Myth Buster

MASS

By: Mahnoor Farooqi - Researcher

One thing most media interprets very wrong which gets heavily overlooked in terms of physics based accuracy is surprisingly and unsurprisingly: mass. This misconception digs a very deep rabbit hole of misinformation.

Einstein’s equation where energy is equal to mass into the speed of light squared (m x (speed of light)^2) shows that mass can be converted into a whole lot of energy. For reference a Nuclear bomb can use just one unstable nucleus and convert its mass into an unstoppable reaction. The sun continues to perform Nuclear Fission 24/7 as it has since it was formed; still its mass has yet to decrease by any significant amount. In fact it will continue to burn for billions of years into the future as well.

This is why sudden changes of mass are implausible. The Hulk absolutely cannot go from one form to another without causing a disastrous nuclear reaction that would put even the sun to shame. To put it lightly it would wipe out the entire galaxy with an explosion equivalent to that of a supernova.

The same problem applies for most sci-fi teleportation as well. Mass is in one place but it suddenly disappears within milliseconds and is produced in another location. The momentary loss of mass in the world could cause an explosion. But if done fast enough it is possible - only that it would take trillions of years worth of the suns energy to pull off.