Green Kryptonite makes Superman weak and can even kill him. But, Kryptonite comes in many variations —red, gold, blue, white, etc. All affect superman differently. Some rob Superman of his powers, some destroy plant life, some cause bizarre behaviour and transformations and some deprive Kryptonians of their memories.
What other powers does Superman possess? Can you guess at the science behind them? If you want more information on the Science of Superman, we consulted this in-depth report and this detailed breakdown of Superman's powers! Images courtesy of Wikipedia. Monday, March 21, Flight The difference in gravity may also explain how the Man of Steel is able to fly. Indestructibility Yes he can fly, yes he can lift buildings, but perhaps most impressive is that Superman can handle almost anything thrown at him literally!
Kryptonite Superman is invincible! We believe that now, more than ever, the world needs people who care about science. Help us fund the future and next generation of problem solvers, wonder seekers, world changers and nerds. Donate Now. Under normal chemical nomenclature the -ite suffix would denote a compound e.
Thus the name implies that kryptonite is a compound and not an element something supported by the "tar" analysis in the third Superman movie. This issue was normally overlooked in the pre Crisis comic books, but a non-canonical game sourcebook did refer to kryptonite as "the common ore of the super-actinide Kryptonium, an unusually stable transuranic element, whose atomic number is believed to be One thought about the source of the -ite ending is found in astronomy wherein a meteoroid is a rock floating in deep space, a meteor is one streaking through the sky, and a meteor ite is a rock lying around on the ground after falling from the sky.
The -ite ending could have been used to denote chunks of Krypton that had fallen to Earth. The aforementioned atomic number was reinforced by the first season episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman entitled "The Green, Green Glow of Home," where it was stated that kryptonite was "periodic element " and that it "emits an extremely high band radiation that does not seem to affect humans".
The substance itself had no formal designation until the very end of the episode, where Lois Lane 's suggestion that it be named "kryptonium" was eschewed in favor of Clark Kent's "kryptonite" due to the fact that it initially appeared in the form of a meteorite. In Superman Returns , an additional piece of kryptonite is found in a rock fragment, once more in Addis Ababa. Lex Luthor steals it from a Metropolis museum and uses it in his quest to create a new kryptonite landmass.
During the extraction process, the rock appears to hold a significant amount of green kryptonite. The scientific name for the rock was displayed on its case, 'Sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with fluorine'.
Though more likely, the researchers who performed the analysis of the fragment did not perform a core sample test.
They may have only chipped off the outer layer in order to test it. Amazingly, in April it was announced that geologists in Serbia had found a mineral identified as having the chemical formula sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide [1]. But instead of the large green crystals in Superman comics, the real thing is a white, powdery substance which contains no fluorine and isn't radioactive. The mineral, to be named Jadarite after Jadar , the location of the Serbian mine where it was discovered , will go on show at the London Natural History Museum [2].
In both Superman Returns and its indirect predecessor, Superman: The Movie , Green Kryptonite is shown as effectively removing Superman's powers during the time he is exposed; in the first movie, Superman is nearly drowned while exposed to Green Kryptonite, and in Returns , Superman is brutally beaten by Lex Luthor's henchmen and stabbed with a Kryptonite shard by Luthor.
In most versions of the comics continuity, Superman retains his powers and invulnerability to conventional weapons while exposed to Green Kryptonite, although dramatically weakened and in severe pain. This avoids the logical shortcut which would result if a villain could, for instance, simply expose Superman to Kryptonite and then shoot him with a gun.
The comics continuity has consistently held that only exposure to Kryptonite, in and of itself, would be sufficient to kill Superman but his body can reject it before death as seen in Smallville. Green Kryptonite has no short-term effects on humans though strictly in post-Crisis continuity, long-term exposure is apparently lethal to humans, due to radiation poisoning or non-superpowered Kryptonians.
In one early Silver Age story, Superboy built up immunity to specific chunks of Green Kryptonite through repeated non-fatal exposure, as seen in the story "The Great Kryptonite Mystery", Superboy volume 1 58, July This idea was further developed in the Elseworlds series Kingdom Come , when Luthor reveals that the older Superman's absorption of solar radiation over the years rendered him immune to Kryptonite.
In most incarnations, lead blocks the effects of Kryptonite. In the television series Smallville , Green Kryptonite, refined or not, can cause normal humans to mutate special abilities, although an outside catalyst such as a strong electrical charge is usually required. Although most of these were accidental the mutants were accidentally exposed , others started to refine and take in Kryptonite willingly to obtain its effects.
One character named Marsh inhaled liquid Kryptonite to gain superhuman strength. This also gave him temporary Kryptonite radiation, thus causing Clark to be unable to stop him until the "dose" wore off. In the episode Void when clark is injected with kryptonite,his body rejects it before death meaning it can't actually kill him. Whenever Clark was exposed to it, it caused nearly crippling pain and temporarily removed his powers.
Additionally, it would take some time usually a few minutes after the Kryptonite was taken away for Clark to regain his powers; during this period, he was as vulnerable to injury as a human. Removes superpowers from Kryptonians permanently; however, in one story, a temporary antidote was developed that negated this effect for a short period of time.
For obvious reasons, this variety was little used in Superman stories. It played key roles in the limited series "The Phantom Zone ", as well as in three noncanonical stories, namely the tale Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Additionally, it appeared briefly in the post-Crisis DC Universe , when Superman used it on a trio of Kryptonian criminals while visiting the Pocket Universe Adventures of Superman , Superman v2, Gold Kryponite also made an appearance in The Flash when Superman and the Flash had to race to the end of the universe.
In the mainstream post-Crisis DC universe, it appears that instead of removing Kryptonian super-powers pemanently it causes cellular degeneration and once caused Superman to age at an accelerated rate; however, it is not confirmed if this is true of all Gold Kryptonite because this version was presumably created by the time traveller Gog. Recently, Lex Luthor has stated that Gold Kryptonite like its previous pre-crisis version can permanently rob Superman of his powers stating that it completly destroys the ability for Superman's cells to process solar energy.
Jewel Kryptonite amplifies the psychic powers of Phantom Zone residents, allowing them to project illusions into the "real world" or perform mind control. It was made from what was left of a mountain range on Krypton called the Jewel Mountains it is shown in one comic story to be used by Zod and Ursa outside the Zone in the "real" world as well, to blow up the piece they had and transport themselves back to the Phantom Zone. So it is probable that any Kryptonian can make use of Jewel Kryptonite as long as they are in close proximity to it.
In the post-Crisis Silver Age limited series, a "prismatic gem from the Jewel Mountains of Krypton" was used by the Injustice League to amplify the psychic powers of the Absorbascon , but was not referred to as Jewel Kryptonite.
Also use in the Smallvill e episode Persuasion when Clark accidently inhales Jewel Kryptonite and accidently forces Lois to quit work and have a 'traditional' relationship, Chloe to protect him above all else and Dr. Emil to stop worrying. He is unable to undo these effects by wishing them back to normal, only through eventual exposure to green kryptonite.
As noted above, kryptonite was originally created for the s Superman radio series. Kryptonite has appeared in various forms in the various Superman media spinoffs, however.
Depictions of kryptonite in the various films and TV series of Superman have largely been limited to green kryptonite, with occasional appearances of the red and blue varieties.
Kryptonite was used in several episodes of Adventures of Superman , proceeding from straightforward to increasingly far-fetched plotlines. Kryptonite was featured in Superman: The Movie. In this film's usage, the term "kryptonite" seems to mean simply a "Kryptonian meteorite".
After co-opting and launching two nuclear missiles for opposite ends of the United States , Luthor places the kryptonite on a chain around Superman's Christopher Reeve neck and drops him into a swimming pool.
When Perrine's character Miss Teschmacher learns that one of the missiles is headed for Hackensack, New Jersey where her mother lives , she rescues Superman from drowning and removes the kryptonite, after which his strength and powers quickly return.
An imperfect synthesis of artificial kryptonite containing tar appeared in Superman III. Ross Webster Robert Vaughn orders the creation of synthetic kryptonite after remembering a Daily Planet story about the last original chunk disappearing years earlier after falling to Earth whether Webster references the kryptonite robbery in Superman: The Movie is unclear. After scanning the coordinates of Krypton's former location via satellite, results return a small percentage of an unknown component.
The substitution of tar which Gorman used after glancing at a cigarette carton for a crucial, but unknown, component resulted in the synthetic kryptonite behaving like Red Kryptonite and Black Kryptonite; in this case, the kryptonite turned Superman evil and eventually split him into two people.
The evil Superman and Clark Kent, the embodiment of Superman's remaining good qualities, then engage in an epic battle at a deserted junkyard, where Clark emerges victorious and the evil Superman fades from sight. Later in the film, Gorman's creation, the Ultimate Computer, severely weakens Superman with a kryptonite ray before Gorman has a change of heart and attacks his own machine.
Lex Luthor steals it from a Metropolis museum and uses it in his quest to create a new kryptonite landmass, much like how young Clark created the Fortress of Solitude. In addition, he uses a shard leftover from processing it to create a kryptonite shiv, which he uses to stab Superman with at one point. Kryptonite made frequent appearances in the syndicated "Superboy" TV series, most of it green. It first appeared in the first-season episode "Kryptonite Kills" in which Professor Peterson retrieved it from Addis Adaba believing it to be a harmless meteorite and brought it to his gemology class at Shuster University.
Superboy, a student in Peterson's class as Clark Kent , collapsed from the radiation and felt its effects for the first time. He later threw most of the Kryptonite into space, except for one piece which was washed into the sewer.
That piece was discovered by a mixed-up scientist who used it as a power source for Metallo Roger Corben in the second season episode "Metallo". Green Kryptonite made several more appearances throughout the series, used mostly by Lex Luthor and Metallo. In the third season episode "Bride of Bizarro", Luthor sent Bizarro to a military research base to steal a large amount of Kryptonite, which Luthor was seen using on Superboy in later episodes.
In the fourth season episode "Kryptonite Kid", a young man named Mike Walker working at the same military research base was caught in a Kryptonite explosion while working to find a cure which would make Superboy immune to the radiation. The Kryptonite entered his bloodstream and turned his skin green and he became "living, breathing Kryptonite" able to fire Kryptonite radiation from his hands.
Red Kryptonite made an appearance in the second season episode "Super Menace". This version of Red K was created at a military research base where scientists were working to neutralize Kryptonite's effect on Superboy while still retaining its radioactive properties so it could be used as a power source.
Their experiments turned the Kryptonite red, making it useless as a power source and altering its effect on Superboy. This Red Kryptonite turned Superboy evil, much like Red K would later do in the "Smallville" TV Series, except only a single exposure to it was required, rather than constant exposure. After Superboy wreaked havoc with Metallo, Lana tricked Superboy into being exposed to another chunk of Red Kryptonite which reversed the effects of the first.
This is Red Kryptonite's only appearance in the series, so it is unknown if the substance would have had other effects on Superboy if it had appeared again. The "Superboy" series also introduced a form of White Kryptonite, however this was not the white kryptonite that kills plant life as seen in the Pre-Crisis comic books.
This White K was created by Professor Peterson's duplicating ray in an attempt to create a form of Kryptonite that would kill the molecularly unstable Bizarro. This Kryptonite did not kill Bizarro, however. It instead had an opposite effect on him and actually stabilized and cured him, preventing him from eventually exploding as previous Bizarro duplicates had.
It is referred to again in "The Bride of Bizarro" but it is not seen. The s and s Super Friends animated series featured kryptonite in various episodes, usually green. In the episode "Rest in Peace", Sinestro refers to a form of kryptonite called "Krypton Steel" as "a harmless form of kryptonite that only Superman can penetrate".
In another episode, "Darkseid's Golden Trap", gold kryptonite appears, which is stated to have an effective range of 20 ft 6. Blue kryptonite also makes an appearance in one episode; Superman, aging rapidly from exposure to Red Kryptonite, acquires a sample of Blue Kryptonite which had been discovered floating in space and uses it to cure himself Blue Kryptonite has negative effects on Bizzaro, so it should have positive effects on Superman. Quoting from an earlier piece that you can read right here on Scientific American : Superman, who seemed to know a fair bit about reporting, used the International Space Station ISS to convince reporters during the conference that smashing the meteor with a super punch would be a terrible idea.
Superman continued, "thankfully, the atmosphere absorbed most of the meteor's energy, with only the aftermath of the fireball doing damage to Chelyabinsk.
Superman probably shaves with an angle grinder. Everything about Superman is super, even his beard. Bill Nye has a theory on how Superman takes care of his tough-as-steel five o'clock shadow. It's product placement but it's also good science. The Mythbusters have an answer too. Superman once gave Lex Luthor cognitive dissonance.
In the issue Superman 2 from , Lex Luthor, Superman's arch-nemesis, dumped resources into building a supercomputer able to deduce the hero's identity. The machine worked like a dream and out the answer popped: "Clark Kent is Superman.
But Luthor refused to believe it. The evil genius couldn't easily resolve the cognitive dissonance in his head. In psychology, cognitive dissonance is an internal tension between two beliefs a person holds. When it arises, we seek to alleviate that tension by compartmentalizing the beliefs or coming up with an explanation to deal with it. Lex simultaneously held the belief that Superman was Clark Kent and that he was too smart not to realize that obvious answer. To get rid of the dissonance, Lex made a logical fallacy that we can call "the argument from brilliance.
Superman's true identity remains a secret, and Lex Luthor makes illogical arguments. The world is safe. Batman would beat Superman. First, because Batman. Second, because it happened. Third, Batman even faked his own death while doing it, because he's Batman.
Nobody recognizes Superman because they all have face-blindness. In a piece appearing in the science section of Slate today , I explain a neuropsychological answer to the age old question of why, simply by matching faces, no one realizes that Superman is Clark Kent. I have excerpted a section below: The most powerful superhero of all time, Superman, has arguably the worst disguise of all time.
A slight application of hair gel and some glasses turn the Man of Steel , the statuesque savior of humanity, into Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter at the Daily Planet. It's a fa? Why not? This bizarre failure of perception can only be attributed to Superman's greatest and perhaps most scientifically astute superpower: He is able to surround himself with friends and co-workers who all suffer from prosopagnosia --face blindness.
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