Spider-Man Science Question

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2008-09-21 01:24am

Don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but I reckon it is.

In Spider-Man 3, Spidey saved Gwen Stacy as she fell off a building. She had a good head start, so to make up the lost ground, Spidey clambered onto a falling piece of debris, and, standing upside down, jumped towards the ground so that he could intercept the falling Stacy.

Now I'm completely uninitiated in the realm of physics magick, so although I know the scene looks cool, I'm not sure if the feat in question is possible (standard SOD on Spidey's powers, natch).
If you were moving at the same downward velocity as something you were "standing" upside down on, could you "jump", pushing off of the platform and increase your downwards velocity?

Clip of the scene here.

Kuroneko · Post by **Kuroneko** » 2008-09-21 02:44am

Sure--freefall works almost exactly like microgravity, so there's no reason for it not to work, other than the problems of getting a good enough foothold and having sufficient strength to matter (which falls under SOD of Spidey's powers). Spidey actually did essentially the same thing twice in the clip: the first time, he was above a platform and used his webbing to pull himself down, and the second time, he rotated a different platform so that he would be below it and pushed himself down. In both of these cases, he would increase his downward velocity and decrease the velocity of the platform he's using.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2008-09-21 03:49am

Aight cool, thanks for the confirmation.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2008-09-22 06:42am

Thanks for reminding me of that scene, by the by...one of the few things about that movie that did not make me cringe.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2008-09-23 04:23am

Seriously, that scene fucking owned, it was being played on a blu-ray promo at work, and it made me want to watch the movie. But then I remember that that movie is pretty wack, so I didn't watch it.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2008-09-23 05:45pm

Molyneux wrote:Thanks for reminding me of that scene, by the by...one of the few things about that movie that did not make me cringe.

Oh come on... The whole Emo-Parker sequence and his "dance of scorn" was HILARIOUS.

I wonder if "Tireless Defender of Mediocre Pop-culture" is too long for a custom title... Not that I want it, but that seems to be what I've been up to on the forum for the last couple weeks.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2008-09-23 05:56pm

How many people (aside from Gwen Stacey) died in that clip, anyway? There was one chick on the ground who apparently was nailed by concrete (0:13) and then there's the girl with the green shirt who was behind Gwen when the floor slanted, but we never see her again (did she fall to her death?).

I never really thought about it before, but now I'm wondering. If so, it seems pretty jacked to have a "Spidey rescued Gwen!" celebration thing when two other women died that day.