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.