Read Online The Physics of Superheroes More Heroes! More Villains! More Science! Spectacular Second Edition James Kakalios Books
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A complete update to the hit book on the real physics at work in comic books, featuring more heroes, more villains, and more science
Since 2001, James Kakalios has taught "Everything I Needed to Know About Physics I Learned from Reading Comic Books," a hugely popular university course that generated coast-to-coast media attention for its unique method of explaining complex physics concepts through comics. With The Physics of Superheroes, named one of the best science books of 2005 by Discover, he introduced his colorful approach to an even wider audience. Now Kakalios presents a totally updated, expanded edition that features even more superheroes and findings from the cutting edge of science. With three new chapters and completely revised throughout with a splashy, redesigned package, the book that explains why Spider-Man's webbing failed his girlfriend, the probable cause of Krypton's explosion, and the Newtonian physics at work in Gotham City is electrifying from cover to cover.
Read Online The Physics of Superheroes More Heroes! More Villains! More Science! Spectacular Second Edition James Kakalios Books
"I had read another book by this author (The physics of Star Trek) in the past and decided to purchase and read this very informative 365 soft cover book (The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios) which I got for a bargain price on Amazon.
Like the Physics of Star Trek, the author cleverly teaches traditional physics while evaluating comic book super heroes relating what is and what is not possible according to the theories of basic physics.
This book is organized into four sections: the first section covers mechanics such as forces and motion, Newton’s law of gravity, special relativity and other topics. Section two focuses on heat and light where he explains the three laws of thermodynamics, electrical currents and other subjects. The third part explains modern physics such as atomic physics, Quantum mechanics, tunneling phenomena and solid-state physics. The final section asks the question “what have we learned? This part is essential reading if you want to better understand key equations and further reading on this subject. This section also has a detailed notes section on each chapter.
If you are into comic book superheroes and would like to learn the possible real life physics behind some of the amazing abilities of superheroes this book is for you.
Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Training alone in Combatives and self-defense)"
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The Physics of Superheroes More Heroes! More Villains! More Science! Spectacular Second Edition James Kakalios Books Reviews :
The Physics of Superheroes More Heroes! More Villains! More Science! Spectacular Second Edition James Kakalios Books Reviews
- I wish that I could have taken the author's physics course that uses this book instead of the terribly dry college physics I took many years ago. This is a very fun but also serious book and a wonderful job by the author. (Aside If you are thinking of taking a standard physics book, you might read this one first; also, my experience as a college student taught me that probably a better thing to do before taking a standard college physics course would be to take something more fun that uses physics heavily, such as a first astronomy-for-majors course, to develop a stronger reason to be interested in learning physics BEFORE subjecting oneself to the dry way most physicists teach their subject. But better yet, find a way to go up to the University of Minnesota to take this author's course and transfer the credits!)
- I had read another book by this author (The physics of Star Trek) in the past and decided to purchase and read this very informative 365 soft cover book (The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios) which I got for a bargain price on .
Like the Physics of Star Trek, the author cleverly teaches traditional physics while evaluating comic book super heroes relating what is and what is not possible according to the theories of basic physics.
This book is organized into four sections the first section covers mechanics such as forces and motion, Newton’s law of gravity, special relativity and other topics. Section two focuses on heat and light where he explains the three laws of thermodynamics, electrical currents and other subjects. The third part explains modern physics such as atomic physics, Quantum mechanics, tunneling phenomena and solid-state physics. The final section asks the question “what have we learned? This part is essential reading if you want to better understand key equations and further reading on this subject. This section also has a detailed notes section on each chapter.
If you are into comic book superheroes and would like to learn the possible real life physics behind some of the amazing abilities of superheroes this book is for you.
Rating 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author Training alone in Combatives and self-defense) - I really enjoyed this book because I'm geeky enough to have thought about these types of issues. I vaguely recall my mechanics from my high school days but not well enough to work this out for myself. So it is great having a really solid discussion from a real physicist.
Having said that, I think there is a mistake in this book. The first chapter is about the original version of Superman, who is merely really strong because he grew up on Krpton and Krypton has much stronger gravity on Earth. The original Superman did not have the ability to fly or X-Ray vision or anything like that. So the question is how strong must Superman be - and how strong must Krpton's gravity be - for Superman to leap a tall building in a single bound? We do know that the original Superman could leap an eighth of a mile high. That's 660 feet high. Then he does some physics to get the answer.
Here comes the math (7% on the )
Kakalios uses the formula v^2 = 2gh to conclude that Superman's initial velocity must be 200 feet per second (that's 140 miles per hour). Now, how much force must Superman's legs generate to accelerate to that speed? Well, assume that Superman's jump - the part while he was pushing off the ground - took a quarter second. Then he'd have to accelerate at 800 feet per second per second.
Now Kakalios switches to meters. An acceleration of 800 feet/s/s is about 250 meters per second per second. Assume Superman is a relatively big guy who weighs 100 kilograms (220 pounds) and we have a total force of 25,000 Newtons. Translate back to English measurements and that works out to 5,600 pounds. Now, that's how much force Superman can generate when he's jumping as hard as he can. If he's just standing around then he'd probably only be putting out about 70% of that. So that means that Superman's weight on Krpton must be 3300 pounds, which is 15 times his earthly weight of 220 pounds. In conclusion, Krypton's gravity and Superman's strength must be about 15 times that of a regular human being.
That seemed way to low for me. So I checked his numbers and I disagree with Kakalios' simplifying assumption that Superman will spend a quarter second pushing off the earth at the start of his jump. I think that is quite wrong. Here's why. Remember that if the "push" phase of the jump takes a quarter second then Superman's acceleration must be 250 m/s/s. Then we can use the following formula and plug in acceleration of 250 and time of 1/4th.
distance = 1/2 acceleration * time^2
distance = 1/2 (250) (1/4)^2
distance = 125 (1/16)
distance = 7.8 meters
That means that for the quarter second that Superman is pushing against the Earth with his legs, he has travelled 7.8 meters. He couldn't do that unless he is also plastic man and can keep stretching his legs!
Kakalios came up with his estimates based on the assumption of a quarter second to jump. I think a better estimate is a half meter to jump (if you bend at the knees to jump, then at the lowest point you'll drop about a half meter). So if you assume that Superman has a half meter to accelerate to 205 feet per second instead of 7.8 meters, then you conclude that Superman must accelerate much, much faster. And that means he needs a much larger force. I will spare you the rest of the math, but my calculations worked out such that Superman is 330 times stronger than a man who can do a 24 inch vertical leap (which is an above average vertical leap).
I'd be curious if other reviewers would be interested in double checking my work. I think my analysis is correct, but as I said at the beginning of the review, my high school physics is pretty rusty. I could easily be missing something here!
I do want to conclude on one point that I hope is obvious, which is that Kakalios really gets you thinking about the physics of Superheroes. I enjoyed delving into Kakalios' work and look forwards to the rest of the book. It is fascinating and stimulating stuff and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. - Loved it! He gets bogged down a little in the science stuff but comes out of it with simple but colorful examples of EXACTLY what is happening when a superhero performs their feat of power. He keeps based in reality though so if you expect him to tell you how Superman flies without wings then you're out of luck.
- I teach Physics and was looking for some interesting examples to give my students. He does a good job of looking at different superheroes and the applicable Physics. I would have enjoyed having some problems to work as well. Anyone who likes Physics and comics would enjoy this book.
- I love this book! It's so fun and interesting. It's a history lesson on comics and some amazing science! For the first time physics makes sense! I'm using it to teach my son for homeschooling and I'm learning as much as he is!
- The book is great, well written and very interesting even if you don't like Physics. The comic sans font is surprisingly nice to look at. I did get a lot of crap, as I do anyway for reading books about Physics for fun, because this was about superheroes and physics. It's good that I have 10 years of Marine Corps training training under my belt or I could have lost some lunch money. Over all one of my favorite books about Physics.
- Started good, but I ended up getting bogged down in the middle and it got pretty boring
