Getting the God of Thunder’s Science Straight

With Thor: The Dark World out today, it’s time to delve back into superhero fandom to find, surprisingly, just how scientifically grounded the powers of the blonde-haired god are. The God of Mass and Momentum Back in February, everyone’s favorite astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson took to Twitter to opine on the physics of Thor and his hammer. Basing his calculations on the density of neutron stars, he figured that Thor’s hammer should weigh more than 300 billion elephants. Interesting to think about, but wrong. Looking to the canon encased in surely mint-condition comics, other Thor enthusiasts noted that Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, is about 42 pounds. Not quite a legion of elephants compressed into a block, but you still wouldn’t want to get hit in the face with it. Just ask an ice giant. But if we should look to the original comics to settle the question of Mjolnir’s mass, both ...