Everyone knows Superman. As a flying and strong superhero, he accomplishes incredible feats. But how realistic would this be in our world? Physicists addressed this question in a video.
Superman can do almost anything. He can fly and rescue people, has x-ray vision, and is incredibly strong. He embodies unconditional heroism. But how realistic would his abilities be in our world?
In a video on StarTalk (YouTube), astrophysicists Neil deGrasse Tyson and Charley Liu discussed superheroes and the science behind them with comedian Chuck Nice and former soccer player Gary O’Reilly. Liu and Tyson already answered the question of whether Godzilla could exist.
Superman was also mentioned, and they tried to explore whether Superman could really save people in free fall.
Being saved by Superman could end badly
What is the biggest problem? Probably every Superman movie has a scene where he saves someone in free fall, for example, when falling from a building. He flies up and catches the person. But in real life, that would not be a good idea, as Charles Liu explains in the video.
The problem is that Superman as Man of Steel
would have the same effects on the falling person as the hard ground when catching them. Therefore, the person would die. The problem is the moment of impact
. O’Reilly compares it to a bug on a windshield
.
Liu goes on to say that such a rescue would only be possible if Superman had the ability to absorb motion. With such an ability, he could catch the person and negate the impact. It’s as if they fell and just stopped in mid-air.
Neil deGrasse Tyson compares it to an airbag.
Another possibility that Tyson suggests is a horizontal flight by Superman. In this case, such a rescue would be possible if Superman knows exactly when to intervene. This would also allow him to cushion the impact, but according to Liu, Superman’s brain would need to be as good as an average computer.
The physicist Ben Tippett described in his paper A Unified theory of Superman’s Powers
from 2009 (via nbcnews.com) that the hero would need to cushion the impact during a horizontal flight, with a slight bump in the flight curve. However, this is not shown in the films.
You can find the excerpt about Superman here:
Superman might have x-ray vision
What about other abilities? In the video, they also discuss Superman’s x-ray vision, which is visible in the interview scene from Superman (1978) (via YouTube). There, Lois Lane asks the hero if he knows what color her underwear is. He replies that he can’t see it because she is standing in front of a plant made of lead.
This is essentially correct, as lead absorbs x-rays. But even if there were no lead, Superman couldn’t see what colors a garment has under the clothing. X-rays cannot capture such information as they pass through clothing.
Essentially, x-rays fall through the body onto a plate, as the Stiftung Gesundheitswissen explains. Different tissues and bones allow different amounts of radiation to pass through. For example, bones appear light gray, while fat appears dark gray.
Charles Liu explains in this context that x-rays also have different colors
. The different spectral colors indeed have different wavelengths. For example, red light has a wavelength of about 620 nanometers, while blue light has about 400 nanometers.
Such a concept also exists with x-ray radiation. Here, a distinction is made between hard (wavelength around 0.1 nm) and soft (wavelength around 1 nm) x-ray radiation, which can penetrate materials differently because they differ in their wavelength (via LEIFIPhysik). Compared to our color spectrum, Superman’s x-ray vision would have to process and perceive different x-ray spectra to create some kind of image.
While we have rod and cone cells that allow us to see brightness, darkness, and colors, Superman would need an x-ray variant of that:
But x-rays also have different colors. Some of these are referred to as hard x-rays, while others are referred to as soft x-rays. Just as we can capture images in red, green, and blue and then mix them into a color photo, Superman might be able to recognize or even emit x-rays and switch between these different bands to create a three-color image.
Charles Liu about how Superman’s x-ray vision could work in the real world. (Source: StarTalk on YouTube).
This would need to be explained in a comic or a movie. However, the way his ability is portrayed in the media, it shouldn’t work at all.
Of course, these are just theoretical ideas that the astrophysicists explain. It’s clear that they are passionately discussing the character and its physics. Superman is one of the most recognizable figures in pop culture. This is also due to many strong stories: One of the most powerful heroes died 32 years ago, and his death remains one of the most important stories of Superman.
