
The Physics of Spider-Man’s Webs - bjansn
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/the-physics-of-spider-mans-webs/
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R_Edward
Comic book physics is always good for a fun discussion, but no one seems to
ever want to discuss comic book economics. As in, "Oh my goodness! That arch-
criminal just stole a $200,000 diamond! Time to swoop in an cause a few tens
of millions of dollars in property and collateral damage in order to retrieve
it!"

~~~
Pxtl
Not to mention the basic premise of the "science hero" in which a single man
develops world-changing technology and then never shares it with anyone.

That's why I loved the show "Dollhouse" \- one of the central themes of the
show is how the brain-rewriting technology is progressing and how it will
change the world. As much as everyone gushes over Firefly and Avengers, I
think Dollhouse should be remembered as Whedon's sci-fi creation that really
focuses on the classical themes of SF - speculating on how a science/magical
event would change the world.

also, how many Congressmen and pundits could the X-Men have bought with the
money they spent on an invisible jet and an underground fortress?

~~~
talmand
One often thought is that the technology is too dangerous to share with people
or governments considering the bad things they might do with their creations.

Related to article; I remember once Parker needed money so he approached a
tech company as Spiderman to sell them his web formula. He demoed it by
suspending some heavy equipment from the ceiling.

The scientists were amazed and couldn't wait to see the formula. That is,
until the equipment came crashing to the ground.

Turns out, Parker created his formula to wither away after about an hour or
so; to prevent him from covering the city in webs.

Parker decided he couldn't wait the months it would take to remake the formula
to be permanent as demanded by the scientists, so he moved on.

That day the Marvel Universe almost had SpideyGlue.

~~~
Pxtl
> One often thought is that the technology is too dangerous to share with
> people or governments considering the bad things they might do with their
> creations.

When _one_ hero does this, it's reasonable. When _every_ science hero does
this, it's suspicious. It's mostly visible in the Marvel Universe, which is
notably science-hero-heavy. The fact that civilians _aren 't_ driving around
in flying cars in Marvel is incredibly conspicuous.

And yeah, the commercial applications of spideyglue are obvious and numerous,
even with its short lifespan.

~~~
talmand
I just take it that government agencies like SHIELD prevent mass commercial
uses of certain technologies so they can have all the cool stuff for
themselves.

After all, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe there are flying cars but only
SHIELD agents have them.

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chiph
_If he did have webs as part of his super hero powers, the webs would probably
come out of his butt and not his wrist._

OK, that's a mental image I really didn't want. My day is ruined now.

~~~
agmcleod
When he transformed into man-spider in the fox tv show, i think he actually
did shoot webs from his arms. Don't recall if there was a more human version
of him that did shoot webs as a super power over technology.

~~~
chiph
The first movie series with Toby McGuire had the webs as biologically produced
(aka super-power). The comics always had them as spinners that he'd strap onto
his wrists and that would occasionally run dry, adding plot complications.

Like the story said, the movies didn't want to get into the development of
them, so took the simpler explanation of "he's part spider, duh!" I did
however, like the scene where the camera zoomed in on the barbs on his palms
that let him grasp buildings, etc.

~~~
bitwize
Sam Raimi stated that the reason for the biological webbing was the
implausibility of a high school kid in his room developing a super-strong
adhesive that Dow Chemical (or Oscorp) couldn't. The _Amazing_ films, for all
their faults, did a pretty good job of justifying his mechano-chemical web
shooters (he stole super-webbing from genetically engineered, farmed spiders
at Oscorp).

