The Physics Behind Spiderman

Many people nowadays enjoy spending time watching various of superhero movies from
Superman, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Wolverine, to the recent superhero movies like
Captain America, Avengers, Doctor Strange, Wonder Woman, and of course, Spider-Man
Homecoming.

Spider-Man Homecoming is one of the recent superhero movies based on the Marvel Comics
character Spider-Man and is directed by Jon Watts. While watching Spider-Man movies, you
might be wondering how can Spider-man webs have this great strength that is able to hold a
load of heavyweights. Can these superpowers exist in real life? Obviously, these superpowers
can’t exist in real life exactly like the way it exists in the movie.

Those powers and abilities aren’t just some sorts of fantasy that the author made up entirely, we
can still looking at it in another way through physics.

Spider-man is viewed to be unique from the other superheroes due to the ability to shoot webs
through his wrists and swinging via them from one building to another. People view it as a
technology-based superpower. In the movie, Spider-man uses webs to transfer himself from one
place to another. He swings through the city with the webs that attached from building to
building. It worth noting that spider-man travels in semicircular motion rather than linear. This
means that the webs aren’t just supporting his weight, but also the additional force that happens
to alter the direction of his motion as well.
This is related to Newton’s second law of motion, F = ma, where a force is required to change
an object’s acceleration. A change in acceleration refers to change in magnitude or direction. So
although Spider-man speed’s magnitude doesn’t change while swinging, the direction of circular
is always changing. That is why there’s an additional force that is acting while he’s swinging.

In order to change the direction of the acceleration, a force is needed. The additional force can
only pull an object into its own direction. For example, gravity can only pull us down because it
only acts in that one direction. Therefore, tension force in the webbing has to balance with two
forces such as Spider-man’s weight and the additional force that changes the direction while he
swings.

The additional force that makes Spider-man swings in a circular motion resembles the moon
orbiting around the Earth. Due to Newton’s force of gravitational attraction, the moon is unable
to escape which result in remain orbiting around the Earth. The tension in the webbing and the
gravity force is making the swinging happen in circular motion. If those force suddenly vanishes,
both the moon and Spider-man will be able to escape from the circular motion.

Based on the centripetal acceleration formula, a = v^2/R, where R is the radius of the circle, we
will be able to calculate the amount of tension force that the web required to transfer spider-man
from one place to another. Spider-man webbing required to supply mg force, in order to support
spiderman weight, and also an additional force mv^2/R in order to alter the direction while
swinging. The faster he swings, the tighter his arc, and the greater the centripetal acceleration.
According to the book titled “The Physics of Superheroes” written by James Kakalios, the total
tension in the webbing was estimated to be nearly 300 pounds, and will be more if Spider-man
were to carry someone along while swinging.

He estimates the tension force by plugging in the reasonable numbers into the above equations.
The book had stated, “When Spidey swings from a web strand 200 feet long, at a speed of 50
mph, the centripetal acceleration is 27 feet/sec^2, in addition to the acceleration due to gravity
of 32 feet/sec^2. If Spider-Man’s mass in the metric system is approximately 73 kilograms, then
his weight mg is 160 pounds, and the additional force the webbing must supply just to change
his trajectory from straight-line motion into a circular arc is roughly 135 pounds.” To find the total
tension force, we added 160 pounds and 135 pounds together which roughly result in 300
pounds.

Even a strand of fiber might not able to withstand three hundred pounds of tension. How about
Spider-man webbing? If the Spider-man webbing is anything like real spider silk, three hundred
pounds of tension is in the least of worries. A thin strand of spider silk can break easily just as
you were to break a strand of your hair. Yet if we were to have a cluster of webs or hair, they will
be impossible to break. Spider silk had found to be five times stronger than the steel cable and
are even more elastic than nylon.

Scientists are still trying to figure out a way to collect a whole bunch of webs at one in order to
peer deeply into its strength and ability. The thing is a spider couldn’t produce as many webs
and are unable to put together because they would fight each other. So, they try to put spider
web-producing DNA into goats as it produces milk regularly and is able to produce a lot more
webs than a spider. This had clearly shown that webs with unbelievable strength could be able
to exist in the real world based on the above experiments and studies. But to be able to have a
human produce silk from certain chemicals and shooting those silk through their wrist haven’t
found to be proven yet; the chance of existing in the real world is less likely. Although, there are
many more truths we still need to figure it out behind those superpowers.
Notes:

I. Superpowers & laws of physics

A. Web-slinging
B. Wall-crawling

II. Laws’ explanation

Physics behind ‘spider man’

Web strength
I. Ability to shoot webs [technology-based superpower]
II. Peter Parker developed devices using his brain to shoot webs
A. Not just come out of his wrist
III. What kind of tension would the webs need so they don’t break?
A. The webs support/slow the car down
IV. PHYSICS CALCULATION
A. Car starts from rest; initial momentum = zero
B. Webs grab → two forces act; downward gravity and upward webs
C. Weds don’t instantaneously stop the car, takes time and the web
stretches [stretch for simplicity]
D. Stopping time = one second
E. Web tension = at least 39,200 N
How much web can Spider-Man carry?
I. To swing from a building → 20 meters of web
II.

● Travel from building to building with webs

● The web is strong enough to support himself and other people/loads
● While swing in an arc, there is an extra force that the web must support
● Newton’s second law F =ma (force needed to change the object motion)
● Can only change if the force act on the object; can be magnitude or direction
● Need external force to change in direction
● Force can only change in motion in the direction it acts
○ Ex) Gravity can only pull us down; the only direction
● “Any change in either the direction or magnitude of an object’s motion can only arise
from an external force acting in the direction of the change. “
● Swinging in semicircular motion, not straight line
● The magnitude might not change but the direction always change
○ Mean that there’s external force acting
● Force comes from tension - web must support
○ His weight
○ The outside force that changes his direction
 ○ If the web break, the only force acting on him is gravity, cause it to goes down
● Acceleration that the outside force in the web make him go in circular motion like the
moon that never escape earth
● If don’t have gravity won’t be in straight line

Works Cited

Allain, Rhett. “The Physics of Spider-Man's Webs.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017,

www.wired.com/2014/04/the-physics-of-spider-mans-webs/.

Kakalios, James. La Fisica Dei Supereroi. Einaudi, 2010.

“Web-Shooters.” Marvel Database, marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Web-Shooters.