Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-34954086-20120922085545/@comment-34954086-20121007120554

Tupka217 wrote: Okay, new one, from "Darkest". Yesterday, someone kept adding a goof that Blue Beetle should not have been able to change his arm while encased in ice. This creates the following questions:

Looking forward, guys.
 * About Superboy: how much pressure would he have to exert to break free of the ice?
 * How much can one move when encased in ice anyway?
 * If an object encased in ice increased in size, how would that affect the ice (I mean, would it chip off, break, shatter, explode?)
 * If an object encased in ice increased in weight, how would that affect the ice?
 * If an object encased in ice increased in mass (is that even possible?), how would that affect the ice?

Yay, Tupka's playing now:P And again, something I thought of whilst watching the episode, and you're (partly) right that it's about pressure.Couple things which are also partly for my own quick reference Ice is less dense then water, which is what enables it to float. P=F/A he exerts force with his actions, which is divided by surface area of the area of contact between ice and body where force is exerted. force needed is partly dependent of crystal bonds which depends on temperatures...colder being harder.

1.After last note, I think that I'll actually need to do an experiment or two to work out an approximate force requirement for that thick a layer, but if we go with what's needed to blast it open like that P=Po+pgh, p being density, h being taken as approximate round thickness as ~30 cm P=101500+9.81*0.30*934=104248.8 N/m^2. P=F/A, Ares of human body is about 2m^2, F=PA, so in total (from the sum of an assumed omnidirectional force from every point on his body), he'd need about 208, 497 N of Force to break it like that, although maybe it doesnt need atm pressure there, so 5500 N still. so about half a ton extra.

2. Well, movement by overcoming normal force is dependant on a fair few factors, it'd depend on which area is being moved, pushing arm forward like a punch would be easier then swinging it around. I'd work it out as a component force of the superboy one which was taken to be omnidirection for whole body. there'd also be a factor of movement by melting the inside of the ice into liquid which has less volume so would create literal room to move.

3. PV=nRT, V increases but stopped by ice normal force, P(pressure) increases as a result, P=F/A, when F overcomes normal force, it would break it probably shatter or explode (the difference between them is only the amount of excess force, explode takes a portion into it as kinetic energy).

4.Be additional force downward which may overcome normal force from that direction, though I assume you realise that weight is mass*gravity, need different gravitational field to change weight (or acceleration...)

5.Increase force downward due to gravity, though only possible by either converting massive amounts of energy into mass by e=mc^2, density shifting which I have already explained above, and possibly blue beetle's armor (whose mechanics I haven't worked out yet, though in all honesty, if I do, I'd be selling it and being rich. naturally using Regulus inc as my trademark;) ).

6.vibrations would disrupt crystal structure, which would make hyperspeed vibrations or powerful sonic weapons able to break free of the ice with comparably WAY less force. not a goof by any means. :P