The Physics of Superheroes

by James Kakalios
[cover name=thephysicsofsuperheroes]

James Kakalios teaches a class called “Everything I Know About Science I Learned from Reading Comic Books.” Seriously. It’s basically a regular physics class, except that instead of all the stupid examples they use in regular physics classes, he uses crazy examples from superhero comics. The Physics of Superheroes does much the same thing, although it is not a textbook.

The book stats with a short history of superhero comics. Then it looks at different superheroes and superpowers and uses them to talk about different physics topics. Fortunately, the author is a huge comic book fan, so he does not start off the section on Superman by saying, “There’s no way Superman could do any of the stuff you see in the comics. It’s not possible, and here’s why.” Instead, he tells us how (in comic book world) Superman got is powers, focuses on “leaping tall buildings in a single bound,” and uses Newton’s laws to figure out just how strong Superman would have to be to jump that high. He doesn’t just connect superheroes with the basic laws of physics, though. He also works in modern technology, basically using superheroes and supervillains to explain how things like airbags and microwaves work.

The author says you don’t need to know anything about physics (or comic books) to read this. That’s probably true. He also says that, basically, all you need to know about math is

1. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1
2. so 2 times 1/2 = 1
3. and whatever you do to one side of that equation, you have to do to the other.

You might encounter more complicated stuff than this, but the author claims you can skip it. That may be true, too, but I’m not sure. One thing that you should know that he doesn’t warn you about is that he writes like a college teacher. He is much easier to read than any of your college textbooks, but it’s more complicated than Harry Potter. Fortunately, he has good sense of humor and some really interesting topics.

You can read an excerpt online at the author’s website. Or, if you have a student or employee ID for LMC, DVC, or CCC, you can read the whole thing online. Neat!

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Where to Find It

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