Modification of flight explanation from Wolverton's book

[Captain Kal]

I wasn't satisfied by Wolverton's flight explanation though I thought he was going in the right direction.

Check out these links:

http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw81.html

http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw86.html

http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw99.html

I like Alcubierre's basic idea of manipulating the continuum around onself for propulsion.  It's like a space-time version of a jet engine moving the air for propulsion forwards or a propeller in the water except the continuum itself is the medium being manipulated.

Additionally, Wolverton failed to logically explain why Superman would develop flight power from his adaptations to our environment.  He simply declared the explanation of how it supposedly worked without justifying why a Kryptonian would have this power in the first place.

[RedSunOfKrypton]

I like Alcubierre's idea too, it's pretty cool, even if it isn't quite airtight yet.

As for the explanation of Kryptonian gravity powers; I think the reader was just left to extrapolate that kryptonians would evolve that system in order to help their bodies combat the increased gravity of their planet.

[Captain Kal]

Excellent explanation, RedSun.  I just wish Wolverton had actually stated something like that in the book.  His version basically was 'he's Superman so he just flies'.

[RedSunOfKrypton]

Yeah, no kidding. It seems like the book might need a rewrite in some areas.

[ManSinha]

His version basically was 'he's Superman so he just flies'.
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But isn't that enough?

[Captain Kal]

Nice one, ManSinha!  Esp. given that we participants on this thread love to come up with real world speculations on how the powers work and why, Wolverton dropped the ball here in a book supposedly written to address this very topic.

Another related thing he didn't do well was the link between super-strength and his flight power.  He was OK at first for linking them but then he adds that EM aura must be extended to cover the object.  Huh?  That's a non-sequitur since there's really no good reason for the grav and EM aspects to be linked at all.  He should just as easily be able to extend his grav control over an object regardless of the EM aspect.

[Super Monkey]

I don't know why you guys are still going on about this, every little boy knows it's the cape

[RedSunOfKrypton]

He should just as easily be able to extend his grav control over an object regardless of the EM aspect.

I think Wolverton was thinking of a unified field aspect to this, which I think is why he was quoting all the experiments where superconducting EM fields were supposedly associated with gravity negations.

I don't know why you guys are still going on about this, every little boy knows it's the cape.

 :lol: