Science of Superheroes

The Science of Superheroes

Infinity War (2018): NR

Maverick R. (Spoiler Warning)

     Infinity War, an addition to the successful & entertaining superhero legacy of Marvel/Disney, presents the coalition of all characters in the past decade. With a bigger threat that inspired the first Avengers to unite, the mad titan acts on his plans to eradicate half of the universe with the infinity gems (born from the big bang and 3/5 are already on Earth). Would it be insane or sacrificing for the better good? The producers and Marvel staff perfectly flow all the key character's roles in taking down Thanos, or attempt to, while toying our emotions. The film is greatly praised by many people across many ages recognizing it uniquely where the formidable bad guy succeeds in executing the "plan". I thoroughly enjoyed it like the first six times I watched it without all the concession stand snacks. As an Iron man fan and aspiring armored suit builder, the audience witness a mature growth and selflessness in the character after conquering his demons.

Scene 1: Iron Man's Suit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gm8tvwl4bI

In the first opening scene the children of Thanos encounters Earth's bravest defense as the first wave of conflict strike to acquire the Time stone. Cull Obsidian and Voldemort advances to apprehend the heroes with brute force and telekinesis  Many efforts to retaliate were made against the aliens using their individual powers however it fails costing them a stone attached to the sorcerer supreme. Iron Man's new featured suit contains nano-tech which is cool yet it doesn't follow the physics in reality. It gave me an itch when some enhancing blasters were produced from the back of his suit. I think there is a point when it gets ridiculous yet entertaining. Tony Stark shoots the massive running Cull with enough force to send him flying back a few meters. Assuming that his new suit provides an increased power capacity enough to change the alien's x-acceleration then there would be large force produced (Newton's 2nd Law F=ma). Newton's 3rd Law states that for whenever one object exerts a force on a 2nd object the 2nd object exerts an equal but opposite force on the first. After firing at Cull, we see Iron man standing completely still and not pushed back a little from the recoil (conservation of momentum). This would be true if the armor was anchored down or heavier but this is disproved when he was fighting Thanos. Also conservation of energy provides that iron man's repulsor technology should have produced some radiant energy and thermal energy from shooting tons of plasma and muons. I did not see any scorch marks or gas emission. The nanotechnology can also produce a system of energy that can fly itself and reassemble into the suit which I think is improbable.

Scene 2: Super Villain Landing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJJkuIN1lys

With one of the infinity stones (Mind Stone) securely placed in Vision, an advanced android with Wall-E feelings, he and Wanda isolate themselves in Europe in search of a normal life. The bad guys quickly ruin it with a critical ambush that lessened hope for these unsuspecting heroes. They displayed superior combat skills and shot the two out of the sky as they were fleeing for their lives. We see the bad guys break the glass roof of the train station, enter at a fast velocity and land easily without any issue. In reality they would have broken the floor beneath them and sank a little due to conservation of momentum as a perfectly inelastic collision situation as they transfer momentum from their feet to the ground (Newton's 1st Law). If that's not the case, then they would have suffered broken legs due to ground's normal force pushing back on their body (Newton's 3rd Law). This can be also demonstrated by looking at their impulse; in a short amount of time they stopped their initial velocity to zero which is experienced in hundreds or thousands of Newtons of force proportional to their mass.

Scene 3: Thor Flight Ability+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6fWfoax5bU

The awesome final battle is held at Wakanda where the Avengers have vowed to protect Vision and the Mind Stone. Most of the battle fended off the savage creatures dauntlessly flooding the arena and technologies that were penetrating the shield. They fight the growing army, children of Thanos and intruders going after the prize. Even with the combined/enhanced powers of the present heroes it wasn't enough to overthrow the evil army. Each hero is getting picked left and right devoted to risk their life for the sake of the universe until the god of thunder, Rocket and Groot appears before them. After Thor takes destructive measures of the large bases, Thanos gains the Mind Stone in his gauntlet after laying waste to Vision. We see Thor flying around the battlefield as if he was holding onto the axe, however this is not the case when he threw the axe at Thanos he was still floating in the air. In many cases including Thor, there are no net force acting on them (pushing them up) in equilibrium with the gravitational force (pulling them down) unlike the DeLorean. This definitely violates the 1st and 2nd Newton Laws. The first law states that a body will remain at rest or move in a straight line at a constant speed unless acted on by a net external force. If Thor is floating in the air and the only force acting on him is gravity then there must be an external force. The second law states that an acceleration is present when an external force is acting on an object. That means whenever he is accelerating in the air and changing direction there has to be a force countering/boosting his previous momentum.