Buzz
By studying the frictional force generated in a snap, a group of scientists concluded that it would be impossible to snap while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet
Most people don't question the scientific accuracy of what's happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like how Tony Stark builds the Iron Man suit or how Captain Marvel can travel through space. But one thing in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War caught the attention of Saad Bhamla, an engineer at Georgia Tech, and his students
At the end of the movie, the supervillain Thanos executed a snap to wipe out half of life in the universe while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet - a magical metal glove embedded with six infinity stones. This scene raised questions among engineers about the physical realism of this snap and whether Thanos could actually snap while wearing this colossal glove
The answer is no, according to a newly published study in the Royal Society Interface journal, the research team carefully examined to explain the frictional force and other mechanisms of finger snapping
Bhamla said in a press release: 'For the past few years, I've been particularly intrigued by how we can snap our fingers. It's really a special physics puzzle that hasn't been thoroughly understood'
Their analysis revealed that a finger snap occurs instantaneously with an extremely rapid speed - only milliseconds - faster than the blink of an eye.
Using high-speed cameras, accelerometers, and modern force sensors, Bhamla and his team analyzed the forces generated during various rapid movements to execute a finger snap.
According to the study, a regular finger snap will have a square angular acceleration of 1.6 million degrees per second - nearly three times faster than the pitching speed of a professional baseball player.
Bhamla remarked: 'You'd receive data like, 'Oh, we're hitting 1.6 million degrees per second. This is really quite a quick moment'. 'We need to research how we can generate such immense acceleration'.
Raghav Acharya, a co-author of the study, concluded that Thanos' finger snap appears to be a detail magnified in the characteristic way of Hollywood movies, rather than applying fundamental physics theories.
According to the research, the finger snap motion operates by using the muscles in the fingers as a compressed spring to generate elastic potential energy, which is then rapidly released to produce astonishing acceleration.
The finger snapping action operates similarly to a latch mechanism, where potential energy is loaded - by pressing the middle finger and thumb together - and then rapidly released as the latch releases or when the fingers slide past each other - tree frog, horsefly punch, and trap-jaw ant also employ a similar mechanism.
They experimented with finger snaps from various individuals and studied the effects of placing tape on different parts of the hand, such as the wrist or finger joints, and then wearing different types of gloves and mittens to see how they would affect the execution of a finger snap.
The research team observed that when wearing gloves such as rubber ones, the glove would create excessive friction, causing it to convert all energy into heat energy, and thus not accumulate enough energy needed in the initial stage of a finger snap.
On the other hand, a smooth glove, or one made of metal like the Infinity Gauntlet, would not compress like human skin, causing the contact area between the middle finger and thumb to narrow and unable to generate enough energy. Therefore, finger snaps can only be performed when barehanded as it can create perfect friction and energy.
Therefore, in real-life scenarios, when wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos would not have enough frictional force and energy to perform a finger snap as depicted in the movie.
