The Flash is having a great time of things right now. His CW series is a hit, he’s got a movie on the way, and his comic is a great read. Unfortunately, some physics researchers have crashed the party and proven that you’re really, really better off not being “saved” by the Flash.
In a deadpan paper published by the University of Leicester’s physics department and discovered by io9, researchers break down the exact physics of this particular shot we’ve seen repeatedly in ads and trailers:
The problem? That cyclist is being hit much, much harder. The researchers calculate he’s moving at 182 miles per hour, compared to the taxi’s 30 mph. Granted, being hit by a Crown Vic at thirty miles per hour is not going to end in smiles and balloons, but it’s better than being hit at 182mph by anything.
Nor does it help that the Flash, although lighter, is slamming into this poor sucker’s rib cage. The taxi, according to the paper, would have broken his legs. The Flash’s “save” might drive bone splinters into all his vital organs.
They note this can be fixed either by the Flash adjusting his speed or applying pressure over a wider area. So essentially the Flash should have just carefully adjusted the guy so he hit the concrete in the least painful way possible. But if the Flash takes nothing else away from this, he can at least take some comfort in this: Superman is way more of a douche.
