physics in Ant-man (spoilers)

PA Ram wrote:

You were thinking a lot deeper about the physics than I was, but it’s interesting.

Well I have a very high but very amateur interest in particle physics. I read around on it constantly. It got so I wanted to test my understanding, so I would try to see if I could explain some of it. (For example, here’s a mind bender–a great deal of the mass of atoms comes from elemental particles like quarks and electrons acquiring mass by interacting with the Higgs field, which of course is produced by the recently discovered Higgs boson. BUT not all the mass or protons and neutrons comes from that. So where does the rest come from? The answer is mind-blowing.)

So in any event, I went into the movie knowing that stuff, and therefore when there were discrepancies and contradictions I noticed immediately. It would be as if we both saw a fictional film about the NFL and a player talked about playing in a traditional 5-4 defense just like the old Chicago Vikings did in the 1920s. We would both immediately go “hunh?”

This isn’t me bragging. A real physicist would get bored of the amateur level “feeling my way” nature of my “knowledge” within seconds.

But, I think it’s interesting. So I keep up.

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PA Ram wrote:

Yes, I get all that.

But why didn’t the suit have wings?

I find physics interesting as well—but I don’t get it at all. Every once in awhile I get just a tiny little piece that clicks in and I sort of “get it” for a moment or so–but then I read more and lose it. I get some of it without really “getting it” if that makes sense–which it doesn’t. That’s a quantum expression. I mean it’s a wave and particle and well–you know.

So anyway this stuff picks up mass going through the Higgs field or some such thing? I read about that awhile ago. Can’t really remember much.

These are things I’ve come to accept I’m just not smart enough to REALLY understand. It’s like explaining algebra to a chicken–or to me. Never really gonna happen.

Still, I love to read the physics forum on Reddit and read smart people arguing back and forth.

On the wings? I just gather that was a later development, which leads to the wasp (another Marvel character).

The thing about the Higgs field is that it can’t account for a lot of the mass of an atom. Something freakier accounts for the rest.

A couple of minor movie notes.

1. In the comics, it’s Hank Pym who invents Ultron, not Stark. Pym is also a founding member of the Avengers.

2. In the comics, shrinking a lot takes a toll on your sanity. They briefly allude to that in the film but not enough to make it a grounded part of the story.

3. On the old classic Saturday Night Live, there’s a sketch where superman is married to lois lane, and they have a party for other superheroes. Garrett Morris plays Ant-man. The other superheroes make fun of him for having such limited powers, which he doesn’t take very well (“I don’t see what’s so funny….”). In honor of that sketch, the film director had Morris cameo in the movie as a cab driver.

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