THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES: HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD

SUPERPOWER

GRACE ELWELL
CARLETON COLLEGE
MAY 5,2010

Abstract. Superheroes have been a cornerstone of American culture for almost a

century. Their back stories and power origins have changed with scientific develop-
ments over the years. These changes and attempts at scientific accuracy invite more
rigorous scientific scrutiny of superheroes and their powers. This paper analyzes some
of the powers of Superman, The Flash, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Invisible Woman,
applying conservation laws to each and examining how plausible they are under the
lens of physics.

Contents

1. Introduction 2
2. Conservation Laws 3
3. Superman 4
4. Flash 10
5. Cyclops 13
6. Nightcrawler 17
7. Invisible Woman 23
8. Conclusion 28
9. Appendix 29
References 33

1
 1. Introduction

In 1939, when the very first Superman strip appeared in newspapers [1], American
superheroes were born. Over the next 70 years, entire universes with elaborate histories
and dramas were built up around countless characters. They inspire us, teach us right
from wrong, and give us an escape from the real world with all its limitations.
As the worlds of superheroes grew, they changed with the times. Female charac-
ters got stronger powers, racial and religious minority characters became more common,
adolescence was portrayed with more significance, and justice was served with a less
violent hand. Story lines also changed to reflect the science of the time, or at least the
pop-science of the time. Origins of powers changed from “gifts from Gods” and unex-
plained “experimental serums,” to “exposure to radio-activity” and “genetic mutations
in DNA.” Obviously, it is hard to conceive of how someone’s DNA might be altered such
that she could control the weather, but the attempt to make explanations scientifically
plausible is what allows for such rigorous debates over the strength and applicability of
powers, who would win in a fight, and, of course, what could go horribly wrong.
This paper seeks to engage in that debate. Clearly there is not enough time in the
world to investigate all the possible issues with the extremely improbable phenomena
that arise with super powers. Thus, this paper does not seek to be exhaustive. Rather,
it will grant the premise that someone could jump 300 feet high, shoot powerful energy
blasts from their eyes, run near the speed of light, teleport, and become invisible, and
subsequently it will ask the question “Then what?” I will examine the powers of Super-
man, Cyclops, The Flash, Nightcrawler, and Invisible Woman, applying a conservation
law to each and seeing what sort of limitations or complications unfold.
In the end I hope to have displayed a unique level of diligence in investigating the
realities of super powers, to have raised the level of the debate in regards to what powers

2
are the most practical, and finally, to help determine what powers are better to hope for
when exposing oneself to dangerous levels nuclear waste.1

2. Conservation Laws

Conservation laws are fundamental laws of nature. Decades before the first comic book
was written, conservation laws for energy, linear momentum, angular momentum, and
electric charge had been established. According to modern understanding, these laws
come from basic symmetries in nature. Noether’s theorem states that each differentiable
symmetry of the action of a system has a corresponding conservation law. Thus, nature’s
symmetries give rise to the invariance principle that the laws of physics are consistent
regardless of orientation or location in space. This has been apparent in the thinking
of physicists for centuries—Newton’s Laws have no specific coordinate system, showing
their implicit use of invariance, Kepler’s 2nd Law is a special case of angular momentum,
and conservation of energy was inherent in mechanics even before Galileo [2]. Along
with Einstein’s theories in the 20th century came a new interest in the importance of
conservation laws and their physical origins.
Einstein brought the discussion of symmetries and invariance to the forefront, and
Bohr’s atomic model made evident the importance of conservation of angular momentum.
There are several derivations of conservation laws, but the simplest argument is found
in quantum mechanics, where we can see that an operator which commutes with the
Hamiltonian will lead to a conserved quantity.
For example, take  to be an operator corresponding to a measurable. In braket
notation we can say,

hΨ[t]|Â|Ψ[t]i
iĤt iĤt
= hΨ[0]|e+ ~ Âe− ~ |Ψ[0]i (1)

= hΨ[0]|Â|Ψ[0]i = C

1
Family Guy, Season 3, Episode “Family Guy Viewer Mail #1” explains that this is “just silly” and not
a good idea.
3
 where Ψ[t] is the wave function at time t and C is a constant. In the second line
the wave functions are rewritten as products of the wave functions at time t = 0 and
the exponential components which include the Hamiltonian, Ĥ. Since the  operator
commutes with the Hamiltonian, the exponential terms must cancel each other out. The
third line shows that without the exponential terms, there is not dependence on time or
the Hamiltonian, so all that is left is a constant, i.e. a conserved quantity.
Derivation (5) can be made with any operator that commutes with the Hamilton-
ian. So energy, linear momentum, angular momentum, and electric charge operators,
which all commute with Ĥ, will result in constant, conserved quantities. And since this
property will hold true on the macro scale as well as the quantum scale, we can have con-
fidence in the conservation laws for energy, linear momentum, angular momentum, and
electric charge. Further, we can use these laws to help assess the validity and practicality
of super powers.

3. Superman

The original Superman of the 1940s was not equipped with all of the powers he has
today. X-ray vision used to be eagle-eye vision; being impervious to any non-magical
attacks used to be an inability to be harmed by anything less than exploding artillery;
and the power of flight used to be the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound [3].
While any of these powers would be interesting to examine in terms of physics, we will
focus on tall building bounding.

3.1. Energy and Force. When Superman jumps over a 90 m (300 ft) tall building,
which would have about 20 to 25 stories, his potential and kinetic energy are significantly
higher during the jump than while he is at rest on the ground next to the building. Thus,
conservation of energy requires that he must exert some force on the ground as he takes
off and as he lands to do the work of transferring this energy to and from his body. Since
the current men’s high jump record is only 2.45 m (8 ft 0.46 in), it is reasonable to assume
that Supermans take-off and landing force is much greater than any human experiences
4
 Figure 1. Superman, shown on a comic cover leaping over building tops.

when he/she jumps. Furthermore, since falling from a height of 90 m is considered

dangerous at the very least, “deadly” being the more appropriate adjective2, it would
also be relevant to conjecture that normal human bone structure could not withstand
the take-off and landing force required to generate and dissipate the necessary energy
for Superman’s jumps.
To find out what this necessary force actually is, we start with the basic equation of
linear motion
1
x(t) = xo + vo t + ao t2 (2)
2
where xo is the initial position in one dimension (height from the ground, in this case),
vo is the initial vertical velocity, and ao is the vertical acceleration, which we will say
is due entirely to gravity, ignoring other factors such as wind resistance. This equation
2Wikihow.com states that “People very seldom survive falls from heights of 100 feet (30 m) or more,
and mortality is high even at heights of 20-30 feet (6-9 m). It is always best not to fall at all.”
5
 Figure 2. This diagrams the basic parabolic motion of Superman’s 90m
jump over a building. He starts from point A where x, his vertical posi-
tion, is zero, and v, his vertical velocity is some value vo. At point B, the
peak of his jump, his vertical position is 90m, and his vertical velocity
is zero. Finally, at point C he reaches the ground again, so his vertical
position and velocity are the same as his take-off at point A (x=0, and
v=vo). His downward acceleration is constant, as shown by the green
arrow representing acceleration for the whole system.

assumes a basic parabolic, and thus symmetrical, motion to his jump (see Figure 2),
and allows us to find that Superman travels from the top of the building (where vo =0)
to the ground in about 4 s and has a maximum vertical speed of about 42 m/s. This
maximum vertical speed must be achieved twice, just as he leaves the ground on one
side of the building and then again just as he reaches the ground on the other side due
to the symmetry of the motion.
To continue on to find the force between him and the ground, an estimate must be
made. The stopping acceleration cannot be found without either a stopping time or a
stopping distance. Luckily, some artists have included dents left in the sidewalk from
Superman’s take-offs and landings in comics. So we can reasonable estimate 0.025 m
6
(1 in) as a maximum stopping distance. Thus, the kinetic energy Superman has gained
while in free-fall must all be transferred away from him in the time it takes him to travel
one inch. So, going back the equation of linear motion (Equation 2), and doing some
algebra we can find

1
∆x = 0.025 m = x(t) − xo = vo t + ao t2 (3)
2
Then, taking the derivative gives

∆v = 42 m/s = v(t) − vo = vo = ao t (4)

Using these two equations we can solve for a minimum stopping acceleration

vo
vo = ao t ⇒ t = ao
vo2 2
1 vo2
∆x = ao + 12 a avo2 = 2 a
(5)
o
1 vo2
a= 2 ∆x

We substituted the new value for t from the first line into the original equation for
∆x in the second line, and after simplifying we solve for a in the third line. We find an
acceleration of about 35,000 m/s2 or about 3500g’s. Also, note that we only considered
his vertical motion since Superman is not known for jumping over wide buildings, but this
force would actually be greater if we considered the stopping acceleration in a horizontal
direction as well.
In Superman Returns, the man of steel claims to weigh 225 lbs (102 kg). With his
mass we can calculated his energy during the jump by first finding his potential energy
using
U = mgh (6)

where m is his mass (102 kg), g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s2 ), and h is
his height. Total energy is found by summing potential energy with his kinetic energy,

7
which we find using
1
V = mv 2 (7)
2
where m is still mass, and v is his vertical velocity. At the peak of the jump the
vertical velocity is zero, so his kinetic energy is also zero. So his potential energy at this
point, which is 91,500 J, accounts for all of his energy at this point. Remember, energy
is a conserved quantity; thus, his total energy through out the jump is 91,500 J, which
is how much energy he must transfer in the one inch take-off and landing distance. Note
that we also could have found his maximum velocity in this way. Knowing that when h
is zero, v is at it’s maximum because potential energy is zero and kinetic energy accounts
for all 91,500 Js, we would find that 42 m/s is necessary to achieve that kinetic energy.
Further, using the stopping acceleration from above, (35,000 m/s2 ), Newton’s second
law

F = ma (8)

where m is still Superman’s mass, and a is the stopping acceleration, shows us that
the force between Superman and the ground is 3.60 × 106 N—a force that would easily
shatter any human feet. But bones in the feet are easy to break. What if we looked at
the force on a stronger bone?
The femur is the largest, thickest bone in the human body. It takes an average of
5400 N to break by compressing it along its length (see Table 1). And since femurs do
not support the mass of the whole body as the feet do, but only the mass of the upper
body, there is clearly less force exerted on the femur in taking off and landing from a
jump.
If we estimate each leg to account for about 1/7 if the total body mass, then the mass
supported by Superman’s femurs is 73 kg (or 36 kg per femur). Using Newton’s second
law (Equation 8) again, with the new mass and the same stopping acceleration, we find
that the force on his femurs is 2.6 × 106 N (1.3 × 106 N per femur). Consequently, this
jump would break any bone in a normal human skeleton.
8
 Bone Force to Break (lbs) Force to Break (N)
Femur 1200 5400
Tibia/Fibula 100 450
Scaphoid 18 80
Collarbone 11 50
Forearm 9 40
Table 1. Approximations of forces required to break a range of bones
in the human body. The femur is clearly stronger, by at least one order
of magnitude, than other bones. [4]

Material Tensile Strength (MPa)

304 stainless steal 500
Copper 270
96% Alumina 200
Bone 170
Aluminum 90
Sn63 Solder 35
Epoxy Resin 40
Silicone Rubber 10
Table 2. Examples of materials with a range of tensile strengths, which
can be compared to the strength of bone (in bold). Tensile strength is
the force per units area that a material can withstand. If we assume
that all of these materials are used to make the same bone shape, we can
compare these strengths easily, seeing that stainless steel would create a
bone almost three times stronger than a human bone. [4]

Experience has shown that this is not a problem for the Last Son of Krypton, so we
must assume that his bones are made of much stronger materials than human bones. The
average human bone material can withstand pressure up to 170 MPa. Comparing this
strength with other materials (see Table 2), we see that, stainless steal is almost three
times stronger than human bone, so a stainless steal femur should be able to withstand
almost 16,200 N. So, in fact, Superman’s bones would have to be stronger than stainless
steal to withstand the energy transfers required to make a 300 ft jump.

3.2. Power Practicality. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that Superman’s
powers are great—if they all come together as a package. The ability to jump 300 ft in
the air is dangerous without the super human strength and bone structure to go with
it. Otherwise, there would be no way to get off the ground because normal human
9
legs would break immediately. On the other hand, with the alien bones, organs, and
musculature to go with the abilities, there is really no reason that Superman’s original
powers would not be excellent powers to have.

4. Flash

Figure 3. Jay Garrick, the original Flash, as featured on the cover on

JSA 78 (Feb, 2005).

Many characters have taken the name “Flash” in comic book history. The first one
was Jay Garrick, who gained his super speed and super human reflexes from exposure
to hard water3 in the lab [5], and is one of the fastest of all the Flashes. Leaving the
comical assertion about the dangers of hard water aside, there are several conservation
questions that come up when someone can suddenly run at or near the speed of light.
But, again, we will pick one question on which to focus. Since writers have already
3Changed to “heavy water” in later explanations of Jay Garrick’s power origins [5].
10
claimed that Jay possesses an aura that removes frictional concerns [5], and others have
already investigated the calorie intake required to sustain relativistic speeds4, we will
look at angular momentum.

4.1. Angular Momentum. Angular momentum must always be conserved within a

closed system, such as the system including the Earth and all of its inhabitants. Yet,
the extent to which the average human affects the Earth as he/she runs on its surface
is negligible because of the vast difference in mass between even the largest person, who
is about 1200 lbs (544 kg) and not much of a runner, and the mass of the Earth, which
is on the order of 1024 kg. However, when Jay is moving at relativistic speeds we must
consider the factor of γ [6] in calculating his angular momentum.

1
γ=p (9)
1 − v 2 /c2
The significant increase to his angular momentum from γ will cause him to undoubt-
edly have a larger effect on the Earth than any other runner. And since the Earth’s
moment of inertia is a constant, it is the Earth’s rotational angular velocity that would
have to change. Further, a significant change in the speed at which the Earth rotates
could severely through off the functioning of the planet by changing the length of a day,
weather patterns, and countless other aspects of nature that depend on the constant
nature of the Earth’s rotation.
To calculate his angular momentum we treat him like a point mass—an appropriate
approximation given his size compared to the size of the Earth. Writers claim that
Jay’s rest mass is 81 kg (179 lbs)[5]. So estimating a randomly selected high speed of
(1 − 1 × 10−17 )c or .99999999999999999c, which is fast, and taking the Earth’s radius
to be 6.3 × 106 m, his angular momentum would be

L = mγvR = 8.5 × 1024 kg m2 /s (10)

where m is his rest mass, v is velocity and R is radius [7].

4The Physics of Superheroes claims he would need to consume 75 trillion calories to run at 0.1c
11
 Figure 4. In this figure the large circle is the Earth and the black dot is
the north pole. The vertical dashed line is axis of rotation for the Earth
and the blue dashed arrow shows the direction of the Earth’s rotation.
The red dot is the Flash and thick red arrow shows one possible direction
of his motion, and the thinner red arrows show vector components of that
direction of motion. The vector component of the Flash’s motion that
is parallel to the direction of motion of the Earth is the portion of the
Flash’s motion that would effect the Earth’s angular momentum.

It is clear, that despite his high speed Jay’s angular momentum is many orders of
magnitude smaller than the angular momentum of the Earth, which is 7.0×1033 kg m2 /s
(see Appendix Section 9.1). Thus, it is reasonable to predict that angular momentum
will be conserved without being an issue for superheroes with super speed.
If Jay is running around the equator, his axis of rotation will be the same as that of
the Earth. Since angular momentum is a vector quantity, only the portion of his motion
that is parallel to the Earth’s motion can be considered to have an affect on the Earth’s
rotation (see Figure 4). The equator orientation will give him the largest possible effect
because his radius from the axis of rotation, R, is maximized, and all of his angular
momentum will be parallel to the Earth’s rotational angular momentum. Let us assume
he is running on the equator so that the angular momentum of the Earth when Jay is
12
running at relativistic speeds is

Lsys = LEarth ± LFlash (11)

where the sign of LFlash depends on whether his direction is the same or opposite that
of the Earth. However, despite his direction, the ratio of LEarth to Lsys is effectively one,
so the angular momentum changes are negligible.
For Jay to achieve an angular momentum on the order of 1033 kg m2 /s, like the Earth,
√
he would have to be traveling around c 1 − 10−36 . That speed is quite fast and presents
several problems (such as the energy required to achieve it, how to avoid running into
still standing objects, and air resistance), besides just a significant affect on the Earth’s
angular momentum.

4.2. Power Practicality. Clearly, at some level super speed becomes a problem for
the Earth and its inhabitants who expect it to rotate at a more or less constant speed.
However, there is a large range of speeds that do not present a problem in terms of
angular momentum and would still be considered “super speed.” So we can conclude
that super speed would be an excellent power, so long as maximum speeds has an
appropriate upper bound that prevents harmful side effects to the Earth.

5. Cyclops

Cyclops, or Scott Summer, leader of the X-men, is well known for being uptight,
shy around girls, and uncontrollably shooting red light from his eyes. It is commonly
assumed that he is emitting laser beams, but that is not actually the case. In fact, the
red light he emits is not coherent, it is just energy blasts in the visible spectrum that
produce no heat and deliver concussive forces to their target. These concentrated “optic
blasts” of energy are extremely powerful and have been used to break through brick
walls, shoot planes out of the sky, and blast supervillians off the top of buildings.
While Scott is inexplicably unsusceptible to his own energy blasts (a lucky fact given
the ease with which they are reflected), he is susceptible to conservation laws. In one of
13
 Figure 5. Cyclops as featured in Marvel Comics Astonishing X-Men #1

many epic battles, Cyclops blasts Sabretooth through a stone wall. Note that Sabretooth
is a rather large gentleman and accelerating him is not easy, and it takes quite a bit of
momentum to break through a stone wall; momentum that, in this case, must be supplied
by Cyclops and his energy blasts.

5.1. Momentum and Photons. To find what it takes to break through a stone wall, we
can refer to the days of laying siege to castles. In those days, 20 kg (42 lbs) cannonballs
were shot at castle walls at speeds of 550 m/s (1800 ft/s) to break them. Given the
definition of linear momentum
P~ = m~v (12)

where m is mass and ~v is velocity. Since the cannonballs did, in fact, break through the
castle walls, it is safe to assume that a momentum of 11000 kg m/s will bust through a
stone wall. Thus, to conserve momentum, Scott must generate an equivalent momentum
in his optic blast (see Figure 6).
14
 Figure 6. On top is a cannonball traveling to break through a stone wall,
with its mass and velocity indicated. The bottom depicts Sabretooth,
also about to break through a stone wall, traveling with less velocity and
having a larger mass than a cannonball. The momentum indicated in the
middle is the necessary momentum required to break through the two
identical stone walls.

Since his blasts are made up of red light, each photon has a wavelength of about
700 nm (see Figure 7). The relationship between wavelength and momentum is

h
P = (13)
λ
15
 Figure 7. This image is the light spectrum with the visible and infrared
regions blown up. The lower frequency edge of the visible spectrum is red
light, with wave lengths ranging form 625 nm to 700 nm. The infrared
region is the range of frequencies in which humans thermally radiate.

where P is momentum, h is Planck’s constant, 6.6 × 10−34 J s, and λ is the wavelength

[8]. Thus, in red light, every photon has a momentum of 9.5×10−28 kg m/s, which means
it would take a blast containing 1.1 × 1031 photons to achieve the necessary momentum.
The energy of a photon is
h
E = Pc = c (14)
λ
so a blast with that many photons in the red light part of the spectrum would have
3 × 1012 J of energy, or 7 × 108 kcal. Which is about the energy found in 1.3 × 106 Big
Macs. We could also find this energy by using our knowledge of Sabretooth’s mass to
16
find the velocity he needs to be traveling at to create a momentum of 11000 kg m/s.
This velocity would determine his kinetic energy, which would also be 3 × 1012 J.
Since momentum is a conserved vector quantity, the blast would push Cyclops back-
ward with the same momentum in the opposite direction of Sabretooth. Since Scott is
smaller, only 88 kg (195 lbs), to have an equivalent momentum his initial backward ve-
locity would be even greater than Sabretooth’s, so to stay standing with his feet planted
he would have to withstand a much greater force than Sabretooth. It seems problematic
that Scott feels the same momentum and greater force backwards than his opponent
from Scott’s own attack. Even more problematic is that since the blasts are coming
from his eyes, Scott experiences this in his eye sockets. Essentially, he is feeling the force
of a cannonball hitting him in the face during his own attack.

5.2. Power Practicality. Scott’s optic blasts seem to present a problem without super
strength to withstand the reversed momentum. And since he is not supposed to have
super strength, we must conclude that this power would not be a good one. In addition
to how he remains standing after sending someone much larger than himself flying, there
is the question of how he generates enough energy for blasts that powerful. Over all,
this power seems inconsistent and implausible.

6. Nightcrawler

Like all X-men, Nightcrawler, or Kurt Wagner, was born with a genetic mutation that
gave him superpowers. He has a prehensile tail, excellent night vision and the ability
to teleport over short and medium distances (up to 3 km) [5]. While there is some
debate over how he teleports, one very popular explanation is that he travels through
an alternate dimension. Applying conservation laws to this explanation leads to a fairly
obvious question: for the short period of time that he is gone, what happens to his mass,
the charge on his body, etc. that exists just before and after his disappearance?
Conservation of his charge is interesting because it is noted by writers that he has
an easier time teleporting north and south, along the Earth’s magnetic field lines, than
17
 Figure 8. Nightcrawler shows off his impressive acrobatic skills as he
perches on the top of a pillar.

teleporting east to west, perpendicular to the magnetic field. This seems to suggest that
Kurt’s net charge effects his teleporting ability, and that possibly his charge moves from
his departure location to his arrival location. This explanation would certainly satisfy
conservation of charge and be consistent with the magnetic field phenomenon.

6.1. Charge, Current, and Magnetic Fields. If Kurt’s net charge is conserved and
travels to meet him, there must be some current generated between where he leaves this
dimension and where he re-enters it. This current is defined as

I~ = λ~v (15)

where λ is the charge per unit length and ~v velocity of the charges.[9].
18
 While his charge is zero on average, at any given time he can create a charge fluc-
tuation, such as if he rubbed his feet on a carpet. We can find the maximum possible
fluctuation based on an estimation that he will explode if his charge cancelation is off
by one part in 1010 (see Appendix Section 9.2).
Since he is close to being human, it is safe to assume that he is mostly water. The
molar mass of water is 18 g/mol, or 0.018 kg/mol, and Kurt weighs 73 kg (161 lbs), which
means he is made up of approximately 4,100 moles of water, or 2.4 × 1027 molecules of
water. Each of these molecules contains 10 electrons, giving a total of approximately
2.4×1028 electrons in Nightcrawler’s body. Given the variation range of 1/1010 electrons
and that each electron carries a charge of 1.6 × 10−19 C, we can estimate Nightcrawler
has a maximum charge of 0.4 C. Then, since Nightcrawler is 1.7 m tall, we can say λ is
0.23 C/m.
Based on X-men 2, a less rigorous (but still useful) estimation of his teleporting time
could be 0.25 s. In this time he can travel up to 3 km, giving his charge a maximum
velocity of 12000 m/s. Thus, 2760 A is the maximum possible current that can be
generated, which is the current through 5520 average 60 watt lightbulbs attached to
120 V outlets.
This current, which we assume is steady, will produce a magnetic field whose strength
is defined by Ampere’s Law
Z
~ = µo I~ ⇒ B = Iµo
Bdl (16)
2πr

~ is the magnetic field, dl is a loop the magnetic field makes around the current,
where B
I~ is the current enclosed by the loop, r is the radius of the loop (see Figure 9), and µo
is the magnetic constant 1.3 × 10−6 N/A2 [9]. To find the strength of the magnetic field
one meter away from the path of his charges, we must let r be one meter, so the field
created by the maximum current will have strength 5.5 × 10−4 T at a radial distance
of one meter from the current, and will be stronger at shorter radial distances. As a
comparison, the Earth’s magnetic field is about 5 × 10−5 T at the equator and a small

19
 Figure 9. The B field (red) is generated but the current (blue). The
strength of the B field dissipates at larger radial distances, r, from the
current. In Ampere’s Law, dl denotes an infinitesimal distance along a
loop of the B field.

bar magnet often has a field strength of about 0.01 T. Though Kurt’s magnetic field
may seem incredibly weak, his magnetic field is enough of a shift to be felt by other
superheroes with extreme sensitivity to their environment, such as Dare Devil [5]. The
need to conserve charge allows others to know where Kurt is going a split second before
he gets there.
However, Nightcrawler has to deal with more than the magnetic field due to his own
current; as shown above, the Earth’s magnetic field is significant in comparison to the
one he generates and we must consider its affects. The definition of force on a charged
particle in a magnetic field is
F~ = q(~v × B)
~ (17)

where q is the charge on the particle and ~v is the particle’s velocity [9]. Teleporting is
always a strenuous activity, and having forces counteracting the charges direction can
only make it more difficult. These vectors reveal why teleporting north and south, along
the Earth’s magnetic field lines, especially over great distances, would be easier than
going in other directions. Because of the nature of cross products, the force will always
20
 Figure 10. The direction of the B field is denoted by the red vector, the
direction of the velocity of the charged particle is denoted by the blue
vector. The purple vector shows the direction of the resulting force on
the charged particle, and the strength of the force, which is determined
by the magnitude of the other two vectors and the angle θ between them,
is represented by the purple shaded area.

be in a direction that is in opposition to the charges traveling east and west. Also, the
~ (maximum angle is 90 ◦ ) the greater the force acting
larger the angle between ~v and B
~ are collinear, i.e.
on the particles will be (see Figure 10). Alternatively, when ~v and B
when Kurt teleports along the magnetic field lines, there is no force on the traveling
charges and they can reach their destination more easily without forces acting on them
in counterproductive directions.

6.2. Power Practicality. There are only a small range of superheroes with senses re-
fined enough to detect the slight magnetic field generated by Nightcrawler’s teleportation
current. So it turns out that conservation of charge is a nearly insignificant issue in a
fight. Further, while the Earth’s magnetic field can make longer distance jumps more
strenuous, it doesn’t make teleporting any less impressive. Thus, we can conclude that
teleporting would be a great power.
However, we have to acknowledge that we made some of the largest and most unbe-
lievable assumptions in the premises of how Kurt teleports. The idea of jumping out of
one dimension and into another has no place in the world of believable physics, despite
how well the consequences that follow seem to work.
21
 This is not to say that teleportation is not possible, and in fact, quantum teleportation
has already been achieved. Still, it by no means works the same as Nightcrawler’s
teleportation abilities, rather it works by transferring information and reassembling a
quantum state in a new location [10].

Figure 11. Representation of the process of quantum teleportation. A

is the original particle and the green squiggle represents all of the infor-
mation that defines the state of A. B and C are an entangled pair which
move away from each other as indicated by their squiggle-arrows. A and
B are measured where it says “scan,” which alters their states as indi-
cated by the color change in their representative squiggles. Then, their
measurement information is sent along the white zig-zag arrow, where it is
applied appropriately to C, altering the state of C to be a perfect replica
of the original A as indicated by the green color of C’s final squiggle. [10]

The new quantum state is assembled by starting with a particle A that is to be repli-
cated, and an entangled pair of objects B and C. The next step is extracting appropriate
information from particle A along with object B, half of an entangled pair. That mea-
surement is then communicated to the location of C, the other half of the entangled
22
pair. The entangled pair is necessary because the uncertainly principle prevents a per-
fect measurement of A, so the rest of the information is transfered without ever being
measured through the entangled pair via the Einstain-Podolsky-Rosen effect. In this
way all the information about A, the part that was measured and the part that was
transferred by the entangled pair, is now at the location of C. Thus, C can be altered
to be in the exact state that A was in previously. In this way, C becomes a perfect copy
of the original A, and since measurements alter, or destroy, the states of A and B, the
information has been teleported, not cloned (see Figure 11).
This process of teleportations is significantly more restricting than Nightcrawler’s, but
it also requires no unrealistic premises about movement between alternate dimensions.

7. Invisible Woman

Invisible Woman, Susan Storm, like the rest of the Fantastic 4, gained her powers
from exposure to a cosmic storm while conducting research in space. She is able to form
powerful forcefields around herself and others, and she can bend light to make herself
and others invisible, while redirecting enough light to her eyes so that she can see. More
specifically, writers explain that she does not simply bend visible light around herself,
but rather she bends all wavelengths of light of the electromagnetic spectrum [5]. With
this, she becomes completely invisible to all non-telekinatic modes of detection, with the
exception of physical contact. Since humans thermally radiate in the infrared spectrum,
a detail oriented reader could draw an important conclusion from this explanation: in
addition to bending infrared wavelengths around herself, she can not be thermally radi-
ating any heat from her body, otherwise she would be adding to energy in this spectrum
and could be seen with infrared vision (see Figure 7)[11].
Heat limitations could have some severe implications for the usefulness of her power. If
a human body cannot release heat, conservation of energy requires that its temperature
will rise, and humans have a very small range of livable body temperatures. Temper-
atures as low as 313 K (105 ◦ F) are considered life threatening to humans. Generally,
23
 Figure 12. Invisible Woman stopping bullets with her force field on the
cover of Marvel Knights 4 #5.

running a temperature that high involves dizziness and hallucinations—less than optimal
conditions to fight crime.

7.1. Energy and Thermal Radiation. To find how quickly her temperature will rise
while invisible, we can construct an expression for temperature as a function of time
considering the effects of power intake, mass and specific heat:

P
T (t) = t + To (18)
mk

where P is power measured in joules per second, m is her body mass, t is time, k is the
specific heat, which in this case is 4185.5 J/kg K since we are assuming that she is made
completely of water, and To is her initial temperature before turning invisible.
24
 Figure 13. Invisible Woman’s heating a cooling over time in hours. The
lower heat threshold (313 K) is shown in red, and the higher threshold
(413 K) is in green. Her linear heating function, which describes her
temperature change while she is invisible, is shown black. It intersects
the lower and higher thresholds at 3.9 hours and 69 hours (2.9 days),
respectively, displaying the amount of time she can be invisible before
reaching these temperatures. The cool down functions as derived in the
appendix are shown in orange and pink, orange describing the cool down
from the lower heat threshold, and pink showing the cool down from the
upper heat threshold. The blue lines show the cool down behavior from
the upper and lower thresholds when her constant heat input is taken
into consideration. Unlike the other cool down curves, they reach an
equilibrium at 307 K. Also, note that their behavior is similar to the pink
curve at high temperatures, further supporting the assumption that the
power input term could be neglected at high temperatures.

Since Susan is a fit lady, it is reasonable to assume that she follows the recommendation
for 2000 kcal of food intake per day [12], which makes for a power estimate of 96.875 J/s,
assuming she uses her energy uniformly throughout the day. She is reported to weigh
54 kg (120 lbs), and we can approximate her initial body temperature to be 307 K
(98.6 ◦ F).
25
 After plugging the constants into the temperature function, it becomes clear that
Invisible Woman reaches the life threatening temperature threshold, 313 K, in 14100 s
(3.9 hours), which gives her a good amount of time to engage in battle. However, we
can assume that she would have slightly less time since most battles with space aliens
and mad scientists tend to require some aerobic activity, which would cause her body
temperature to rise more quickly. Also, she would most likely prefer to remain below
313 K so that she is in good health the whole time. Nevertheless, we have established
an upper bound on invisibility time.
However, it is obvious that the cosmic storm that gave Invisible Woman her powers
altered her genetic make-up pretty drastically. Who is to say that it did not also allow her
to live comfortably at inhuman temperatures? The theoretical maximum for temperature
that organisms can survive at is 413 K, since beyond this point adenosine triphosphate
(ATP) is no longer stable. So if Invisible Woman could survive at the highest possible
temperatures, based on the previous heating model, she could be invisible for up to
250000 s (2.9 days) (see Figure 13). A vast improvement over the old heat threshold, to
be sure, especially since it’s rare that a single battle would last more than a few hours,
so she would have a break to become visible and cool down again between fighting. But
how long would it take for her to return to normal human temperatures?
To see how she will cool down once visible again, we can look at the cool down function
for thermal radiation (see Appendix Section 9.3)

σA 1
T = (3 (t − to ))− 3 (19)
km

where k is the specific heat of water, m is the mass of her body,  is the emissivity
of her skin, which should be close to the average emissivity if human skin of 0.97 [13],
σ is Boltzmann’s constant, 5.7 × 10−8 W/m2 K4 , A is the total surface area of skin,
approximated as 2 m2 , T is still temperature, to is a time constant to adjust the cool
down curve so that she starts cooling at the right time and from the right temperature
(see Figure 13).

26
 She cools very quickly by thermally radiating. According to the cool down curves she
reaches equilibrium (307 K) in 22 minutes from 313 K and in 3.9 hours cooling down from
from 413 K (see Figure 13). However, there were several important factors that were
not considered in deriving her cool down function. Namely, the fact that she continues
to produce heat while visible, and that she can also cool down by conduction. These
factors are reasonable to ignore at high temperatures because her heat production is
constant and conduction increases linearly with her temperature. At high temperatures,
these factors are quickly overpowered by her cooling through thermal radiation, which
increases by T 4 . On the other hand, as she returns to equilibrium they become much
more significant because around 307 K her power input must be nearly equivalent to the
heat she releases. Thus, the cool down curves must level off near equilibrium, slowing
the end of her cool down before she reaches her equilibrium temperature.
Unfortunately, the differential equation which includes both the thermal cool down
and the power input, which is consistent whether or not she is invisible, can only be
solved numerically. Luckily, these numerical curves show asymptotic behavior at 307 K
(see Figure 13), and a slower cool down rate (several hours greater) as a result.

7.2. Power Practicality. The speed with which Sue cools down, is significantly faster
than how quickly she heats up. Thus, the heating complications of her power would not
be much of a limiting factor in her fighting ability.
Invisibility presents the least issues or limitations of all the powers we have investigated
so far. This is further evidenced by the fact that technology which functions much like
Sue’s power has recently been developed [14].
According to researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, they
have recently been able to cloak a bump on a layer of gold. Their cloaking technique was
similar to the method that Sue is said to use. In this case, instead of super powers they
built a crystal structure with air spaces which bent light around the bump, similar to how
Sue bends light around herself, so it was hidden within the layer of gold behind it. The
bump was undetectable at nearly visible infrared frequencies and in three dimensions.
27
 While this was done on a very small scale, on the order of 10−5 in, the exact same
technique could be used on a much larger scale. The problem is the difficulty in creating
the crystal structure for large scale objects, which is supposedly doable, but time con-
suming. There is also no mobility with the crystal structure. So, we can conclude that
invisibility would be and extremely useful power, because it does away with the time
and mobility issues in current cloaking technology.

8. Conclusion

We have seen that many powers are very practical and do not completely disobey
the laws of physics. In fact, in the case of some powers, physics does not really impose
limitations that undermine the usefulness of these extraordinary abilities.
That was not always the case. Cyclops’s power seems to directly contradict conser-
vation of momentum. Even if he braced himself beforehand, a power stance would not
be enough for a person with normal strength to withstand the backwards force from a
significant blast. Conversely, if all blasts were within a comfortable momentum range
for the shooter, his power would not be nearly as impressive or useful.
Superman would not be as held back by the laws of physics. In the case of Superman,
it is assumed that he is an alien with super strength, so the fact that he would need to be
able to withstand significant forces from his jumps seems fairly reasonable. Although,
he would have to be stronger than a man of steel, “the man of adamantium” would be
a more appropriate nickname.
The Flash’s super speed is even less limiting. While we did not look at all the compli-
cations involve with propelling a human body at relativistic speed, if he could get going
that fast, he could conserve angular momentum and push a very high speed threshold
before problems started occurring on a global scale.
While it is unquestionably one of the most outlandish powers, Nightcrawler’s tele-
portation presents very few issues for conservation of charge. In fact, the sensory issue
and magnetic field effect that were already presented in the comics serve to make his
28
power incredibly consistent. Admittedly, this paper did not address the issue of con-
servation of mass, but there have been many simple, albeit peculiar, explanations for
shape-shifters’ mass changes throughout science fiction.5 Let us assume one of these
explanations. Thus, we can say that teleportation follows the laws of physics extremely
well, in addition to being an impressive power.
Finally, Invisible Woman, considered to be the most powerful member of the Fantastic
4, also holds up well under scientific scrutiny. The easy with which she can adhere to
conservation of energy serves to build her case as an incredibly powerful superhero, as
well as to make her power of invisibility all the more appealing if it were possible in real
life.
In the future, this study could go on to address other questions, such as The Flash’s
interactions with his environment while at relativistic speeds, conservation of mass for
Nightcrawler, and other energy requirements for Invisible Woman’s force field power.
There are also countless other super powers that could be examined, all of which are
awesome.

9. Appendix

9.1. Derivation of Moment of Inertia of a Uniform Sphere: The Earth. Mo-

ment of inertia is defined as
Z
I= r2 dm (20)

where r is the distance from the axis of rotation and m is the mass of the rotating body
[7]. To integrate over the mass, we can consider the Earth, estimated as a perfect sphere,
to be made up of thin disks that form a sphere when all stacked together (see Figure
14). We must first define the moment of inertia of a disk.
To start, recall that mass is density times volume, so

dm = ρdV = ρL2πrdr (21)

5K. A. Applegate, writer of the Animorphs series, claims that all extra mass is shifted to and from
enclosed bubbles in space.
29
 Figure 14. This figure depicts how to visualize the sphere as a series of
disks for the purposes of integration. The labels show how the disks can
be defined in terms of distances along the axes. [15]

where L is the height of the disk (labeled dz in Figure 14) and ρ is the density of the
disk.
Putting this together with the definition of moment of inertia we can find the moment
of inertia of a disk to be
Z Rd Z Rd
3 M 1
I = 2πρL r dr = 2π L r3 dr = M Rd 2 (22)
0 πRd L 0 2

where Rd is the radius of the disk.

Applying this to our sphere, we can say

1 1
dI = y 2 dm = y 2 ρπy 2 dz (23)
2 2

where y now defines the radius of each disk, dz is now the height of each disk, and we
made the same substitution for mass as before. Now we can use this formula in our
30
integral to get
Z R Z R
1 1 M 2
I = ρπ (R2 − z 2 )2 dz = π (R2 − z 2 )2 dz = M R2 (24)
2 −R 2 43 πR3 −R 5

where we used the Pythagorean Theorem to redefine our disk radius, y, in terms of
radius of the sphere, R, and the height z from the equator of the sphere.
Now we can make an estimation for the Earth. Knowing that the mass of the Earth
is 6 × 1024 kg, and that its smaller radial measurement is 6.357 × 106 m, we can see that
the Earth’s moment of inertia is about 10 × 1037 kgm2 .
Further, we define angular momentum as

2
L = IΩ = M R2 Ω (25)
5

where Ω is the angular velocity. In the case of the Earth we know that it travels a full
360 ◦ or 2π radians in one day or 86400 s. So we can say that Ω = 2π
86400s , which results
in an angular momentum of 7 × 1033 kgm2 /s for the Earth.

9.2. Derivation of Charge Fluctuation Tolerance before Vaporization: Nightcrawler.

We can state with confidence that if an object’s charge energy exceeds its mass energy,
it will be vaporized. This allows us to place an upper-bound on a mass’s binding energy
as follows
Q2
E=k = mc2 (26)
2r
2
where k is Coulomb’s constant, 9.0×109 N m
C2
, Q is charge, and r is the radius, since we
must estimate our object to be a sphere, and m is the mass.
Rearranging this algebraically, the charge to mass ratio is
r s s
Q 2r 2r 2
=c =c 4 3
=c 4 (27)
m mk k 3 πρr k 3 πρr2

To apply this to Nightcrawler we will assume that he is essentially water to make

a radius and density estimation. So given his mass of 73 kg, which gives a radius of
0.3 m, and water’s density of 1000 kg/m3 , we get a charge mass ratio of 270 C/kg, which
31
is equivalent to 8.0×10−24 C/molecule. Given that there are 10 electrons in a water
molecule, and an electron carries a charge of -1.6×10−19 C, Nightcrawler’s charge can
vary by one part in 106 . But this maximum fluctuation is more extreme than necessary,
so to be on the conservative side, let us use a variation of one part in 1010 .

9.3. Derivation of Invisible Woman’s Cool Down Rate. When cooling down, it
is appropriate to attribute Invisible Woman’s entire change in temperature to thermal
radiation and to ignore the affects of conduction when T >> Tenvironment . This esti-
mation is valid because Newton’s Law of Cooling states the change in temperature due
to conduction is proportional to temperature, T , while it will soon be shown that the
change in temperature due to radiation is proportional to T 4 . Thus, radiation will have
a much greater influence on temperature change than conduction.
Now, a change in body temperature is proportional to a change in energy by

∆E = km∆T (28)

where k is her specific heat in J/K kg , and m is the mass of the body.
Since energy change over time is the same as power, we can use the definition of power

∆E = P = σAT 4 (29)

where  is the emissivity of her skin, σ is Boltzmann’s constant, 5.7 × 10−8 W/m2 K4 , A
is the total surface area of skin, and T is still temperature [11]. We can use algebra and
set these equations equal to get the ordinary differential equation

d
mk T = −σAT 4 (30)
dt

which is easily solved, giving the cool down rate to be

σA 1
T = (3 t + c)− 3 (31)
km
32
where c is a constant resulting from integration that we can assume to be zero so that
the curve maintains its correct shape. This will not be a problem when we include the
necessary terms to normalize the function so that it describes cooling from the right
temperature at the right time.

References

[1] J. Siegel and J. Shuster, Superman: The Dailies 1939-1940 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1999)
Annotation: All Superman comics published in daily newspapers from 1939 to
1940. Provided history of Superman, as well as sense cultural shifts in comics.
[2] E. Wigner, Physics Today
Annotation: History of the use conservation laws in physics and description of
how they come from natural symmetries.
[3] J. Kahn, Superman: The Action Comics Archives (DC Comics)
Annotation: Collection of the original Superman comic books. Gave detailed
explanation about original powers, and provided more cultural context for comics.
[4] M. Tarr, Mechanical properties of metals,
URL: http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0123 mpm/index.html
Annotation: Short introduction to the concepts of stress, strain, sheer strength,
and yield deformation. Provided numerical strengths of different materials to com-
pare to human bone.
[5] Marvel Universe Character Bios,
URL: http://marvel.com/universe/Main Page
Annotation: Official Marvel back stories for all Marvel characters. Provided his-
tories, mass measurements, and other interesting facts about superheroes in ques-
tion.
[6] T. Moore, A Traveler’s Guide to Spacetime: An Introduction to the Special Theory of Relativity
(R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1995)
Annotation: Introductory text book on relativity. Provided equations and ex-
planations for proper discussion of mass at relativistic speeds.
[7] D. Giancoli, Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics (Prentice Hall, 2000),
chap. 10, third ed.
Annotation: General introductory physics book. Provided equations and expla-
nations for calculations and discussion related to angular momentum.
33
 [8] J. Taylor, C. Zafiratos and M. Dubson, Modern Physics for Scientists and Enginers (Prentice Hall,
2004), chap. 6, second ed.
Annotation: Discussion of modern physics, developed out of relativity and quan-
tum mechanics. Included information about light, wavelength and momentum,
necessary to my discussion.
[9] E. Purcell, Electricity and Magnetism, second ed., vol. 2 (McGraw Hill, 1985)
Annotation: Treatment of main concepts concerning electricity and magnetism.
Provided discussion and equations necessary for charge, current, and magnetic
field calculations.
[10] Quantum Teleportation,
URL: http://www.research.ibm.com/quantuminfo/teleportation/
Annotation: Explanation of quantum teleportation and discussion of its relation
to science fiction writing.
[11] R. Baierlein, Thermal Physics (Cambridge University Press, 2005), chap. 6
Annotation: Text book on thermal physics. Provided explanation of emissivity
and thermal radiation for heating and cooling questions.
[12] How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label,
URL: http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/ConsumerInformation/ucm078889.htm
Annotation: Official government publications on health and wellness. Included
discussion of daily energy intake, as recommended by federal authorities.
[13] C. V.-M. Francisco Sanchez-Marin, Sergio Calixto-Carrera, Novel approach to assess the emissivity
of the human skin, Journal of Biomedical Optics 14 (2009), pp. 024006–1 – 024006–6
Annotation: Interesting experiment on techiniques of determining emissivity.
Provided average emissivity of human skin for calculations.
[14] Scientists Creating Cloak Of Invisibility,
URL: http://www.clickondetroit.com/technology/22879433/detail.html
Annotation: Basic description of current technology in invisibility cloaking.
[15] Moment of Inertia: Sphere,
URL: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/isph.html#sph
Annotation: Figure for integrating to find the volume of a sphere.

34