The science behind fiction
Can our fiction actually be non-fiction?
Marvel And D.C.
Marvel and D.C superheros and villains are often thought of fictitious and unreal. Now of course our city streets aren't ran by possessed scientists with double personalities(Green Goblin) and we aren't saved by people from another planet (Superman), but not all of it is completely untrue. There is is some science behind how these extraordinary characters can come to life.
Marvel
THE HERO:
Spider-man, is one of the greatest examples of how science is apart of fiction. Chemistry plays a big part of his costume...especially the web shooter. Scientists have shown that some webbing can be strong enough to stop a train such as the in the scene shown in spider-man. The 3rd paragraph from "Spider-man Physics: How Real Is The Superhero" explains the method used to calculate how much the New York subway train would weigh and then discovered the needed force of the webbing to stop the train. Assuming the 4 "R160 New York City subway cars" were filled with an estimate of 984 people, the train would weigh 200,000 kg (440.92454 pounds). The next step was to find the speed of the train. This resulted in 24 meters per second (53 miles an hour). The answers to these question finally allows the room to calculate how much force the webbing would need to stop the train:300,000 newtons. The following paragraph states: "After considering the relative geometry of the train, webs, and buildings used to anchor the silk, the team calculated the amount of stiffness, or tensile strength, required to hold the train in place without snapping. That value is known as Young’s modulus, a measure of the stiffness in elastic materials, and works out to be 3.12 gigapascals (one Pascal = 1 Newton applied over a square meter)." The Orb-Weaver, aka a garden spider, surprisingly spins silk that varies in strength from 1.5- 12 gigapascals. All in all Spider-man's powers aren't fictional and are a great example of science fiction.
DC
CITATIONS
"Everything Burns: The Psychology & Philosophy of the Joker." Pop Mythology. N.p., 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.
"Spider-Man Physics: How Real Is the Superhero?" Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.