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Spider-Man is no longer science fiction — well, some of his amazing powers aren’t, anyway. Being bitten by a radioactive spider probably isn’t going to let you scramble up the sides of tall buildings, but yes, it’s true — you really could stop a speeding train with webbing if you were the Spidey one.
For the betterment of humanity, three physicists from the University of Leicester crunched the numbers and worked out how much force the webbing would have to suck up to slow and stop a speeding, runaway New York tube train like Spider-man managed in Spider-Man 2. That would be a colossal 300,000 Newtons, or some insane 500 million joules per cubic metre, by the way. If you’re not suitably impressed by that figure, you should be, because it’s a monstrous sum.
Anyway, armed with said train-stopping figure, the trio set out to find the strongest spider web around, which of course his Spideyness would spew. They found the Darwin’s bark spider, which spits-forth a web that can absorb up to 520MJ per cubic metre — enough to stop the train if anchored properly.
So, next time you’re watching Spider-man romp around New York, leaving a trail of sticky web about the town like a nosey arse that just won’t go away, you’ll be rest assured that at least some of his antics are based in reality. Now, how about we work on the ability to fly without wings, Superman-style? [Physics Special Topics via Dvice]
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‘…leaving a trail of sticky web about the town…’
The places my mind goes. Dear lord.
Can’t say I’m a massive fan of the busybody. I think Maguire ruined it for me. Emo Spider-man, honestly.
I think out of all 4 films, Spidey 2 is by far the best. But to be honest the abilities of the character fascinate me more rather the character himself (Maguire was a long stronger as Spiderman I feel) and the others in his life.
Emo Spidey was terrible, I do wholeheartedly agree, but Hipser Spidey (Garfield) wasn’t a step up either. After Uncle Ben dies he becomes such a dick to his aunt, not even spending time with her in the subsequent days to weeks after Ben’s death. He’s so obsessed with himself AND leaving a trail of sticky web about the town – and I just don’t just mean the streets.
a lot* stronger as Spiderman..
sticky web. Oh God
Superman’s flying was always ridiculous, mostly because the original Supe was only able to “leap over tallest buildings”, like Hulk, and there was nothing in the origin of his powers that would make him able to fly.
Now, Marvel’s heroes always had some applied phlebotinum to explain why they were able to fly: Storm flew on wind, Banshee on sound waves, etc.
I always thought the Hulk amasses an enormous level of momentum, rather then say fly. Does he actually fly in the comics?
No, I mean both original Superman and the Hulk leap instead of flying.
Ah yes, I remember. Superman also used to run to locations rather then fly, if I remember correctly.
The best spiderman films were the ones made in the 70s.
Or was it the 80s?
Anyway, the budget wasn’t up to much so he’d just sort of throw ropes around but they had a lot of charm.
And there were ninjas.