form supernova explosions to produce and spread heavy elements

P124 oxygen needed to release energy in foodP124 for elite runners: 70 cm3 of O2 per kilogram of runner mass is used per minute at a

pace of 6 minutes per mile-if Flash is 70 kg, he uses 30 liters of O2 per mile-would have to run 10 m/s for 500 billion years to use up O2 in Earth’s atmosphere

P125 the Flash carries a bubble of air around him-“no-slip zone” in fluid mechanics

P125-126Laminar flow in pipes (all fluid moving in same direction)-ring closet to pipe wall slowest; fastest in middle

Chapter 12: The Case of the Missing Work-The Three Laws of ThermodynamicsP129-130

Ray Palmer, a physicist, became The Atom when he discovered a chunk of white dwarf star-can shrink to smaller than an electron-can independently change size and mass (density not constant)

P130 The Atom was normally 180 lbs. (82 kg) and 6 ft tall-if he reduces to 6 inches, he is 12 times smaller-his volume decreases 1,728 times (12x12x12)-if he had constant density, mass would be 47 grams (however, he is able to keep is full weight by using a control on his belt)

P131-132Could reduce mass to be carried by hot air currents

P133 ‘”heat” describes any exchange of energy without the system performing work’P133 First Law of Thermodynamics-‘any change in the energy of an object can only

come about by either a transfer of heat or the performance of work’P134-135

In the comic Atom #2, the Atom is pushed upward and warmed by the hot, rising air from a fire-‘net change in the Atom’s total energy is the sum of the heat flow and the work done on him’

P138 entropy describes the number of different ways a system can arrange itself-a new deck of cards, arranged in numerical order by suit has low entropy-thoroughly shuffled deck has high entropy (hard to know which card is next)

P138-1392 rooms-one filled with air, and the other a vacuum with the door between them closed-some air pushes on door; if door unlocked, air will push door open into the vacuum room

P140 car engine-only exploding gasoline molecules headed toward the top of the piston will move it and do useful work-other molecules are wasted energy and do no work-this is the Second Law of Thermodynamics

P140 2nd Law of Thermodynamics-no process can be 100% efficientP140-141

Blowing on your hot coffee blows off most energetic molecules so that the average KE decreases (temperature drops)-evaporative cooling

P143 the Third Law of Thermodynamics-the entropy is zero only when the temperature is zero-no atomic vibrations at zero degrees Kelvin-temperatures above zero give the atoms KE so they can arrange themselves in many ways

P143 only way to beat 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is to use systems with zero entropy-only occurs at zero degrees Kelvin-but at zero Kelvin, no heat flows to power engines; therefore, there is no way to get around 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

P144 Brownian Motion (Robert Brown)-pollen grain darted back and forth in a water drop-Einstein explained in his 1905 PhD dissertation paper-related to temperature of the medium

P145 random motion of air on your eardrums produces deflections at the threshold of hearing-can hear air bombarding your eardrums if in a very quiet room

Chapter 13: Mutant Meteorology-Conduction and ConvectionP146 Bobby Drake appeared as Iceman in X-Men #1P146-147

Iceman lowered his body temperature to below 320 F so water condensed on him and froze-heat he subtracts from surroundings when water freezes must be deposited somewhere…where does it go in his case?

P147 refrigerators remove heat from inside and dump it out the back-warm up room by leaving refrigerator door open: struggles to cool down so motor will work harder and dump more heat out the back and into the kitchen, warming the air

P147 when water vapor condenses, it warms the surrounding air-this less dense, warmer air keeps clouds afloat

P148 water molecules will form a hexagon with each otherP148 conduction is when molecules diffuse from a high temperature region

P148-149Water molecules in cloud display Brownian motion-random walk-outer edges of snowflake grow faster than inner region because they are closer to other water molecules

P149 Iceman traveled by creating unsupported ice slides-not physically possible; would collapse once he went beyond center of mass

P150 to see this, slide a book to edge of table-all on table: ok-some hanging over, but most on table: ok-up to midpoint: ok-more of book overhanging than is on the table: torque rotates book and it falls

P151 original 1960-1970 X-Men not very successfulP151-152

All New, All Different X-Men created in 1975 introduced Ororo Munroe (Storm), Logan (Wolverine), Peter Rasputin (Colossus), and Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) was popular

P153 cold air sinks because it has low KE and is pulled to the ground by gravityP153 hot air rises because it has a high KE and can scatter off of other molecules into

the region vacated by the cool airP154 this is convectionP154 convection is efficient at transferring energyP154 double-paned windows prevent convection rolls in a roomP154-155

cold air is dense and therefore has less room to hold water moleculesP155 if Storm can control the local temperature, she could control pressure and

humidity as a result-rain or snow, even lightning

Chapter 14: How the Monstrous Menace of the Mysterious Melter makes Dinner Preparation a Breeze-Phase Transitions

P158 Iron Man (Tony Stark) debuted in Tales of Suspense #39P159 Bruno Horgan (The Melter) had a melting ray he tried to use on Iron ManP161 the Flash could escape being entombed in ice from Captain Cold by vibrating

back and forth-imparts KE to ice-100,000 times/second over a distance of ½ inch gives 35 million Joules of energy

(kg m2/s2) because of

-melting ice requires 336 J/kg (Flash can melt 100 kg of ice)P161-162

electrons in atoms may not be perfectly distributed around it-charge imbalance allows an external electric field to influence it

P162 atoms will line up with this field-switching field back and forth 1800 causes all atoms to rotate-heats whole material more efficiently than conduction

P162 microwave emitters (magnetrons) were developed for radar use in WWII

P162 engineer Percy L. Spencer discovered its cooking application in 1945 when a candy bar in his pocket melted near a magnetron

P162 make an “ice cup” and fill it with water-place in microwave-can boil water inside while cup stays frozen-demonstrates that liquids are more easily vibrated and rotated than solids

P164 new weapons tuned to the resonant frequency of water are being used for crowd control-heat makes people want to move away from area

P164 you can put metal in a microwave oven-electrons in metal will flow-charge builds up at sharp edges-creates new electric field in object-if field is > 12,000 volts/cm, spark can result

Chapter 15: Electro’s Clinging Ways-ElectrostaticsP166 almost all forces we experience, other than gravity, are electrostaticP166-167

Examples of electrical forces:-force of muscles-force of chair pushing you up (support)-force of hot gases in car cylinder

P168 Max Dillon became the villain Electro in Amazing Spider-Man #9-struck by lightning-could store and discharge electrical energy

P168-169had to recharge at city power stations-he was a rechargeable taser gun

P170 attractive force between protons and electrons roughly cancels out repulsive force between electrons in atoms-uranium about same size as carbon

P170 Coulomb’s Law- F=k[(charge 1)x(charge 2)]/(distance)2

-17th Century French scientist Charles CoulombP171 k is much larger than GP171 proton and electron have same magnitude of charge but proton about 2,000 times

more massive-force of electrostatic attraction actually 10 thousand trillion trillion trillion times stronger than gravity (1x1040)

P171 at this time, we only know of positive mass and attractive gravity-some astronomical observations point to ‘antigravity’ and ‘dark energy’ although this is controversial

P172 if a second electron is brought near an electron orbiting a proton, the second electron will reach a point where it has no net force acting on it (attraction to proton cancelled by repulsion of electrons)-this is analogous to the idea of gravitational levitation except there is only one type of mass (positive)

P172 the Flash should pick up a lot of electrons when he runsP172 walk across the carpet in dry conditions and you pick up electrons

-spread across whole body-they repel each other and look for a way to leave

P172-173driving a car picks up charge and then discharges when you touch the door handle-is painful because the surface area of your finger is small (current/area is large)

-better to touch with forearm or elbow-fingertips have a lot of nerve endings

P173-174Swiss engineer George de Mestral investigated why burrs clung to his pants on hikes-invented Velcro

P174 geckos can climb walls and ceilings because of millions of microscopic hairs on its toes called setae-static cling-charge fluctuations in setae induce opposite charge in wall

-van der Waals force-each hair supplies a small force

P174 2002 movie Spider-Man showed Peter Parker had microscopic barbs growing from his fingers

P174 University of Manchester in England has developed ‘gecko tape’-millions of tiny fibers-fibers must be small to maximize surface area to volume since only outer surface contributes to force

Chapter 16: Superman Schools Spider-Man – Electrical CurrentsP176 the pull exerted on electrons in a wire is called voltageP177 electric field greater than 12,000 volts/cm needed to make electrons jump gap in

airP177 an object will not discharge if all the surrounding objects have the same chargeP178 electrons will not flow through a wire with a voltage across it unless it is

connected to something-think of a brick held over your head: keeps its potential energy stored until you let go and it can fall

P178 2 points must have different electrical potential for current to flow and there must be a ground-water will flow between 2 faucets connected by a hose as long as they have different water pressures and the lower pressure faucet can dump its excess water down a drain (ground)

P178-179Superman #1 got it right-birds on 1 wire are safe (same potential)-touch 1 wire and a pole or 2 wires at different potential and you will get shocked

P180 Amazing Spider-Man #9 got it wrong-chair thrown over Electro’s head will not attract his lightning bolts like the comic showed-chair not connected to anything so a current can’t flow

P180 Amazing Spider-Man #1 has Spider-Man tying a metal wire to his ankle before fighting Electro-this grounds Spider-Man-allows current to flow through him: bad idea!!!

P183 in Amazing Spider-Man #9, Spider-Man douses Electro with water-tap water has ions-ions conduct electricity-allows charge to drain off Electro

Chapter 17: How Electro Becomes Magneto when he Runs-Ampere’s LawP184 in Amazing Spider-Man #9, Electro climbed up a building by creating magnetic

fields in pipesP184-185

This is the Ampere Effect-discovered by Hans Christian Oersted-named after Andre-Marie Ampere

P185 a charge either attracts or repels other charges: there is a ‘”zone of force”’ around a charge-called electric field

P185 a charge in motion creates a magnetic field-wire with a current deflects a compass needle-discovered by Oersted

P185 2 current carrying wires will attract or repelP186 the charges must be in relative motion for the magnetic effect to be observedP186 2 charges moving in same direction at same speed:

-no relative motion: just electrostatic force present-for a stationary observer in the lab, there is relative motion: observer sees magnetism as well as electrostatic force

P186-187Special Theory of Relativity explains why magnetism results from moving charges:-imagine 2 parallel train tracks: one is + and the other is –-a + test charge placed between the tracks will experience no net force-tracks now move at the same speed in opposite directions and the + test charge moves in the same direction and with the same speed as the + track: magnetism results-from the test charge’s point of view, the spacing between the – charges in the other track is length contracted so the distance between the + and – charges in the tracks are not the same: a net force results (we call this magnetism)

P187 Flash should build up a large charge (because of friction) as he runs at high speed, and therefore a large magnetic field, but he doesn’t because of an ‘aura’ around him that the extradimensional imp Mopee gave him

P188 magnetic field created by a moving charge = (electric field)/(speed of light)P188-190

In Superboy #1, Superboy wrapped miles of wire around a train locomotive, ran a current through it, and used it as a giant electromagnet to capture crooks who were driving around in army tanks

Chapter 18: How Magneto Becomes Electro When he Runs-Magnetism and Faraday’s Law

P191 the first villain the X-Men encounter is Magneto in X-Men #1P191 Special Theory of Relativity is also responsible for magnetism of a stationary

chunk of ironP191-192

Quantum Mechanics is responsible for the intrinsic magnetic field of sub atomic particles-the Relativistic version of Quantum Mechanics

P193 Hematite (Fe2O3) is nonmagneticMagnetite (Fe3O4) is magnetic-both forms of rust

P193-194only a small fraction of your blood (hemoglobin) is magnetic-in the movie X-Men 2: X-Men United, Magneto escaped from his plastic jail cell when his accomplice Mystique injected a magnetic metal in the guard’s blood

P195 iron can be nonmagnetic-domains-regions where the atoms’ magnetic fields point in same direction-entropy dictates that the domains should be pointing in different directions-heat up iron (thermal energy allows atoms to rotate) and then place it in a strong external magnetic field-the iron domains will align with the external field and leave the iron as a permanent magnet-hitting the iron can randomize the domains and make it nonmagnetic

P195-196Ferromagnetic-domains line up in same direction-ironParamagnetic-atoms will align in a strong magnetic field, but will randomize at room temperature when the field is removed-molecular oxygen-gaseous nitric oxide-aluminumDiamagnetic-atoms line up opposite to an external field and tend to cancel out the external field-water molecules (and humans since we’re composed of a lot of water)

P196 if Magneto supplies a field to a person that is 200,000 times greater than the Earth’s magnetic field (100 times larger than a refrigerator magnet’s field), then the diamagnetic water molecules in a person will line up opposite to Magneto’s field and the opposite magnetic poles will repel (levitation!)

P196 High Field Magnetic Laboratory at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands has movies/pictures on its website (http://www.hfml.ru.nl/) of floating frogs, grasshoppers, tomatoes, etc.

P197 only 3 elements are magnetic at room temperature: Fe, Co, Ni-limits Magneto’s powers unless he wants to use an incredible amount of effort to affect paramagnetic and diamagnetic metals

P197 Magneto has easier control over electric currents than doing the aboveP197 relative motion causes magnetic fields to create electrical currentsP197-198

Move a magnet toward a stationary wire with no current flowing through it (hence, no magnetic field)-however, from the magnet’s point of view, the wire is moving toward it-since the charges are now in relative motion, they create a magnetic field that will interact with the magnet’s field-this creates forces on the charges, and they move (a current has been created!)

P199 Faraday’s Law-when a magnetic field passing through the plane of a coil of wire is changed, a current is induced in the wire (Michael Faraday)-induced current travels in a direction so that its magnetic field opposes the changing external field (Conservation of Energy)

P200-201all sources of power (coal, oil, nuclear, or bio-mass) except hydropower and geothermal can be traced back to the sun or stars (photosynthesis and the creation of heavy, radioactive elements)-(I’d argue that geothermal is related to the stars as well because of the heat coming from radioactive decay in the Earth’s interior)-writers of Superman did change his power source from Krypton’s strong gravity to the light from our sun

Chapter 19: Electro and Magneto Do the Wave-Electromagnetism and LightP202-203

In 1862, Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell linked electricity and magnetism-Maxwell’s Equations (combined the laws of Coulomb, Gauss, Ampere, and Faraday)

P203 voltage = (current)x(resistance) : Ohm’s Law-car jumper cables are short and thick so current from the one battery is not wasted by resistance by the time it reaches the 2nd battery

P204 consider a charge swinging at the end of a pendulum-this is a current with changing speed-creates a magnetic field that also changes in magnitude-this changing magnetic field creates an electric field in phase with it-pendulum will slow down since the waves created carry away energy-oscillating electric and magnetic fields are called light

P205 at room temperature, atoms and their electrons vibrate at 1 trillion cycles per second-infrared radiation

P205 atoms in a lightbulb filament must be vibrating at a thousand trillion cycles per second to emit visible light

P205-206Sun burns 600 million tons of hydrogen each second-part of the released energy goes into the KE energy of the resulting He nuclei-He nuclei emit electromagnetic radiation as they accelerate-sun is so dense it takes 40,000 years for light from the core to reach the surface as it random walks

P207 nerve cells process information by transmitting and altering electrical currents with ions of Ca, Na, and K-an accumulation of ions in one part of the brain produces an electrical field that causes other ions to move-these moving ions create a magnetic field

P207 researchers have placed sensitive electrodes in the brain and have detected the electric fields produced by the flow of ions

P208 very low frequency and weak (over 1 billion times less power than the radio waves that surround us) electromagnetic waves travel outward from the brain whenever electrical activity happens-can only be detected if a probe is directly placed on the head

P208 Magneto wears a metal helmet to shield ingoing and outgoing electromagnetic waves so his thoughts can’t be detected or altered

P209 Prof. X uses an amplifier called Cerebro to magnify the signals he is sending if trying to reach a distant X-Men member-like radio stations broadcasting in megawatts

P210-211Prof. X possibly communicates as described in X-Men comics because it is similar to radio or TV broadcasts

Section 3: Modern Physics

Chapter 20: Journey into the Microverse-Atomic PhysicsP215 Victor von Doom was expelled from college when one of his science experiments

went wrong, blew up the lab, and scarred his face (Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, attended same college during this time)-became Dr. Doom

P216 actually did not receive his PhD yet called himself Dr. DoomP216 became the dictator of a small European country called LatveriaP216 Dr. Doom often ended up lost in space, trapped in other dimensions, or stuck in

timeP216 in Fantastic Four #10, Doom was shrunk to nothingness

-in Fantastic Four #16, the Fantastic Four learns Doom entered a “micro-world-a world that might fit on the head of a pin”In Fantastic Four #76, Reed, Ben, and Johnny traveled to the microverse (a stain on a microscope slide in Reed’s lab)

P216 the diameter of this world would be ~ 1mm(Earth’s diameter is 13,000 km): this is 13 billion times smaller than Earth

P217 microworld would have to be white-dwarf-star matter, but the fact that the characters walked around on it without difficulty refutes this-microworld not realistic

P217 the Atom found a world within an atom in Atom #5-smaller than an electron-can’t explain this

P218 ‘”matter waves”’ associated with the electron’s motion are within the atomP218-219

In the 1800s, scientists made these 2 observations about light emitted from hot objects:1) the amount of light emitted at a certain wavelength only depends on the

temperature2) the total amount of light emitted was finite and only depended on the

temperature-this led to the development of Quantum Mechanics

P219 Conservation of Energy explains why light from a hot object only depends on its temperature

-“If two objects made of different materials at the same temperature emitted different radiation spectra, there would be a way to have a net transfer of energy between them and hence useful work, without any heat flow.”-would violate 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

P219 we use the fact that the emitted light spectrum only depends on temperature to measure the temperature of the sun (11,0000 F) and the microwave background radiation of the Big Bang (3 K)

P219 Maxwell’s Equations correctly predicted the amount of light emitted at low frequency, but failed at high frequency-the “ultraviolet catastrophe”: predicted infinite intensity at high frequency-would violate Conservation of Energy

P220 Maxwell’s Equations had worked well every other time, so scientists weren’t concerned; just thought problem was in how they applied his equations to vibrating atoms in a glowing object

P220 in 1900, Max Planck determined the mathematical equation that matched the experimental data-then tried to find a physical basis for it-only explanation was to put restrictions on the energy of atoms-electrons could only have certain energies-called theory Quantum Mechanics from the Latin word for “how much”-separation between adjacent energy levels is less than 1 million trillionth of a Joule

P220 Planck introduced the constant “h” into his formula-energies could only be E=nhf where n is an integer and f is the frequency

P221 Planck didn’t like his “h” constant, so he tried making it zero, but when he did, he obtained the same infinite energy result others had- h = 660 trillionth trillionth trillionth kg(m2/s) {Js}-too small to affect large objects

P221 imagine if h were larger:-we could drive a car at only 40, 50, 60 mph, etc., but no speeds in between!-this would require instantaneous, HUGE accelerations!

-great harm to passengers-this is how bizarre Quantum Mechanics is!

P221-222We can understand why only certain energies are allowed if we accept that “there is a wave associated with the motion of any matter, and the greater the momentum of the object, the shorter the wavelength of this wave.”

P222 in 1924 Louis de Broglie proposed “matter-waves”- depends on momentum-called “wave function” by physicists-not a physical wave-can interfere-physicists not sure what they are-unless moving near the speed of light, momentum can be calculated by the formula: (mass)(velocity)

P223 momentum represented by “p” (Kakalios doesn’t know why it’s p either)P223 matter-waves experimentally verified in 1926 by Clinton Davisson and Lester

GermerP223P223 a baseball moving at 100 mph has a p = 6 kg(m/s), and a 1 trillionth

trillionth the width of an atomP223 the matter-wave of an electron is about the size of an atomP223-224

when the Atom shrunk to the size of an atom, he was smaller than visible light wavelengths so his normal vision could not work

P224 matter-wave of electron must fit completely around the atom-because is related to p, p can therefore only have certain values

-p is related to KE ( ), so therefore only certain energies are allowed

P225 when an electron makes a transition from a higher energy level to a lower energy level, it makes a “quantum jump” and the energy must be given off-a photon-concept of photon introduced by Einstein in 1905-name not given until 1926 by Gilbert Lewis

P226-227when matter-waves of 2 atoms interact, a new lower energy wave can form and a chemical bond results

P227 idea of orbits can’t be correct because the electrons would accelerate in their curved paths and therefore radiate away energy-would spiral into nucleus in < 1 trillionth of a second and no atoms would exist

Chapter 21: Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Tale! – Quantum Mechanics

P229 in Showcase #4, Barry Allen was reading Flash Comics #13 (Golden Age Flash-Jay Garrick) before he was struck by lightning and became the Silver Age Flash-Golden Age Flash was just a comic book character in Barry Allen’s reality-this changed in September 1961 in The Flash #123

P229-230In this issue, titled “Flash of Two Worlds”, it was disclosed that both the Golden and Silver Age Flashes were real, but existed on parallel Earth’s, separated by a “vibrational barrier”

P230 Barry Allen vibrated at super-speed at exact frequency needed to cross barrier-said 2 objects could occupy same space at same time if they vibrated differently

P230-231This was wrong-no 2 objects can occupy same space at same time-however, massless objects like photons can be in same place at same time

P231 Silver Age Earth was Earth-1; Golden Age Earth was Earth-2-comic book readers’ world was Earth-Prime-comic book characters were all fictional to readers

P232 there were so many cross-overs and universes, it became too difficult to followP232 in 1985, DC launched Crisis on Infinite Earths to rid themselves of unpopular

ones on Earth-1-killed off the Silver Age Flash Barry Allen and Supergirl-Superboy removed from Superman’s history

P232-233Some scientists believe in parallel universes-a slight change in a person’s history leads to a divergent world that can’t be visited

P233 classical mechanics-if you know all the forces on an object, then you can predict the stable configuration of an object (ladder leaning against a wall) and its motion-F=ma-For large objects: gravity, friction, and electrostatics

P233 for electrons and atoms, F=ma doesn’t work-Quantum Mechanics needed

P233 after about 25 years of trying to tweak Newton’s 2nd Law to work with atoms, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger almost simultaneously developedthe correct form of F=ma for atoms

P234 Heisenberg used linear algebra (matrices) and Schrödinger used complex partial differential equations

P236 Schrödinger Equation describes how matter-waves evolve in space and time-could understand interaction of atoms with light

P236 things made possible by the Schrödinger Equation:1) transistor 2) laser 3) nuclear fission (atomic bombs and nuclear reactors) 4) nuclear fusion (hydrogen bombs) 5) CD player 6) personal computer7) cell phone 8) DVD player

P237 Schrödinger Equation:

P238 if you know the potential energy of an electron, V, then you can calculate the probability per volume of finding the electron at a certain point in space and time-then you can calculate the average location and momentum

P239 Why does the wavelength nature of particles limit us to averages? -imagine a vibrating violin string that is vibrating so fast we can’t see it-we can determine it is vibrating by touching the string-but touching it will change its vibrational frequency-holding finger close to string will feel vibrating air, but the air will bounce from your fingertip back to the string and alter it-holding finger far from string will lead to a faint detection of the vibration so you won’t have the best measurement of it

P240-241Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment:-cat in a box with a poison that will be released when a radioactive isotope decays (half life of 1 hour)-after 1 hour when you look in the box, the cat is either alive or dead-before looking inside, the cat is an average of alive and dead-once you look, the wave function collapses and you see either a live or a dead cat-experiments suggest this occurs as described

P241 in 1957 Hugh Everett III proposed the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics-each time a quantum process has 2 or more possible outcomes, the universe splits that many times and they evolve separately

P241-242Therefore, Earth-2 and Earth-1 and so forth are possible, but no communication between them is possible

P242 few physicists like the Many Worlds Interpretation-however, string theorists like it

P243 Quantum Electro-Dynamics (QED)-describes how electron’s wave function interacts with electric and magnetic fields

Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD)-describes how the wave function of quarks behave

Don’t have a theory of how matter-waves interact with gravityP243 closet we have come to a quantum theory of gravity is string theory

-strings are the fundamental building blocks-mass is a vibration of a string

P243 many physicists aren’t convinced string theory is correct-equations only work in 11 dimensions (10 space and 1 time)-string theorists argue that 7 space dimensions curl up into little balls with diameters < 1 billionth trillionth of a cm (Planck length)-such small scales require large energies to probe (nothing current or planned can reach these energies)-can’t be verified

P244 Many Worlds Interpretation used to resolve conflicts with time travel-so you can’t go back in time and kill your grandparent-if you could travel back in time, you’d travel into a parallel universe

P244-246in Superman #146, Superman travels at great speed to break the “time barrier” and save Atlantis

p244-246in a 1961 Superman comic, he travels through time to save Lincoln, Custer, etc., but returning to Earth, finds the history books are unchanged

Chapter 22: Through a Wall Lightly – Tunneling PhenomenaP249 Schrödinger Equation predicts matter can pass through barriers

-Kitty Pryde of the X-Men-Flash vibrating through walls

P249 picture 2 handball courts-fenced on 3 sides each and sharing a concrete wall between them-you’re in court 1-high probability of being in court 1-small probability of being in court 2 (not zero, so it is possible)

P250 this process is called tunneling-no hole is created

P251 higher velocity increases probability of tunneling-might be how Flash tunnels through walls

P251 2 metals separated by a vacuum-electron in one metal has a small but nonzero probability of being found in the 2nd metal-electron does not jump gap or have enough KE to leave 1st metal-the electron wave function extends into the gap and decreases in magnitude the further it extends-small occurrence: maybe 10,000 out of 1 million

P252 electrons in a solid vibrate at 1 thousand trillion times per second-have 1 thousand trillion chances to tunnel-send enough electrons toward a barrier and if it isn’t too high or too wide, a number of electrons get through-principle behind Scanning Tunneling Microscope

P253 metal tip placed close to atoms so the electron clouds of the atoms overlap with the tip-electrons tunnel into tip-current is detected-by mapping the current, you map the locations of the atoms

P253-254Graphite has carbon bonded into hexagons-lays in sheets that slide past each other-if it had 4 bonds (like diamond) it would peel off easily onto paper

P254 transistors-amplify and regulate the flow of current-2 conductors separated by an insulating layer-apply voltage across barrier to change the ‘height’ of the barrier-tunneling occurs-solid-state devices including cell phones use transistors

P254 Kitty Pryde mass 50 kg: would take longer than the age of the universe to tunnel through wall

P255 why doesn’t Kitty Pryde fall through the floor when tunneling?-in X-Men #141 it was stated she doesn’t actually touch the floor-but question remains how a partially material foot can follow her through the wall-quantum mechanical tunneling gives answer: energy is conserved-must have same amount on both sides of the barrier-can’t fall through the floor-would increase energy-can’t slow down-would lose energy

Chapter 23: Sock it to Shellhead – Solid-State PhysicsP257 the basis of Iron Man’s powers is the transistorP257 transistor initially replicated role of vacuum tubes, but were lighter and more

efficient-ability to do mathematical calculations lead to development of computers

P257-258An alien Green Lantern crashed on Earth in Showcase #22, his power ring foundHal Jordan to take his place-Fantastic Four created in 1961 when a scientist, his girlfriend, her younger brother, and a former fighter pilot took an unauthorized space flight and wereExposed to cosmic rays-Hulk created when Dr. Robert Bruce Banner’s assistant (a Communist) didn’t stop the countdown on a bomb test and Dr. Banner was exposed to gamma radiation

P258 Iron Man (industrialist Tony Stark) introduced in Tales of Suspense #39-used his knowledge of transistors to build weapons for the US to beat the Communists in Indochina

P258-259Tony Stark travels to Vietnam to witness how well his weapons work-a boobytrap leaves shrapnel in his chest close to his heart-captured by Wong-Chu (Communist guerilla)-Wong-Chu offers him life-saving surgery if he’ll develop weapons for him-Tony develops a metal chestplate and suit of armor containing transistors-offensive and defensive weapon-chestplate keeps shrapnel from entering his heart-defeats his captures and returns to US

P259 Iron Man continually battled CommunismP259 Tony Stark maintained Iron Man was his bodyguardP260 transistor developed by 3 physicists at Bell Labs in New Jersey in 1947P260 Iron Man’s suit was originally gray (Tales of Suspense #39)

-changed to gold in next issue (Tony thought it would attract women)-within a year, it was the familiar red and yellow

P261-262How much does Iron Man’s suit weigh?-assume 1/8 inch thick suit and the density of Fe (8 g/cm3)-assume arms, legs, trunk, and head are cylinders-assume Tony is 6 ft tall and wears a size 50 suit jacket-surface area ~ 26,200 cm2

-volume ~ 8,400 cm3

-weight ~ 68,000 grams (148 lbs)P262 since Iron Man’s total weight is about 330 lbs (148 lbs + 180 lbs), his jet boots

must supply 330 lbs of thrust just to hoverP262 Tony often flew from Stark Industries in Long Island to Avengers Mansion in

Manhattan (50 miles away) in 10 minutes-300 mph-1.37 million kg (m2/s2) =1.37 million JoulesAn average person uses 8 million J during a whole day

P263 Iron Man often used motorized roller skates built into his boots-could recharge batteries when he decelerated by using an alternator (like hybrid cars)

P263 in 1970s, Iron Man put solar cells in his suit-in US, average energy from the sun is 200 J/s over an area of 1 m2

-solar energy hitting his suit per second is 262 J-even if his solar cells are 50% efficient (most are only 10% efficient), he’d need 3 hours of sunlight to charge batteries for his 1 trip (ignores air conditioning and repulsor rays)

P263-264Writers of Iron Man were aware of Conservation of Energy-in Iron Man #132, he totally drained all the energy from his suit when he knocked out the Incredible Hulk-couldn’t move and eye and mouth openings on mask closed (would suffocate if they stayed closed)-Ant-Man had to crawl into Iron Man’s suit and open faceplate coverings from the inside

P266 the magnetic repulsor rays of Iron Man would only work if the object he was trying to deflect had a magnetic field, and if that field had its south pole pointing at his north pole, or vise versa

P266-267Iron Man’s repulsor rays would work against diamagnetic materials-by putting the rays in his gloves and using servo motors in the arms of his suit, he is able to handle the large recoil force the rays produce

P267 pulsed energy weapons under consideration by militaryP269 electrons can only absorb energy if there is an empty state at higher energyP269 metals are good conductors because they have many available higher levelsP269 insulators do not have higher available spotsP270 if the temperature of an insulator is raised, some electrons gain enough energy to

rise to a higher energy level-also if it absorbs light

P270 when the electron returns to its lower energy level, it can give off light or cause vibrations (heat)

P270 windows (insulators) are transparent because the energy separation between the highest filled level and the lowest unfilled level is in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum-visible light (lower energy) passes through

P270 metals always have available empty levels-can always absorb light-give the light back when electrons return to lower level-makes metals shiny

P270 a semiconductor is an insulator with a small energy gap between the filled level and the closest empty one

P270-271Because of this small energy gap, a certain amount of electrons will jump to the higher level because of the room temperature-promoted electrons can conduct electricity-electrons leave behind a “hole”-a positive charge: can also conduct current

P271 when some semiconductors absorb light, enough electrons get excited to higher levels (and in turn “holes” are created) that it becomes a good conductor-called photoconductors-used as light sensors-used in some smoke detectors, TV remotes, automatic door openers in grocery stores

P271 semiconductors made of Si because its energy gap is just below the range of visible light-Germanium or gallium arsenide added to improve performance

P271 Iron Man’s and the military’s night-vision goggles are semiconductors with photoconducting properties in the IR portion of the spectrum

P271 human’s emit 100 W of IR radiationP272 semiconductors in night-vision goggles detect IR radiation

-this creates a photocurrent-photocurrent directed to adjacent material which gives off visible light when the photoexcited electrons and their holes recombine

P272 all objects give off same intensity of light if they are at the same temperature-why these goggles only work at night when the surroundings are cooler

P272-273Sue Storm (Susan Richards)-the Invisible Woman-became transparent by being able to increase the energy gap of all the molecules in her body into the UV part of the spectrum-visible light will be ignored and pass through-like the lens of your eye

P273 Sue still absorbs and reflects UV light, but we can’t see it-Dr. Doom used UV-vision goggles built into his mask to detect her

P273 when invisible, the Invisible Woman can detect (see) UV light scattered off objects-windows will appear as dark spaces to her while walls will appear transparent

P273 Fantastic Four #62, vol. 3 (Dec 2002), the 491st issue dating back to 1961, tells us Sue sees by detecting scattered cosmic rays-wrong source of illumination-cosmic rays are high speed protons that strike atoms in upper atmosphere-causes shower of electrons, gamma rays, and muons (related to electrons) and other particles

P274 flux of cosmic rays at ground level is a million trillion times less than visible lightP274 transistors change ability to conduct electricity by a factor of 1 millionP274 material with excess electrons next to material with excess holes

-solar cell-add a third layer with excess electrons and you have a transistor

P274-275Stained glass-impurities added so different colors absorbed-manganese atoms vibrate and remove all wavelengths except violet which passes through-cobalt-blue-selenium-red

P275 n type semiconductor-chemical impurities donate electrons

p type semiconductor-impurities accept electrons (positive holes left)P275 put an n type next to a p type:

-electrons and holes recombine-the charged impurities remain behind and create an electric field that points in one direction-an applied current can only move in direction of the field-called a diode in the dark and a solar cell in the light-one of the few ways to create a current without turning a wire in a magnetic field

P276-277Before transistors, vacuum tubes were used-heated wires (eject electrons)-accelerated by a positive voltage toward a metal plate-applying a current to a grid/screen between the wire and the plate affects the current that is collected (acts as a valve)-tubes were large and used a lot of power and took time to warm up-transistors are small, low power devices that are instantly on

P277-278Small input current will give a small output current (called number zero ‘0’)

Large input current produces a large output current (called one ‘1’)

-combine millions of these and use Boolean logic to build computers

Section 4: What Have We Learned?

Chapter 24: Me Am Bizarro! – Superhero BloopersP281-282

Scott Summers (Cyclops) was the first mutant recruited to join the X-Men by Prof. X-beams of pure force were emitted from his eyes-could punch through a concrete wall or stop a falling 2 ton rock-2 things immune to his blast: his skin, and ruby quartz

P282 glass-disordered silicon dioxide

Quartz-ordered silicon dioxideP282 X-Men comics and films never show Cyclops’ head recoiling backward after an

eye blastP283 eye blast at least 4,000 lbs (stopping 2 ton rock); body mass 80 kg

-F=ma yields an acceleration of > 20 times gravity-must have strong neck muscles

P283 in Action Comics #1, Superman lifted a car over his head-assume car is 3,000 lbs-Krypton’s gravity 15 times greater means car seems like 200 lbs!

P284-285Lifting an office building or an ocean liner is unrealistic because these objects are designed to be supported all along their undersides-any slight variation from vertical would introduce torques

P287 Dr. Octopus should topple over if one of his arms isn’t anchoring him to the ground

P287 in JLA #58, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern pulled the moon into Earth’s atmosphere to defeat invading Martians

P289 by the late 1990s, Superman was revealed to be able to lift 8 billion poundsP289 assume Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are also able to pull with 8 billion

pounds each-total pulling force on moon is therefore 24 billion pounds-heroes nullify effect of gravity-mass of moon: 70 billion trillion kg-F=ma: a=5 billionths ft/s2

-distance of moon: 240,000 miles-time to pull moon into Earth’s atmosphere: 735 years!

P290 birds and planes fly because of Newton’s 3rd Law, not the Bernoulli effect-planes couldn’t fly upside down if Bernoulli effect was responsible for flight-would be pushed into the ground

P290-291Warren Worthington III of the X-Men must supply at least 150 lbs of downforce with his wings in order to fly (if he weighs 150 lbs/68 kg)-his wings grew out of his back-a force of 200 lbs would impart an acceleration of 11 ft/s2 (0-60 mph in 8 seconds)

P291 birds have 1) keeled sternum bone 2) 2 large muscles: supercorocoiderus and pectorals-Warren would need enormous muscles

P292 birds replace every oxygen molecule after every 2 breaths because their muscles need a lot of oxygen

P294 in The Power of the Atom #12, the Atom and a friend shrank to a size smaller than an atom-friend asked how they could breathe since oxygen molecules are larger than them

P294-296In Showcase #34, the Atom shrinks himself and sends himself through the phone line to a criminal’s house-information sent over phone lines by electromagnetic waves, not electrons physically moving from point A to point B-greater than normal electron density repels itself and expands into next region-this bulge propagates down the line at ~ 1/3 the speed of light-time lag between 2 points 12 inches apart is < billionth of a second-the Atom would have to jump from one group of electrons to the next at greater than the speed of light if he hopes to ride the wave

-“average speed that an electron moves along a wire in response to an external electric field is less than a millimeter/sec.”

P296-298Physics professor Ray Palmer became the Atom when he discovered a chunk of white dwarf material-density is 3 million grams/cm3

-light from supernova type Ia events might be the result of 2 colliding white dwarf stars (12 per year detected)

P298 white dwarfs are degenerate matter-electrons all in the same quantum state so atoms can compress, making it denser

P298 chunk of white dwarf star Ray Palmer picked up had a radius of roughly 6 inches

-volume is = 905 in3 = 15,000 cm3

-mass = 45 billion grams = 45 million kg! = 100 million pounds!

Afterward – Lo, There Should be an Ending!P301 goal of science is 2-fold:

1) discover new rules2) understand situations in which the old rules don’t apply

p303 Niels Bohr – “Knowledge is in itself the basis of civilization.”

Ask Dr. KP305 Most Realistic Superhero? – Batman

Most Unrealistic Superhero? – SupermanP306-307

Most Unlikely yet Physically Accurate Superhero Feat? – Thor swinging his hammer-jumps at the instant he throws his hammer

P307 Who is Faster: Superman or the Flash? – The Flash

Additional Reading1) Discovering the Natural Laws: The Experimental Basis of Physics by Milton A.

Rothman (Dover 1989)2) Mad About Physics: Braintwisters, Paradoxes, and Curiosities by Christopher P.

Jargodzski and Franklin Potter (John Wiley and Sons, 2000)3) Back of the Envelope Physics by Clifford Swartz (John Hopkins University Press,

2003)