Why does kryptonite hurt kryptonians

A little Kryptonian baby hurtling through space, Kal-El reached Earth in years the nerds disagree on the time. To travel such a long distance trillion miles--in such a short time, the baby would have to warp the space-time continuum with his speed.

Actually, such a speed, 25 times the speed of light, is physically impossible. But if the baby traveled for two years at nearly the speed of light--the universal speed limit--any remaining Kryptonians would be two years older while he only aged three months.

Forward time travelers don't get to make a lot of long-term friends. Superman's weakness was inspired by a real element. Kryptonite, that glowing green rock from the core of Krypton, is one of Superman's few Achilles' heels. Time and again it is a plot device to make the hero human. In , two British researchers discovered the element that would become the inspiration for this material. William Ramsay and Morris Travers were looking for elements in the helium family when they stumbled upon krypton, a gas that doesn't want to play with any other element.

It's too noble for that. The team later discovered other noble gases, and Ramsay won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. When Superman was created in , the authors Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster named the hero's home planet after the previously discovered gas. While an oxyanion of krypton could give scientists a reason to actually call something "kryptonite," the gas is simply non-reactive with most other elements.

It's radiation that makes Superman weak. The prevailing theory in geekdom is that kryptonite can kill Superman because it disrupts his solar panel-like energy absorption.

Without energy from the Sun, he weakens and eventually dies. Though kryptonite is a fictional mineral, the way it interferes makes sense. Radioactive materials emit radiation in the form of particles and energy. This can be anything from whole helium nuclei to gamma rays. If gamma rays were emitted by kryptonite, they would ionize Superman's cells. By knocking electrons and atoms around in his body, this process of ionization would wreak havoc and disrupt normal cell sun-gathering.

Radiation sickness can be lethal, and it's a form of it that reduces Superman to a defeated hero. It's also the reason why water bears should have saved the Enterprise instead of Captain Kirk.

Superman didn't destroy the Russian meteor earlier this year because it would have destroyed the city. 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. 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.

In the s series, Superman: The Animated Series , one explanation offered for the science of kryptonite is that Superman feels the detrimental effects of kryptonite radiation quicker that normal humans because his body absorbs it more readily, as a result of sharing a common point of origin with the element. The effect is so potent that even a tiny shard is enough to painfully affect Superman at a short distance.

This makes it impossible for Superman to even touch the substance, as it would be the equivalent of a normal man touching radioactive rods from a nuclear reactor with his bare skin.

Only the element of lead is able to block the radiation, and is therefore Superman's only protection. Fortunately, Professor Hamilton supplies Superman with a distinctive and durable lead protection suit for such situations.

Kryptonite, in the animated series, still has effects on normal humans as well. Two moments are evidence of this. This does bring up the question of Batman's habit of also carrying a piece of kryptonite in his own belt; however, since Batman has seen what the kryptonite did to Luthor, the famed methodicality of Batman may mean that he likely has the pouch lined with lead. In Batman Beyond , it was revealed in the two part episode "The Call" that Bruce Wayne kept the kryptonite for the rest of his life, and kept the needle of kryptonite locked up very securely in the Bat Cave.

The Justice League series also reveals how Batman obtained the kryptonite. Green kryptonite remains the only variety of the substance ever seen in the DCAU. This difference in gravity allows Superman to lift objects that measure in the tons. To put that into perspective, the Empire State Building is only , tons! The difference in gravity may also explain how the Man of Steel is able to fly.

So, when Superman flies, it might be that he is just jumping really high Since Krypton was a massive planet, around times larger than Earth, the gravity was so great that average humans would be crushed under its gravitational pull.

So, it is plausible that the Kryptonians evolved to have anti-gravitational organs, which would allow them to function and live under the immense pressure. Some enthusiasts speculated about Superman's manipulation of Earth's magnetic field, others wonder if Superman's body could generate sub-atomic particles called gravitrons. What sounds most plausible to you? Yes he can fly, yes he can lift buildings, but perhaps most impressive is that Superman can handle almost anything thrown at him literally!

And this is because of two things: cells and radiation. It is thought that the people of Krypton had a much denser molecular structure and therefore, it would be extremely hard for anything to penetrate through their supremely compact molecules! It would be like having a body of Kevlar! Not only are Kryptonian cells very dense, but they can metabolize solar radiation.

The radiation given off by Krypton's red sun was too weak for Kryptonians to process. Yet, when Superman lands on Earth and into the light of our younger star, he is able to take the radiation from our yellow sun and metabolize it—the way a green plant converts light from the sun into energy through a process called Photosynthesis.