In contrast to Simon Stagg counting up to the well-known and often published escape velocity, here we have a genuine motion situation that would be familiar to any beginning student. One slight issue: the answer is wrong (both from the math as solved and from the reality of the situation we’re facing). That does not […]
Can Hoover Dam Flood Las Vegas?
In Godzilla #9 (Apr 1978) Doug Moench wrote a plot where Hoover Dam threatened to break, flooding Las Vegas. Radioactive breath kaiju rampaging through Nevada? Sure! Who cannot get behind that? Hoover Dam flooding Las Vegas? Nope – no way. First off, Las Vegas is not downstream of Hoover Dam. Second, Las Vegas is about […]
Where from here?
Gentle readers, The Lemony Snicket Allusions you’ve all been reading are still here — but I’m now working on a project on STEM in Silver Age comic books and…. having a site already… feel this is a good place to publish some of my work in progress and get feedback. For more of a sense […]
Firestorm and Ergs
DC managed to have an interesting a physics problem in the debut of Firestorm in his/their origin story Firestorm the Nuclear Man #1 (Mar 1978): “A million ergs of radiation pour through…” Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein. We’ve seen similar amounts of energy before when we talked about Hulk falling. An erg is a g-cm2sec-2 which […]