It鈥檚 a superhero movie. So during opening week of Black Panther, moviegoers entered theaters for reasons more predictable than the plot. To turn off the cellphones and turn on the imagination. To escape work, school, and routines. To enter a bubble of wonder. When the film was over, the crowds walked out with a question that privately lingers every time we exit a fantasy: is it 鈥� possible?
Sourced from a meteorite that landed in Wakanda many centuries ago, Vibranium provides the superpower in the main character鈥檚 suit, absorbing energy and redistributing it.
The drone used for transportation in Black Panther? Sure, it鈥檚 possible. The flowers that are said to take on unusual properties while basically growing in a cave? Perhaps. But what about Vibranium, the fictional metal used in Captain America鈥檚 shield that hails from Wakanda, the fictional African nation at the heart of Black Panther?
Sourced from a meteorite that landed in Wakanda many centuries ago, Vibranium provides the superpower in the main character鈥檚 suit, absorbing energy and redistributing it 鈥� a nice feature when it鈥檚 time to fight the bad guys who want to steal the precious metal.
But how far-fetched is this Vibranium?
鈥淚鈥檇 never heard of Vibranium until I was asked to do this interview,鈥� says 麻豆原创 Professor of Engineering Surya Challapalli, who has studied metals for 50 years. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have Marvel comic books when I was growing up in India. But when I researched Vibranium this week, I thought, 鈥楬mm, it is actually similar to utopium.鈥� 鈥�
Utopium is yet another fictional metal. Challapalli himself dreamed up the concept more than a decade ago. He first introduced it to a 麻豆原创 class as a way to inspire creative and critical thinking. Utopium (named for the perfect world of Utopia) would be strong, light, stiff, corrosion-free, and able to withstand fracturing and high temperatures. It would be Vibranium-ish, only much more accessible and much less expensive.
鈥淭he challenge is to determine how its conflicting properties could work together, like high strength and ductility [fracture resistance],鈥� says Challapalli. 鈥淚 would say it鈥檚 possible that someday there could be something like utopium. Not anytime soon, but who knows about the future?鈥�
Challapalli points to recent advances in metallurgy and materials science, unrealistic concepts a few decades ago that are now reality. Things like nanotechnology and metallic glasses and quasicrystals and Kevlar and graphene.
鈥淪ome people many years ago figured out how to make steel stronger through 鈥榪uenching,鈥� where it鈥檚 heated and quickly cooled,鈥� says Challapalli. 鈥淚 So maybe someone could figure out a roadmap for [vibranium]. However, it would not be naturally-occurring.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to think that nanotechnology and Kevlar are now considered commonplace,鈥� Challapalli says. The key to making them happen? Not archaeology or rocks from outer space. It is all about ingenuity.
鈥淭hink about it. Some people many years ago figured out how to make steel stronger through 鈥榪uenching,鈥� where it鈥檚 heated and quickly cooled. So maybe someone could figure out a roadmap for utopium. Unlike Vibranium in the movie, however, it would not be naturally-occurring.鈥�
That鈥檚 one of the issues Costas Efthimiou, 麻豆原创 associate professor of physics, has with Black Panther. Efthimiou created a class at 麻豆原创 in 2002 called Physics and Film. It became one of the most popular physics classes on campus because of the critical application of science and movies. Students showed up and paid attention.
鈥淭he movie writers would not have passed my class,鈥� jokes Efthimiou, who watched a pre-screening of Black Panther with his 11-year-old son (he liked the movie). 鈥淚 do not go to movies to say 鈥楢ha! I鈥檝e got you!鈥� And I understand artistic freedom and fantasy. But I do think the science could have been closer to reality without changing the story.鈥�
Like Challapalli,聽Efthimiou聽says for the sake of a little authenticity Vibranium should not be a written as a pure metal derived from an enormous meteorite.
鈥淔or one, at that size it would have obliterated the area around the crash point and have created global devastation on Earth for a long, long time. If it had to be a meteorite, though, it should have been composed of a new alloy, based on the known elements, or a mix of alloys in the meteorite with a variety of properties. Wakadians could reproduce them and stay undetected 鈥� almost. No advance in technology goes completely unnoticed from the rest of the world.鈥�
His critique of Black Panther reminds聽Efthimiou聽of why he uses movies in his physical science classes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great way to help students think their way through the believable and unbelievable.鈥�
That, according to聽Efthimiou, is what so many people misunderstand about science. It is not static or boring. It stretches our minds. It鈥檚 what allows the unbelievable to become the believable. Through research, experimentation, and reality.
鈥淚n science, unless we do not think of something unimaginable,鈥� says Challapalli, 鈥渨e will not pursue something better. Culturally, we move from one mystery to another. That鈥檚 how our imaginations work and that鈥檚 how science works, too.鈥�
So maybe not Vibranium. But maybe utopium? We can imagine.
