It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman! In 1938, Action Comics #1, released the first Superman comic to the public. Superman, also known as Kal El, has shown many different powers since his first debut in 1938. This paper will discuss various topics about four of his major powers and explain why they are all impossible for anyone to achieve in real life. Superman’s four major powers that will be discussed in this paper are X-ray vision, being able to fly, super strength, and invulnerability.
The X-ray was first discovered in 1895 by a German physicist named W.C. Roentgen (“The Discovery”). W.C. Roentgen was working in his lab one day in 1895 and decided to send a high electrical current through a cathode ray filled with special gas. He realized that a dim green colored light was being produced, and decided to hold the cathode ray just above his wife’s hand. When he did this he observed that the light was able to penetrate human skin, but would leave all the bones visible. There is a picture below of the X-ray of W.C. Roentgen’s wife’s hand (“The Discovery”). He named it the X-ray because he did not know the identity of what kind of ray it was. He just named it X, because of its use in solving unknowns in algebraic equations (“The Discovery”).
However, there are some limitations on this Superman power in both the laws of physics and in the laws of the human body. The first restriction is that in an X-ray, tiny rays will pass through any atoms that don’t have enough mass to stop the rays (Inglis-Arkell). This is because when an atom absorbs a photon (ray), one of the atom’s electrons has to jump from a space near the atom to a space that is further away using a precise amount of energy (Inglis-Arkell). However, an electron do...
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... Orlando, Fla.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2009. 35. Print.
13. Preston, Raymond. "Definitions of Relative Wind, Lift, Weight, Drag, Thrust, and Side Force ." Definition of Aerodynamic Terms. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with an insight into the Super Hero Series Batman. This crime fighter originally appeared in Detective Comics issue #27 in 1939. It later became a comic book series, a TV series and a movie series. The character Batman is second only to Superman as a Super Hero. Amazingly Batman has no super powers, but he does have a lot of neat crime fighting gadgets. In this paper, we will explore the creation of Batman, his supporting cast of characters both good and bad and the gadgets he used.
Imagine a Batman birthed in 1939 aging with his readership, so come 1986 he is retired. Who would his villains be? Not the Joker, or the Cat Woman, but Nuclear War, Reaganomics, a Bipartisan government, and the fear of nuclear attack. And so once again, Superman and his friends helped us solve our problems, the enemies of the common
The mythology of Superman is a paradigm that embodies the cultural reality of the era; constructed around an archetype of ideology, fantasies of human spiritual ambiguity, a religious messiah, and a semiotic representation of modernity. In further study, Superman can be identified to have specifically changed to adhere to American culture in three distinctive periods; midst the Great Depression and WWII, post WWII and finally the socially progressive change of the Vietnam period. In each chapter Superman was re-imagined to meet the definition of the period, a tool of propaganda over that of entertainment. Currently, America is entering a new phase of cultural shift, and thus Superman will be redefined to represent the ideologies of truth, justice, and the American way of that required era. Yet, the mere surface mythology of Superman has applications to cultural ideologies, questions of human freedom, dreams in a Freudian nature, and the complex relation of fantasy and reality which required introduction before in-depth research.
Alan Moore successfully breaks down the effectiveness of superheroes portrayed in your average comic book with his use of Dr.Manhattan:Super-powers and the superpowers inside his graphic novel Watchmen. Dr.Manhattan is made out to be less than divine. The American’s “placing our superhuman benefactor in the position of a walking nuclear deterrent”(Dr.Manhattan:Super-powers and the superpowers.II), depicting him as the Vitruvian Man and having a God present among mere mortals all lead to Moore being able to break down the common conceptions about superheroes.
Marvel heroes and villains have a variety of powers and abilities. Among things like super strength,
out as Superman. Superman has the ability to fly, can carry things 10 times his weight,
They wanted to know just what it took to have powers – what it meant to be super. How could they fly? How could they lift cars? What does it take to be invisible? Well, over the next 12 days of Camp, we’ll answer those questions and many more! We’ll team up like The Avengers and work together to battle the forces of evil. We’ll take to the skies with Superman to learn about the different forms of flight. We’ll climb walls with Spider-Man as he teaches us about the power of static electricity. And we’ll learn the best way to deflect projectiles with Captain America and his shield. It’s time to explore The Science of Superpowers.
Superman’s first appearance in an Action Comics was in 1938. He could leap over forty-story building with ease, lift cars overhead and couldn’t be hurt by bullets smaller than artillery shells. Scientists explained Superman’s abilities essentially as the strengths obtained from being born on Krypton. A planet 1,000 times larger than Earth, Krypton also had fifteen times the gravity. Generating energy directly from the sun, Superman, used his plant like ability to photosynthesize energy. Perhaps his heart pumps green chlorophyll rather than red blood, which would allow him to perform on Earth like an Earth astronaut can perform on our moon. He had extraordinary abilities, and although he was super, he was not omnipotent. Gaining energy from
Superman was one of the first hero’s ever created. He started a revolution of hero’s to be born. Superman embodied a time period where people were seeking justice for the uprising of World War II.
Today I’m going to inform you about X-ray Technology its history and how it been advancing since it’s been invented. Also will inform you how it is currently helping doctors and their patients.
Lois Lane becomes a damsel in distress when she is captured by the ultra sphinx because she was was wearing a radioactive crown jewels given to her by Atlas. Samsung said that he gave her the crown jewels because he wants the help of superman in order to defeat the ultra sphinx. They wanted to lure superman because “We[Atlas and Samsung] couldn't fight the ultra sphinx without help…so…so…we led it here”(Morrison). Grant Morrison illustrates Lois Lane as a dependent, therefor she has to get a rescued by superman or any male character in general. Lois Lane is unable to move until Superman saves her and assures her Lois that she is safe, “It’s okay Lois, I got you”(Morrison). This text suggests that Lois Lane is incapable of saving herself, one could even argue that the superpowers endowed to her by superman are utterly useless. By giving Lois Lane super powers, Grant Morrison would be appealing to the female audience instead he writes Lois as someone who “…is constantly in need of rescue by superman”(Lavin).
Superman has had many alterations by American artists throughout the years. In the year 1938, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel sold the well known American Icon Superman to DC Comics. They created this character as high school teens in 1933. In a short period of time Superman was being seen from newspaper strips to television programs, films and video games. Siegel grew up loving science fiction to the point of writing stories and submitting them to publishers only to be denied; this did not make him give up. Shuster also had a passion for science fiction stories and when he met Siegel in 1931 they instantly connected as they both had a very strong taste for the genre. One might portray Superman differently than the other but Shuster and Siegel originally created him to wear a blue costume, red cape, and a red and yellow “S” shield on his chest. Some changes made by artists include modifying of his costume by adding gloves and sometimes short sleeves and differences of his face and body structure.
According to the DC comics website Superman first appeared in DC comics in 1935 and entered our planet by way of spacecraft (Wikipedia.com). Some of his superhero powers include x – ray vision, super strength, super speed, laser vision, and bionic hearing. However, he cannot see through lead and Kryptonite is his weakness. Unlike Batman, Superman flies to get around and he fights his enemies on ground, in the air, on Earth, and other planets. Another difference between him and Batman is his outfit Batman’s outfits are darker compared to Superman’s. Superman wears blue and red while Batman wears black and grey. Also Superman is a little more social than Batman who seems to be introverted. Superman’s secret identity is Clark Kent and unlike Bruce Wayne who is more smooth and confident. I like Superman because even though he is not technically from Earth he still makes it his mission in life to protect
"This Month in Physics History." This Month in Physics History. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
f) Markel, H. (2012). ‘I have seen my death’: How the world discovered the X-ray. [PBS.org Article]. URL http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/i-have-seen-my-death-how-the-world-discovered-the-x-ray/