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angelus7 Profile
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Dark Knight

Registered: 09-2005
Location: Gotham City
Posts: 578
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The Science of Superman


did anyone see the science of superman on the national geographic channel? i would like to see it.

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7/3/2006, 7:04 pm Link to this post Send Email to angelus7   Send PM to angelus7
 
batmann539 Profile
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Caped Crusader

Registered: 04-2004
Posts: 8656
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Re: The Science of Superman


I missed that one. Too bad, sounds cool.

Sean

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7/3/2006, 9:50 pm Link to this post Send Email to batmann539   Send PM to batmann539
 
mtsbspidey Profile
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Dark Knight

Registered: 03-2005
Location: philly, pa
Posts: 533
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Re: The Science of Superman


i caught it the other day...it was pretty good actually...comic book writers, physicists, and um...hal sparks talking about the scientific reasoning behind superman's powers and why for the most part they're actually pretty believable....not a bad special at all....skott

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check out my fan film - ambush bug: the movie at http://ambushbugmovie.0nyx.com (updated 6/8/07)
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angelus7 Profile
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Dark Knight

Registered: 09-2005
Location: Gotham City
Posts: 578
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Re: The Science of Superman


that's cool did anyone record it or tivo it to put on the web?

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7/4/2006, 9:03 am Link to this post Send Email to angelus7   Send PM to angelus7
 
stampedemag Profile
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Caped Crusader

Registered: 06-2004
Location: Under a full moon
Posts: 2033
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Re: The Science of Superman


missed it too... does it look to be coming on again soon??? Or on the web?
7/5/2006, 12:06 am Link to this post Send Email to stampedemag   Send PM to stampedemag
 
Theopolis Profile
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BOTB Member

Registered: 10-2005
Posts: 99
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Re: The Science of Superman


I caught it the other day myself. A fun and interesting watch.
7/5/2006, 8:41 am Link to this post Send Email to Theopolis   Send PM to Theopolis
 
NOMAD202 Profile
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Dark Knight

Registered: 02-2004
Location: Upper Michigan
Posts: 793
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Re: The Science of Superman


Well I missed the episode also, LOL. BUT, I did search the web and pulled a lot of information on the subject. I even found some science behind "the Hulk".

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SUPERMAN

Strength from gravity

Superman's birth planet Krypton, for example, would have to harbour a number of harsher-than-Earth conditions in order for our hero in tights to come-off as super-human here.

"Krypton would have to be massive to give Superman super strength and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound," says Andy Howell, an astronomer at the University of Toronto who has written about the science of science-fiction for Ain't It Cool News.

The more massive a planet, the stronger its gravity. Howell says Krypton would have to be between 10 and 100 times as massive as Earth to allow a being with such super strength to evolve.

"Some people have theorized that carbon planets could exist, with layers of diamond," he says. "They could get up to maybe 60 Earth-masses." Such a theoretical planet would be massive enough then for the required gravity, and the layers of diamond bring to mind the crystalline nature seen in representations of Krypton.


Flying/Leaping

As any fan knows, the original explanation for Big Blue's power and skyscraping leaps was gravity. He comes, the story goes, from the destroyed planet Krypton, where gravity was stronger than it is on Earth.

Under this theory, Superman on our planet is like a human astronaut bounding around on the moon, only more so. The same applies to any of his other feats of strength, Kakalios says.

The biggest problem with this idea, says Michael Dennin, a physics professor at the University of California, Irvine, is that he can also walk normally—rather than bounding around like an astronaut on the moon.

Another problem is that he remains powerful no matter how long he stays on Earth. Because weightlessness forces people to use their muscles less, "astronauts get weaker with time," Dennin says.


X-Ray Vision

Strictly speaking, this power would require Superman's eyes to somehow emit x-rays, which would penetrate what he's looking at and then bounce back at him.

But, the University of California's Dennin says, x-rays don't bounce. Even if they did, that doesn't explain how his vision allows him to "peel away" obstructing layers one at a time, like a medical CT scanner.

For this reason, Frank Frisch, a biology professor from Chapman University, will present an entirely new theory in The Science of Superman: Maybe Superman doesn't really have x-ray vision.

Instead, he may use sound waves for a sonarlike mapping power that doesn't need x-rays—much as doctors use sound to create sonograms of unborn babies.

Heat Vision

To melt things with laserlike beams from his eyes, Superman would need "a very large power source," Dennin says—which brings us to …

Superenergy

Heat vision isn't the only superskill that requires a lot of power. One explanation is that Superman converts light from our yellow sun—which is presumably more intense than the red sun of Krypton—into energy that he then stores like a humanoid battery.

Unfortunately, our sunlight isn't really all that different from the light of other stars.

Todd Barber, a propulsion engineer for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has calculated the amount of energy needed for some of Superman's feats.

It turns out that, even assuming he goes into space, where the sunlight is more intense, he'd have to spend a lot of time recharging his batteries between superdeeds.

Superhearing

The Man of Steel's superacute hearing would seem to be one of his more mundane talents. But it's actually rather inexplicable, says Minnesota's Kakalios. Not because it's so acute, but because there have been instances where he's heard the crack of a gun and flown all the way across his home city of Metropolis in time to stop the speeding bullet.

The problem is that—the speed of sound being what it is—by the time the noise got to him, the bullet would have long since found its mark.

Superbreath

Perhaps a more believable talent is the ability to blow very, very hard—hard enough to push away thunderstorms or freeze nearby objects.

Assuming his superlungs can drastically compress air, the freezing effect might actually work, Barber says. That's because gas cools as it expands—an effect that Superman facilitates by pursing his lips so that the air blasts out like rocket exhaust through a nozzle.




THE HULK

The catalyst that triggers the younger Banner's transformation may not be that far-fetched either. Studies have documented the amazing effects of the addition of a simple dose of adrenaline into the bloodstream of animals and humans.

Adrenaline boosts has been known to provide brief episodes of superhuman strength, like the time when a 123-pound (56-kilogram) Florida mom reportedly lifted a 3,000-pound (1,350-kilogram) vehicle off her trapped child.

"In theory, a rapid metamorphosis process is possible, but not on the level depicted in the movie," he said.

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http://www.facebook.com/mike.dotson.5
7/5/2006, 8:16 pm Link to this post Send Email to NOMAD202   Send PM to NOMAD202
 
angelus7 Profile
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Dark Knight

Registered: 09-2005
Location: Gotham City
Posts: 578
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Re: The Science of Superman


thanks nomad

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7/5/2006, 11:26 pm Link to this post Send Email to angelus7   Send PM to angelus7
 
Drakul Profile
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Caped Crusader

Registered: 06-2006
Posts: 4313
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Re: The Science of Superman


copy paste.
i'll read this this afternoon while i digest :)

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Mel

"Could this be...an omen?!!"
7/6/2006, 11:22 am Link to this post Send Email to Drakul   Send PM to Drakul
 
stampedemag Profile
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Caped Crusader

Registered: 06-2004
Location: Under a full moon
Posts: 2033
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Re: The Science of Superman


They are re-running it alot. I taped a showing that happened today. The thing I love about it was they actually showed parts of a comic I have been wanting to find for years. It is the part where you see the Kents making Superman's suit out of his baby blankets. Too cool
7/8/2006, 1:00 am Link to this post Send Email to stampedemag   Send PM to stampedemag
 


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