Thor’s hammer isn’t real, except in the hearts and minds of comic nerds everywhere. Thank your lucky stars, because if it was real just being near it would kill you.
Jake Roper over at vsauce3 has a great video explaining exactly how damn heavy Thor’s hammer Mjolnir would have to be if it was actually forged from a dying star (instead of in a dying star). Of course it’s just a thought experiment and I am sure there is a very technical explanation involving string theory as to why it doesn’t murder you just by being around it.
Until then, I’m just going to go with the old standard of “A wizard did it“.
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5 responses to “Science Explains How Much Thor’s Hammer Would Weigh”
Thor’s hammer Mjolnir is actually made of a special Asgardian metal called “Uru”, by dwarves, and given Odin’s blessing/enchantment during the forging process. There are other weapons like this, for example Beta Ray Bill’s Stormbreaker. Thor is a god, and Asgard is full of magic… it’s all very non Star-Wars-ish unlike the movie version. Getting it wrong is like saying if you’re made by your mother, why don’t you wear a dress like her?
I don’t really agree – I think being forged in the heart of a dying star is a fairly decent transition from Uru to space-gods. And maybe the star was called Uru? (HA!)
Anyway, this video is complete bull, even theoretically. The entirety of their ‘density’ argument is broken by the scene in Thor where he lays Mjolnir on Loki’s chest to prevent him from moving (in the first movie, when they fought on the Bifrost). Mjolnir’s power is rooted in it’s magic ties to ‘worthiness’. Hence why it didn’t crush Loki. It is the ultimate immoveable object, one that even the Hulk has rarely been able to move.
But Beta Ray Bill? Now THERE was one who was worthy.
Why is this video bull? Mjolnir could be so dense, but because Thor is the only one worthy he has absolute control of its power. If he wants it to be heavy enough to hold someone down but not heavy enough to annihilate Earth then that’s how it will be. Don’t argue with Norse gods bro, they’ll smite you into last week XD
Not even quantum-molecular-gravitational-stringcheese-bosonic-big-bang theory will save you.
I have a lot of thoughts on this… where to begin? I enjoyed Thor 2, even if it was very heavily Star Wars-ish. I cringed when Odin told him they weren’t gods. They are. Thor is from Norse mythology, like Hercules(who is also an Avenger) is from Greek mythology. Asgard has magic golden apples, winged horses, valkyries that will take you to Hel(one “L”) or Valhalla depending if you died with honour(battle being very honorable), talking wolf gods, and villains like the Enchantress who use magic. Odin even put a spell on Loki to merge him with a tree once. Science is different to magic, and needlessly merging the two typically hurts suspension of disbelief. Dr Doom uses both, and tries to rescue his mother from Hell. That works. But I didn’t see that in the FF movie and wasn’t satisfied, just like I wasn’t satisfied with the lack of magic that I was expecting(basically they tried to add realism by using science… but without the surrealism of magic you lose the true experience).
When you say space-gods, I think of the Celestials, who are cosmic-powered armoured giants of IMMENSE power which basically formed life on Earth in the Marvel Universe. Thor shattered Mjolnir into pieces when breaking the armour of one. Uru metal could be forged IN a star maybe, but the logistics of that would be insane. Mjolnir being forged OF a star… well there goes English too, as well as being insane. Plus it doesn’t work for physics unless you also add a magic effect changing its physical properties… otherwise it would be so heavy that it would merge with the center of the Earth, crashing the Moon into the Earth and probably pulling it and the surrounding planets into the Sun. I also can’t see how a dwarf would survive the gravity and heat while working with the raw materials in the first place.
The whole worthiness thing in lifting Mjolnir was also huge in the comics and is like removing Excalibur from the stone. This was done well in the Avengers movie, because the SHIELD Helicarrier could fly with Mjolnir, yet the Hulk(who could pick up the Helicarrier) couldn’t.
Which is why it was complete fucking bullshit when Thor threw his hammer at that guy…I can’t remember his name. The one who broke out of the Asgaurdian dungeons and set everyone loose. It hit him in the back and did shit all