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June 23, 2006

Strange But True!

Q. If ever a physicist were needed to quiet a comic book controversy, it's over what killed Spider-Man's girlfriend Gwen Stacy on her fall off the George Washington Bridge after her abduction by the villainous Green Goblin. Was it the fall that killed her, or Spider-Man's webbing that caught her before she hit the water?

A. When Spider-Man reeled Gwen back to the top of the bridge, he was shocked to discover she was dead, says James Kakalios in “The Physics of Superheroes.” “She was dead before your webbing reached her!” the Goblin taunted. “A fall from that height would kill anyone — before they struck the ground!”


 
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