Ross Gaither

1
Why Superman Can't Exist
Ross Gaither Physics 001 Project 2
(An Exploration of Newton's Laws and Gravity)
2
Can he Fly?
Superman has always been known for his ability to
fly. The creators of superman have always tried
to give a believable explanation of that ability,
but is it actually possible for him to fly?
3
Can he Fly?
To answer the question we will look at other
objects, in this case jets, which are able to fly
on planet earth.
The reason jets are able to take flight in the
way they do is do to two factors, one is the
design of their wing foils, and the other is the
ability of the jet engines release fluid to
create a force in one direction, and the
atmosphere pushes back with equal and opposite
force creating the thrust of the jetNewtons 3rd
Law.
4
Can he Fly?
To answer the question we will look at other
objects, in this case jets, which are able to fly
on planet earth.
When we look at superman we see a man, whos
abilities make him able to jump really high
(based on muscle strength), so how does he stay
in constant jump? Only on the original jump
does he ever push of something and have something
push back at an equal an opposite force. How
does he stay in flight, surprisingly physicists
have discussed this. Each with their own
humorous depictions of why, they all come to say
that it is impossible for him to fly without a
constant opposite force pushing back on him.
5
Another Error In Superman
The strength to hurl massive objects such as
comets from earth
In some of the cartoons and comics superman has
been able to hurl comets away from striking
earth. With this ability he would most likely
set the earths orbit around the sun off
coursehurling the earth towards the sun. For
every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction and with an object of that mass pushing
of a man on earth the earth would consequently be
pushed out of orbit, though in the comics it
never is, and superman is the hero.
6
Can He Exist?
Although the question answers itself (hes
fictional), the ideas of being able to bend the
laws of gravity and the laws of motion is really
in question.
Gravity is the attract ional force between one
object and another, and the infamous superhero,
superman, was born on a planet whos size is 6
times that of earth. The other thing is the
planet has a high gravitational pull. So the
planets makeup is something similar to Jupiter.
If he is a human like alien his body and
muscles would be crushed by the force of gravity,
not to mention if he could survive it, he
wouldnt walk on all fours. Fictionally he can
bend the laws of motion and gravity, but if
applied to real world situations Superman could
not exist. There is no way as shown in this
slide and previous ones that he could do the
things he did. Superman will always live as a
favorite fictional character in our popular
culture.