It 麻豆精品 S檚 a superhero movie. So during opening week of Black Panther, moviegoers entered theaters for reasons more predictable than the plot. To turn off the cellphones and turn on the imagination. To escape work, school, and routines. To enter a bubble of wonder. When the film was over, the crowds walked out with a question that privately lingers every time we exit a fantasy: is it 麻豆精品 S� possible?
Sourced from a meteorite that landed in Wakanda many centuries ago, Vibranium provides the superpower in the main character 麻豆精品 S檚 suit, absorbing energy and redistributing it.
The drone used for transportation in Black Panther? Sure, it 麻豆精品 S檚 possible. The flowers that are said to take on unusual properties while basically growing in a cave? Perhaps. But what about Vibranium, the fictional metal used in Captain America 麻豆精品 S檚 shield that hails from Wakanda, the fictional African nation at the heart of Black Panther?
Sourced from a meteorite that landed in Wakanda many centuries ago, Vibranium provides the superpower in the main character 麻豆精品 S檚 suit, absorbing energy and redistributing it 麻豆精品 S� a nice feature when it 麻豆精品 S檚 time to fight the bad guys who want to steal the precious metal.
But how far-fetched is this Vibranium?
麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檇 never heard of Vibranium until I was asked to do this interview, 麻豆精品 S� says UCF Professor of Engineering Surya Challapalli, who has studied metals for 50 years. 麻豆精品 S淲e didn 麻豆精品 S檛 have Marvel comic books when I was growing up in India. But when I researched Vibranium this week, I thought, 麻豆精品 S楬mm, it is actually similar to utopium. 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S�
Utopium is yet another fictional metal. Challapalli himself dreamed up the concept more than a decade ago. He first introduced it to a UCF class as a way to inspire creative and critical thinking. Utopium (named for the perfect world of Utopia) would be strong, light, stiff, corrosion-free, and able to withstand fracturing and high temperatures. It would be Vibranium-ish, only much more accessible and much less expensive.
麻豆精品 S淭he challenge is to determine how its conflicting properties could work together, like high strength and ductility [fracture resistance], 麻豆精品 S� says Challapalli. 麻豆精品 S淚 would say it 麻豆精品 S檚 possible that someday there could be something like utopium. Not anytime soon, but who knows about the future? 麻豆精品 S�
Challapalli points to recent advances in metallurgy and materials science, unrealistic concepts a few decades ago that are now reality. Things like nanotechnology and metallic glasses and quasicrystals and Kevlar and graphene.
麻豆精品 S淪ome people many years ago figured out how to make steel stronger through 麻豆精品 S榪uenching, 麻豆精品 S� where it 麻豆精品 S檚 heated and quickly cooled, 麻豆精品 S� says Challapalli. 麻豆精品 S淚 So maybe someone could figure out a roadmap for [vibranium]. However, it would not be naturally-occurring. 麻豆精品 S�
麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 amazing to think that nanotechnology and Kevlar are now considered commonplace, 麻豆精品 S� Challapalli says. The key to making them happen? Not archaeology or rocks from outer space. It is all about ingenuity.
麻豆精品 S淭hink about it. Some people many years ago figured out how to make steel stronger through 麻豆精品 S榪uenching, 麻豆精品 S� where it 麻豆精品 S檚 heated and quickly cooled. So maybe someone could figure out a roadmap for utopium. Unlike Vibranium in the movie, however, it would not be naturally-occurring. 麻豆精品 S�
That 麻豆精品 S檚 one of the issues Costas Efthimiou, UCF associate professor of physics, has with Black Panther. Efthimiou created a class at UCF in 2002 called Physics and Film. It became one of the most popular physics classes on campus because of the critical application of science and movies. Students showed up and paid attention.
麻豆精品 S淭he movie writers would not have passed my class, 麻豆精品 S� jokes Efthimiou, who watched a pre-screening of Black Panther with his 11-year-old son (he liked the movie). 麻豆精品 S淚 do not go to movies to say 麻豆精品 S楢ha! I 麻豆精品 S檝e got you! 麻豆精品 S� And I understand artistic freedom and fantasy. But I do think the science could have been closer to reality without changing the story. 麻豆精品 S�
Like Challapalli,聽Efthimiou聽says for the sake of a little authenticity Vibranium should not be a written as a pure metal derived from an enormous meteorite.
麻豆精品 S淔or one, at that size it would have obliterated the area around the crash point and have created global devastation on Earth for a long, long time. If it had to be a meteorite, though, it should have been composed of a new alloy, based on the known elements, or a mix of alloys in the meteorite with a variety of properties. Wakadians could reproduce them and stay undetected 麻豆精品 S� almost. No advance in technology goes completely unnoticed from the rest of the world. 麻豆精品 S�
His critique of Black Panther reminds聽Efthimiou聽of why he uses movies in his physical science classes. 麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 a great way to help students think their way through the believable and unbelievable. 麻豆精品 S�
That, according to聽Efthimiou, is what so many people misunderstand about science. It is not static or boring. It stretches our minds. It 麻豆精品 S檚 what allows the unbelievable to become the believable. Through research, experimentation, and reality.
麻豆精品 S淚n science, unless we do not think of something unimaginable, 麻豆精品 S� says Challapalli, 麻豆精品 S渨e will not pursue something better. Culturally, we move from one mystery to another. That 麻豆精品 S檚 how our imaginations work and that 麻豆精品 S檚 how science works, too. 麻豆精品 S�
So maybe not Vibranium. But maybe utopium? We can imagine.
