So... how exactly does Magneto fly? 0

[James J Johnson]

18 minutes ago, Logan510 said:

I thought it was suspension of disbelief? These are superhero comics, do we really need everything quantified?

A wise comic book creator has said when you start worrying about how The Thing goes to the bathroom, it might be time to move on to another genre.

Maybe Superman doesn't really fly at all. Maybe his propulsion is simply a running jump and then landing on a mattress that we can't see because it's below the extent of what we can see in any given panel. It might work like in the 1950s Superman series, where he jumps out a window and lands on a mattress, or lays down in front of quickly advancing stock sky footage.

Maybe the only way we can see this true nature of his flight is if a comic book was printed on the inside wall of a large sphere and we were suspended in the center of that sphere on a glass platform, to see through it, and we could not only see a panel with Superman flying as drawn, but what's above it, below it, and to the sides of it!  360 degree panels.  Maybe Superman doesn't fly at all, without a gimmick. Maybe pigs and time also don't really fly and use a similar type of propulsion to similarly accomplish "flight".

I'll get busy researching this right away and see what I can deduce. 

Edited March 22, 2020 by James J Johnson

[shadroch]

This won't be revealed until after Disney buys DC, but years ago, Magneto borrowed Dr Dooms time machine and traveled to the thirtieth century where he pretended to be a hero and joined the Legion of Super-Heroes. His Legion flight ring is in a hidden compartment of his helmet.

[Ken Aldred]

3 hours ago, Logan510 said:

I thought it was suspension of disbelief? These are superhero comics, do we really need everything quantified?

 

A problem occurs if a comic book reader is also a science nerd. Then overanalysing is hard to avoid.

[Logan510]

6 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

A problem occurs if a comic book reader is also a science nerd. Then overanalysing is hard to avoid.

Superhero comics as we know them generally aren't meant for adults. Adults who can accept them for what they are will probably enjoy them more than people who 1) over analyze and 2) wish the books / characters to mature with them.

[Ken Aldred]

6 minutes ago, Logan510 said:

Superhero comics as we know them generally aren't meant for adults. Adults who can accept them for what they are will probably enjoy them more than people who 1) over analyze and 2) wish the books / characters to mature with them.

I tend to just go with it.

I leave the science to Kav.

[exitmusicblue]

It was cool how in the ol' X-Men cartoon they made sure to portray it almost as horizontal and vertical levitation.  Very smooth (but slow), not the crazy whiplash stuff.

[slym2none]

2 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

6 hours ago, Logan510 said:

I thought it was suspension of disbelief? These are superhero comics, do we really need everything quantified?

 

A problem occurs if a comic book reader is also a science nerd. Then overanalysing is hard to avoid.

As I said, when the writers start giving it an explanation, then why not ask further questions? As far as I know, Superman absorbs a particular radiation from our yellow sun that give him his powers. No other explanation has been given. But when a writer says Magneto flies due to manipulation of the Earth's electromagnetic field with his mutant powers, then why can't I ask "Okay, how?" And as I also said, I just want a reasonably scientific answer - like "why yes, he is basically yanked around on a molecular level by having the iron and other metals in his be pulled by a mutant-power strengthened manipulation of the Earth's magnetic field" and I'd be perfectly content. It goes with what has already been established and in this case, is comic-book-y as well.

 



-slym

[01TheDude]

6 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

Maybe Superman doesn't really fly at all. Maybe his propulsion is simply a running jump and then landing on a mattress that we can't see because it's below the extent of what we can see in any given panel. It might work like in the 1950s Superman series, where he jumps out a window and lands on a mattress, or lays down in front of quickly advancing stock sky footage.

Maybe the only way we can see this true nature of his flight is if a comic book was printed on the inside wall of a large sphere and we were suspended in the center of that sphere on a glass platform, to see through it, and we could not only see a panel with Superman flying as drawn, but what's above it, below it, and to the sides of it!  360 degree panels.  Maybe Superman doesn't fly at all, without a gimmick. Maybe pigs and time also don't really fly and use a similar type of propulsion to similarly accomplish "flight".

I'll get busy researching this right away and see what I can deduce. 

can you imagine the proliferation of mattresses all over the world? clearly, this is the answer

[James J Johnson]

29 minutes ago, 01TheDude said:

can you imagine the proliferation of mattresses all over the world? clearly, this is the answer

D-uh. What else could it be? Based on my initial experimentation and observations, things are pointing to a definite causality between flight and GMP (grand mattress proliferation)! It seems there isn't one without the other, the answer was so obvious from the beginning! 

I never would have suspected it until going hands on and looking into this phenomenon  myself!  

And please trust me on this but with the C-19 putting demands on hospital beds, it's only a matter of time before there's a severe mattress shortage. Then the proof will be in the pudding if and when we see Superman and his fine feathered flying friends walking from gig to gig instead of flying!

Edited March 23, 2020 by James J Johnson

[Ken Aldred]

29 minutes ago, slym2none said:

As I said, when the writers start giving it an explanation, then why not ask further questions? As far as I know, Superman absorbs a particular radiation from our yellow sun that give him his powers. No other explanation has been given. But when a writer says Magneto flies due to manipulation of the Earth's electromagnetic field with his mutant powers, then why can't I ask "Okay, how?" And as I also said, I just want a reasonably scientific answer - like "why yes, he is basically yanked around on a molecular level by having the iron and other metals in his be pulled by a mutant-power strengthened manipulation of the Earth's magnetic field" and I'd be perfectly content. It goes with what has already been established and in this case, is comic-book-y as well.

 



-slym

It is a puzzle.  There's no constant maglev-type metal-to-metal interaction, creating a consistent repel-and-move effect.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[01TheDude]

don't get me started about Wonder Woman's invisible jet

[David-Lance Roten]

Something to do with the magnetics of the North and South Poles and his ability to manipulate that. It was explained to me once, can't remember it all.  Terrible answer I know 

[James J Johnson]

1 hour ago, AcesN8s said:

Something to do with the magnetics of the North and South Poles and his ability to manipulate that. It was explained to me once, can't remember it all.  Terrible answer I know 

Well, here's a helpful video on the mechanisms of polar opposites. And once you have the tune's hook stuck in your head and can't stop thinking it, I'll suggest another video to help with its removal! :

 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by James J Johnson

[theCapraAegagrus]

There's a 'Science of the X-Men' book that explains Magneto's powers (if they were real).

[James J Johnson]

19 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

don't get me started about Wonder Woman's invisible jet

 

[bobotski]

21 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

don't get me started about Wonder Woman's invisible jet

Don't get me started about the one between Wonder Woman and Invisible Man

[electricprune]

Steel toed boots. BAM!

[Unca Ben]

On 3/21/2020 at 1:00 PM, slym2none said:

Has this ever been truly explained? I have heard something about "manipulation of the Earth's magnetic field", but how would that lift him and enable him to fly around? Is it a deformation of the field that he wraps around him somehow? Is he... oh, wow, this just entered my mind, is he hurling himself around by focusing and strengthening certain fields with his mutant power that pull on the metals in his body?

Could you imagine, being thrown around by being suddenly attracted to a field stronger than yourself on a cellular level????? That would hurt - and I could see Magnus doing it over and over until he would just get used to it. That would be a great story, IMHO. (But of course I would say that, I just thought it up.)

Postulate!!! Yes, I am talking to you!

 



-slym

A decent refrigerator magnet is 200 times stronger than the earth's magnetic field.  Earth's field is very weak.  Too weak to create any reasonable repulsion or attraction.  It's gravity that keeps us on the earth's surface, not any magnetic field.
Besides, in order to float in the air you'd need a pretty strong opposing field in the direction of earth's gravity, and in most places earth's flux lines are more horizontal than vertical.

As for Supes - the red sun/yellow sun stuff - physics is physics.  It works the same no matter which planet you're on or which solar system you're in.  There is no "different physics" on different planets.

It's comix - Magneto can't fly, he's just drawn that way. 
Unless, like Supes, you invoke pseudo-science.

Edited March 24, 2020 by Unca Ben