Super Vision
Back in May, Loren took an excellent look into Superman’s “super-hearing” over at Suspension of Disbelief. I thought it was time to take a similar approach to Superman’s vision. First up, a look at Superman’s heat vision. Not the science (or lack of it) behind heat vision, but instead a quick look at the physics and physiology of sight.
The key concept is optical infinity. This is the distance beyond which the lenses of the eyes no longer accommodate and the eyes no longer converge (don’t worry, I explain it better in the paragraphs below). In people, optical infinity is just about 20 feet.
When looking at objects closer than optical infinity, the eyes turn a little towards each other; this is known as convergence. The lenses of the eye also adjust for the best focus; this is known as accommodation.
Thus, for objects closer than 20 feet, Superman’s heat vision should converge as well. It should focus on the point he is looking at (or at the very least be closer together than his eyes). If you think back to the episode of the Justice League that featured the Justice Lords, Superman lobotomized Doomsday by frying his brain with his heat vision. Doomsday was pictured with two burn scars on his forehead the same width apart as the distance between Superman’s eyes. Wrong! There should be a single burn, or more likely two very close together (as the beams should converge in the frontal lobe of the brain, an inch or so behind the forehead). Similarly this picture of Superman frying Shrapnel from a recent Action Comics is also wrong. The heat vision beams should be convergent, not parallel. Think of all the innocent bystanders being fried behind Shrapnel…
At distances greater that optical infinity, there is no accommodation and the eyes do not converge. We see a single image but that’s because our brain is excellent at converting the input from two eyes into a single picture. At distances greater than 20 feet, the beams of Superman’s heat vision would not converge, but would instead be two parallel beams (you’d think this could cause a lot of problems if he’s trying to target a single small item). Thus this picture from the Overpower game is wrong, as it shows convergent beams when they should be parallel.
Of course, the usual comic book disclaimer that we’re dealing with a Krytponian and not a standard human applies, but still: physics is physics.
September 14th, 2005 at 11:51 pm
Ah, Comic Book Physics - damned if you do, damned if you don’t…
OK, let’s skip over the easy Byrne-out (sorry, couldn’t resist) - all of his powers are psychic in nature, and therefore they act the way he thinks they should act. (Which, in the end, applies to all comic book heroes, even Batman.) They appear physical, they should follow physics. Or at least biometrics.
Easy one first, convergence at a distance. You give the out right there, “in people” optical infinity is 20 feet. In addition to heat vision, Superman also has Telescopic Vision and Microscopic Vision. Assuming his powers are based in physiology and not metaphysics, his visual acuity is going to be much better than “people”.
So, why no convergence when lobotomizing villains? Especially after we have tried so hard to prove that he can focus at a distance. Certainly if his eyes are emmitting a beam, it would be better to have them both impact at the same site, to double their power. Unless he has two targets, such as frontal lobes. With such delicate muscle control, Superman is able to unfocus his eyes, or focus on a point behind what he is aiming at, so as to take advatage of both beams. Similar to how you are supposed to “relax” your eyes when staring at 3D posters. This would also explain the “wide-beam” effect he often has, where more than two points, all the way up to a full 120 degrees shoots out of his eyes. (Looking at the visuals for his Infrared and X-Ray vision, it would appear that these effects are emitted in a cone from his eyes as well.)
Why he felt the need to “lobotomize” Shrapnel, I am sure I could come up with some “binary psychic centers for reassemblely” or some such Comic Book Physiology. But I am definitely with you on this one. Shooting parallel beams that really can continue to infinity, and at temperatures likely to continue through the target as shown in the panel, grossly negligent. Forget mindwiping or breaking the necks of bound supervillains. How many citizens of Metropolis have cauterized holes in their bodies as we speak?
September 15th, 2005 at 2:51 am
The simple answer is that he obviously checked with Telescopic Vision that he had a “clear shot”, before firing the beams.
In fact, that’s got to be standard approved super-power operating procedure, since it’s a basic battle trick to get an opponent to shoot or zap at something, and then have them hit an unintended target.
September 15th, 2005 at 9:16 am
Might the heat-vision beams in the Overpower game actually be parallel? Perspective would make two parallel lines going into the distance appear to converge.
September 15th, 2005 at 10:33 am
Official Comment
David,
Tonight’s topic just happens to be SUperman’s microscopic vision.
John,
It could be perspective, but I think the beams are converging — I don’t think th distance is great enough for perspective to become an issue.
September 16th, 2005 at 8:57 am
I can’t be sure, but to me in the scan of the card, it looks like Superman is using heat vision on a tank, and that one of the crewmen is bailing out. An M1 is 3.32m wide, and Superman’s eyes are … I dunno, maybe 10cm apart. So, if the width of the beam when it strikes the tank is less than about 1/30 the width of the end of the tank, Superman’s eyes are converging.
Afraid my calipers are packed away somewhere — I just moved.
September 16th, 2005 at 9:24 am
Perhaps Superman is able to direct each eye independently, at least to some small degree, like a chameleon? But I think this looking for ways to explain what is almost certainly just a simple knowledge gap with the artists and writers.
September 16th, 2005 at 10:10 am
Official Comment
John,
The more I think about it, the more I think you’re probably right. The tank is probably moving toward him, and this is rapidly becoming one of the those horrid calculus problems I had to do over Christmas vacation my senior year in high school.
September 18th, 2005 at 1:35 am
Horrid? Calculus is fun!
But this is pretty much geometry. Blowing up the JPG in Thumbs Plus, I picked two pixels that looked like they were the rear corners of the tank. One was at 34×178; the other 77×150. A straight line between the two would be 49 pixels long. one thirtieth of that is a bit over 1.5.
To me, the impact point of the beam looks 2 pixels wide.
That would mean that because of the coarseness of the image, the impact point is large enough to represent two beams hitting 10cm apart.
November 9th, 2005 at 12:50 pm
I disagree with the assertion that two burn marks is wrong. Even with human physiology it is possible to look at something without automatically focusing… for example the autostereograms in the Magic Eye “3D” optical illusion books. An experienced fighter like Superman, particularly one blessed with precise muscle control and X-ray vision (no fear of innocents beyond), would have no problem focusing at a point beyond his target to produce two through and through wound channels, much more effective than a singular surface burn. Further, in the case when he lobotomizes Doomsday, obviously his target is beyond Doomsday’s forehead and to his brain behind, so two burn marks should be expected… and not necessarily close together since we do not know his specific target, he may have intentionally targeted both of Doomsday’s lobes.
July 29th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I gave your convergance theory a thought and, bam, it hit me.
Superman has been trained in hand to hand combat. As such he knows how to hit someone. Hitting a target with your fist is easy, causing maximum damage is another.
In boxing, or any fisticuff related sport, the object is to see just beyond the actual target. A boxer isn’t looking to hit his opponent on the chin in his mind, he’s trying to hit the uvula. What this accomplishes is that the force of the blow will maximize at that point and not at the point of actual impact, making the power of the blow still have some extra substance after impact and some strength left in the arm to actually follow through.
I’m no expert, but this could also be why Supes doesn’t focus his beams. One concentrated beam might do less damage than 2 independant beams.
Just a thought.
March 16th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
A minor observation (that’s likely to spark more science discussions): Technically, Superman isn’t even partially “lobotomizing” Shrapnel. According to the comics, Shrapnel is a completely inorganic metallic lifeform; he doesn’t eat, breathe or sleep. As such, it would appear that his brain is separate from his physical essence in some fashion. Therefore, while Superman is physically damaging Shrapnel in the image, there’s no chance of causing brain damage or neural shock, as the necessary parts do not exist in the target.
Leave a Reply
Contact Me
Subscribe:
The Best Of...
Special Topics
Archives
Categories
Arbitrarily Interesting Medical Condition
Twitter
Comic Blogs
Medical Blogs
Currently Reading
The Net:
Contents may have settled during shipping. Past results are no guarantee of future performance. No animals were harmed during the production of this product. Void where prohibited by law. All rights reserved. Not valid with other offers or specials. Professional driver on a closed track. Your financial institution may impose other fees. All models are over 18 years of age. Employees must wash hands before returning to work. Results not typical. Many suitcases look alike. 18% gratuity added to tables of six or more.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
© 2004-2008 Polite Dissent. Powered by WordPress