Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Pauli exclusion principle doesn't work like that, Kitty Pryde

Hey, I call shenanigans on this scene from this week's A+X...

Panels from the Spider-Woman/Kitty Pryde/Lockheed story in A+X #8 (July 2013), script by Gerry Duggan, pencils by Salvador Larroca, colors by David Ocampo, letters by Clayton Coyles

...in which Kitty "Everybody forgot I do have a code name" Pryde fully phases a solid object into another solid object and leaves it there. But I don't think so, at least as we've seen her power work in the past. So, no, no, no, no, no. (No.) The Pauli exclusion principle tells us that "no two identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously." You and I can sum this up, more or less, as "two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time." Kitty (or, say, the Vision) can phase through objects, but if she solidifies partly, it causes immense stress on the objects. usually this is illustrated in comics with a boom of some sort. Boom!

Well, at least, maybe. I will attempt to win my No-Prize right here (you may send my empty No-Prize envelope to me over the internet, Mister Stan Lee): the meteor is described as being a completely unknown substance. "We don't even know where it fits on the periodic table yet." say Spider-Woman earlier in the story. So, maybe that's the explanation: this mysterious alien substance which may be able to be phased into solid matter without damage.

Or: we might argue that Kitty's control of her phasing power has advanced to the point where she can slide the atoms of this meteor between the concrete of the pillar (after all, that's fundamentally how she phases), and then re-solidify the meteor so that its atoms co-exist in such close proximity that it's actually now interweaved with the concrete pillar. But then in the next panel the Absorbing Man breaks the pillar and takes the meteor out, so that can't be the explanation.


Or maybe the reason for it all is that A+X is primarily a punch-'em team-up book that's low on intricate plot but high on action, and it really doesn't matter. Let's face it: we'll probably never see that meteor again as it's only important to get the plot rolling. In other words: it's the MacGuffin Meteor.

But y'know, all that violation of SCIENCE! and physics really doesn't matter in a comic book which also contains this sight:


Panel portion from the Hawkeye/Deadpool story in A+X #8 (July 2013), script by Christopher Hastings, pencils and inks by Reilly Brown, colors by Brent Armstrong, letters by Clayton Coyles


I for one am really glad President Obama has produced the necessary documents needed to prove he is not a zombie. We're waiting for the same from you, Mister Romney!

I'm also willing to let A+X off the hook because it contains this scene of Deadpool making a boxing glove arrow by using one of Hawkeye's arrows and a Hulk Hand. Brain: meet awesome.


On second thought, Your Honor, I would like to drop the charges of not following its own internal pseudoscience against A+X #8 science due to its plea-bargain of awesome Hulk Hand arrows. Case dismissed!



1 comment:

Daniel Ceniza said...

Mrs Pryde herself will prove she can't do such thing in... let's say... three issues. And I mean issues in which she is actually involved. So... I'm guessing the 2015 marvel crossover.