The Physics Of Captain Americ Elastic Collision

First appearing in Captain America Comics #1, the patriotic super soldier, Captain America, has appeared in countless comics, as well as many film adaptations. Captain America has found his way into the hearts of all who read, or watch, as he takes down the bad guy and saves the day. When one hears the name “Captain America,” they tend to think of a strong, fast, star-spangled superhero who is always carrying around a red, white, and blue shield. Though very appealing to watch, Captain America 's shield seems to miraculously defy physical laws as it hurls through the air, hitting multiple targets; yet always returning to his side at full speed. Although one would think Marvel magic is solely at play here, there are several factors of physics

The element needed is called elastic collision. “An elastic collision is defined as one in which both conservation of momentum and conservation of kinetic energy are observed. This implies that there is no dissipative force acting during the collision and that all of the kinetic energy of the objects before the collision is still in the form of kinetic energy afterward” (Nave, Elastic and Inelastic Collisions). Using this element of physics, it is known that after a collision, the shield’s speed does not change and it will remain the same throughout the duration of its flight. Which “is actually a carefully plotted trajectory” (Kuzoian and

The factor involved in this process is called the law of reflection. Because this law has only been applied to rays in the real world, i.e. rays of light, it is defined using rays and mirrors. However, this experiment requires the replacement of the mirror and rays of light, with a shield and target. “The law of reflection states that the incident [shield], the reflected [shield], and the normal to the [target]… lie in the same plane. Furthermore, the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence . Both angles are measured with respect to the normal to the [surface]”