Outline Paper 1

Physics in Watchmen

I. Intro

a. Though the only person with actual super powers in this movie is Dr. Manhattan, many of the other characters exhibit unrealistic physics.

b. There are other instances in the world of Watchmen that is unrealistic.

II. Body 1

a. Rorschach has a mask with fluid in it that constantly moves.

b. It moves without any kind of force (unlike fluid).

c. When he falls or quickly moves in a direction, the fluid does not compact.

d. In the final fight, he gets kicked in the face and the fluid compacts and moves in the direction of the force (contradiction).

III. Body 2

a. Ozymandias catches a bullet, but it does not pass through him, but rather maintains its shape and hardly penetrates the skin. This goes against the egg and blanket example of impact.

b. Ozymandias gets punched in the face from a human to receive scars and bleeds (contradiction).

IV. Body 3

a. Dr. Manhattan is the only superhero, and has the ability to do many things.

b. He can negate gravity

1. When he arrives for the first time after the accident, everything around him raises into the air with random complex paths, however they do not go toward the floor or him (if he was to have his own gravitational field).

2. He can take apart objects and float the materials in uniform circular motions.

c. He can make objects float, but he obeys earth's gravity. For example, he enlarges himself to reach high places rather than levitating himself.

V. Body 4

          a. There are flaws of physics in the world of watchmen itself

b. A lot of twinning occurs (Nite Owl’s ship leaves water, Rorschach explodes, Dr. Manhattan dissembles a car, etc.)

c. A constant acceleration of gravity does not exist (jumps, drops, and tosses, move with constant distance in the vertical and horizontal axis)

1. Large objects fall faster than small objects even if they fall at the same height (ex: pin and the Comedian, Mars structure crashing down, etc.)

d. Silk Spectre cannot breathe on Mas, however she exhibit’s the gravity on earth even though Mars is 38% of that gravity.

e. Capes do not continue in the direction of applied force (ex: Ozymandias jumps up and at the apex the cape should flow above his head, but it does not)

VI. Conclusion

a.      Watchmen is a great movie with a base around science, but does exemplify realistic motions.

b.     Even though they are super heroes, only one has superpowers and each character has their flaws.

c.      The world itself has flaws.

d.     Though there were many flaws, it helped to give the movie a comic book feel.