Physics of Comic Books Taught At UMinn

Uncanny physics of com­ic book superheroes

Can you teach a physics class with only com­ic books to illus­trate the prin­ci­ples? University of Minnesota physics pro­fes­sor James Kakalios has been doing it since 1995, when he explained the prin­ci­ple of con­ser­va­tion of momen­tum by cal­cu­lat­ing the force of Spider-Man’s web when it snagged the super­hero’s girl­friend as she plum­met­ed from a great height. ‘Comic books get their sci­ence right more often than one would expect,’ said the gre­gar­i­ous Kakalios.