The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe
The Wolverine:
Wolverine
is a fictional character and super hero that is well known in the Marvel
Universe. James Howlett, also known as Logan is a mutant who possess
animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, and self healing powers
that allow him to recover from any form of injury, wounds, disease or toxins. The
difference between the Marvel universe and our universe is that Marvel uses supernatural
powers such as magic, superhuman strength, or cosmic forces to bend the laws of
physics. In order for the audience to be entertained, Marvel had to redesign
their film to be more realistic and entertaining. If the film pushes the laws of physics too much it can throw the audience in confusion
as to what just happened. The movie takes place on earth; however, despite the existence
of mutants and super heroes the world seems to follow our law of physics. Throughout
the movie, each scene continues to break the properties of physics by
exaggerating path of actions, weight, or laws of motion. At the same time, it
creates an entertaining movie for the audience.
One example is supernatural powers that some mutants have in the film. Some powers include strength, agility, quickness, bone manipulation, and self healing powers. In the bar scene, Wolverine is about to fight a group of men, Yukio enters the scene and stops Wolverine from fighting. Yukio is a skilled female ninja with agility and quickness. Her weapon of choice is a samurai sword. In the clip, Yukio aggravates the men and then quickly strikes one of the man’s beer bottle and stool before they can even move.
In this scene, some of the objects break the law of gravity to create an appealing scene. Newton’s law of universal gravitation states that any two bodies in the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
One example is an apple falling from a tree. The apple is accelerated, since its velocity changes from zero as it is hanging from the tree and moves falls towards the ground. Newton’s 2nd Law states that there must be a force that acts on the apple to cause the acceleration.
One example is supernatural powers that some mutants have in the film. Some powers include strength, agility, quickness, bone manipulation, and self healing powers. In the bar scene, Wolverine is about to fight a group of men, Yukio enters the scene and stops Wolverine from fighting. Yukio is a skilled female ninja with agility and quickness. Her weapon of choice is a samurai sword. In the clip, Yukio aggravates the men and then quickly strikes one of the man’s beer bottle and stool before they can even move.
In this scene, some of the objects break the law of gravity to create an appealing scene. Newton’s law of universal gravitation states that any two bodies in the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
One example is an apple falling from a tree. The apple is accelerated, since its velocity changes from zero as it is hanging from the tree and moves falls towards the ground. Newton’s 2nd Law states that there must be a force that acts on the apple to cause the acceleration.
In
the scene, Yukio is slicing the stool and the beer bottle in half and it takes 126
frames for the stool to fall and 239 frames for the beer bottle to separate. On
one hand, this does not follow Newton’s law of universal gravitation because
the sword acts as a force that slice through an object with weight (the male
sitting on the stool) and mass (liquid inside the beer bottle). The objects
should be forced down by gravity but it defies it for a couple of frames.
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| Frame 462 |
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Another scene is when Silver Samurai (the giant robot) tries to strike Wolverine with its giant steel sword but Wolverine blocks it with one hand. This scene bends Newton’s law of motion, specifically the 2nd and 3rd law. The 2nd law states that the more mass an object has, the more force you must apply for make it accelerate – to change its speed or direction or both. An example would be an airplane, the faster you want to accelerate the more force you must apply. To reach a certain speed you can apply a small force for a long time or a large force for a short time. The 3rd law states that to stop or slow down an object, a force must be applied in the direction opposite to that object’s motion, exerting a force results in an equal force in the opposite direction.
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| Newton's Law of Motion 2nd Law |
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| Newton's Law of Motion 3rd Law |
In order for Wolverine to stop Silver Samurai (a giant indestructible robot) from cutting Wolverine to pieces, Wolverine has to exert the same amount of force to stop the sword and then adding more force to push the sword away from his body. In our universe, humans have a limitation on strength and how much force we can take before our bones break. In our universe, diamonds are the hardest substance on earth but scientists discovered two more minerals related to the diamond that is thought to be harder. The hardest metal on earth is steel alloy, which is made by adding carbon and other elements. It has tensile (tension) strength of 122,000 psi and yields (the stress a material can withstand) strength of 67,000 psi. The Moths scale ranks elements on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the strongest. The hardest steel material is rated at 9 and diamonds at rank 10.
It
takes about 67,000 psi (4,800 tons per square foot) to break a steel alloy. In
the Marvel universe, Wolverines bones are coated with adamantium, a very dense,
artificial, iron-based alloy that is virtually indestructible similar to steel
alloy. When Silver Samurai (a giant robot) tries to strike Wolverine, he blocks
the sword with one hand using his claws. This may be true in the Marvel
universe but in our world a human can’t exert 67,000 psi with one hand even if
our bones are coated with adamantium. It would probably require two hands or
maybe more. Wolverine doesn’t have superhuman strength, but instead has
enhanced physical capabilities due to his indestructible skeleton. This scene
breaks the law of motion in order to entertain the audience.
During some scenes,
Wolverine ejects his claws and cuts everything in its path with ease. In this
Youtube demonstration, the person is trying to cut a steel pipe with the force
of his own strength. No matter how hard he tries to cut the steel pipe he can’t
cut through the steel. In the Marvel universe, adamantium can cut through steel
as long as there is enough force. The law of physics is broken in this film,
because no matter how much force a human can put out you can’t cut through
steel like a thin piece of paper. In rare cases, samurai swords are strong
enough to break through a shooting bullet, but it is only possible because there
is enough force and acceleration from the bullet.
Adamantium is an indestructible metal in the Marvel Comics. Wolverine is a superhero infused with adamantium. But since the metal is indestructible it means it is very dense. Throughout the movie, wolverine is fighting ninjas and moving quite fast for his weight and height. Also, there are a lot of issues with inconsistent weight and motion. The more mass you have the more slowly you will move. Because Wolverine’s height is only 5’3’’ with his infused skeleton his weight should be around 300 lbs. Because his skeleton is dense and heavy he should move much slower due to gravity.
Adamantium is an indestructible metal in the Marvel Comics. Wolverine is a superhero infused with adamantium. But since the metal is indestructible it means it is very dense. Throughout the movie, wolverine is fighting ninjas and moving quite fast for his weight and height. Also, there are a lot of issues with inconsistent weight and motion. The more mass you have the more slowly you will move. Because Wolverine’s height is only 5’3’’ with his infused skeleton his weight should be around 300 lbs. Because his skeleton is dense and heavy he should move much slower due to gravity.
As the Silver Samurai
jumps down a two story shaft, it does two spins and then lands. As Silver
Samurai lands Wolverine tackles him and they both fall at the same time. As
they fall at the same time, Silver Samurai starts to fall faster and then lands
on the ground first and a second later Wolverine lands. Because Wolverine is
infused with adamantium his weight should be as heavy as the Silver Samurai,
maybe much lighter. According to Galileo’s motion of falling bodies, the speed
of falling body is independent of its weight. He experimented with falling
bodies and states that, in fact, the lighter body will move ahead of the
heavier body at the start of the fall, and the heavier body will overtake the
lighter object and arrive at the bottom earlier. On one hand, if you kick two
objects at once, applying force, the heavier one will move more slowly than the
lighter one. On the other hand, objects being affected by gravity (stating with
the same speed and force) will have the same speed at all times. In the scene,
Wolverine is tackling Silver Samurai creating a force as they both fall down
the shaft. The law of falling bodies is slightly broken because the lighter
object, Wolverine, is falling slower than the robot, as they start to fall the
heavier object overtakes the lighter object and hitting the ground first. In
the beginning of the fall, because there is force being added the heavier
object should be moving slower.
When
Wolverine is fighting the yakuza on the bullet train the law of motion is
broken. Bullet trains move up to speeds
of 300 mph. When one of the members of the yakuza is on top of the bullet train
the only way to stay on top of it is by sticking his knife on the roof top and
holding on tightly from flying off the train. Wolverine slices his knife,
trying to knock the member off balance. It took about two seconds for the
yakuza member to take a knife out of his pocket, raise the knife in the air,
and then having enough momentum to stab the rooftop with the knife and gaining
balance again. There are a lot of inconsistent weights and path of actions
during this scene. Some examples include, a member of the yakuza levitating but
sliding on his knees. Another example is when Wolverine lifts himself off the
train and flies about ten feet off the train then lands. One last example of
the train scene is when they try and dodge an advertisement sign and they both
push off the train, they both go flying 50 feet and then land back on the
train. There are a lot of inconsistencies during this scene.
Another scene is when Wolverine cuts a yakuza member in the leg and then tossing him in the air. The member flies in the air doing a summersault breaking the law of motion and lastly, Wolverine jumping 15 feet in the air.
Another scene is when Wolverine cuts a yakuza member in the leg and then tossing him in the air. The member flies in the air doing a summersault breaking the law of motion and lastly, Wolverine jumping 15 feet in the air.
In conclusion, The
Wolverine not only breaks several laws of physics to make their film enjoyable
but also to relate the character to the comic books. Marvel does a good job connecting
their universe to ours, but at the same time slowly introducing superhuman
powers to the audience. With great attention to detail, visual effects, and
great story telling Wolverine is very entertaining and enjoyable for adults as
well as younger adults.
Reference:
https://howthingsfly.si.edu/flight-dynamics/newton%E2%80%99s-laws-motion
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/impulse.html
http://physics.weber.edu/amiri/physics1010online/WSUonline12w/OnLineCourseMovies/CircularMotion&Gravity/reviewofgravity/ReviewofGravity.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16610-diamond-no-longer-natures-hardest-material.html#.UwrqOs5LOSo
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-hardest-metal.htm
http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node49.html
http://www.vias.org/physics/bk1_05_01.html
Words: 1,706
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/impulse.html
http://physics.weber.edu/amiri/physics1010online/WSUonline12w/OnLineCourseMovies/CircularMotion&Gravity/reviewofgravity/ReviewofGravity.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16610-diamond-no-longer-natures-hardest-material.html#.UwrqOs5LOSo
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-hardest-metal.htm
http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node49.html
http://www.vias.org/physics/bk1_05_01.html
Words: 1,706
