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In my story I have a speedster that has the ability to move superhuman speeds. This story is slightly based in science so the superpowers and how they work aren’t explained by science and are just hand waved away. However I would like to implement at least a little irl physics into my story to make logical and fun things like a character who controls electricity using their power to cause electrolysis of water or a character with fire manipulation getting rid of oxygen in an area.

Anyways the speedster that I mentioned earlier has to beat a bunch of goons (not the weird kind) and to do this they decide to run at max speed. But since I don’t really know anything about the effects of a human moving that fast I can’t really estimate what would happen. So what sort of damages would running at this speed cause to the surrounding area?

  • The max speed of this speedster is 343 meters per second or the speed of sound.
  • They have all required secondary powers needed for the ability of super speed.
  • The goons are about 3 meters away
  • This character is the size and weight of an adult male.
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    $\begingroup$ If your super actually hits any of the goons, see the first few minutes of The Boys S01E01 for the end result. Warning: it's gory. $\endgroup$
    – Monty Wild
    Commented Jul 8 at 6:12
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    $\begingroup$ Vote to reopen as the other question is about clapping, not running past an enemy. The size of the fast-moving object (much larger in this case), the duration of the event (longer in this case), and the proximity to the target (slightly farther away in this case) are all different. $\endgroup$
    – causative
    Commented Jul 8 at 15:11
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    $\begingroup$ @sphennings They are not applicable here. The accepted answer from the other question uses a whip crack as its justification for why the person would not be damaged. The tip of a whip is tiny; it is much less energy than the scenario here. A supersonic human being running right next to you would at minimum knock you over from the winds (that could kill you if you crack your head on something), and would probably burst your eardrums and cause other damage. The correct approach would be to compare the energy density in the sonic boom shockwave to the energy in the shockwave from an explosive. $\endgroup$
    – causative
    Commented Jul 8 at 16:57
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    $\begingroup$ A sonic boom is just a shockwave. Shockwaves can certainly kill you if there is enough energy in them. You have to do the physics for the particular case to see if it will hurt or not. $\endgroup$
    – causative
    Commented Jul 8 at 16:59
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    $\begingroup$ @Coolcats112 I'm sorry, it doesn't look like the question will be reopened. But I can tell you what I've calculated: from dimensional analysis based on dividing the drag force on the runner by the circumference of a 3m radius circle, we get 11290 J/m^2. This would be the equivalent of standing 3m away from 0.305 kg of TNT going off. For comparison the Mk3 concussion grenade has 0.2 kg of explosive, and a listed effective range of 2m. So, you would be hurt, though not necessarily killed. $\endgroup$
    – causative
    Commented Jul 8 at 21:17

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There will be a lot of damage, both from the sonic boom and the winds

First, the speedster is causing localized winds that in his immediate vicinity are about as fast as he is, 343 m/s. An F5 tornado tops out around 140 m/s. The area of increased winds from the speedster will be smaller than an F5 tornado, but far more intense. These winds will definitely be enough to smash windows and tear up street signs, and hurl the goons off their feet. Certainly there is the potential to structurally damage a building if he runs through it, particularly if the building would not stand up to a tornado. A wooden house would probably be ruined if he ran in the front door and out the back.

The damage from wind is mitigated by the fact that the speedster is only in one location for a very short period of time compared to a tornado (unless he deliberately runs in circles). It's hard to say if he'd be flipping cars just from running past them, but I'm guessing he isn't due to the short duration.


Next we have the sonic boom to contend with. A sonic boom is just a shockwave, and if a shockwave is intense enough it can injure or kill you. The shockwave from a concussion grenade can kill you. Conversely, if the shockwave is not very intense, it will cause no harm, like the shockwave from a firecracker causes no harm. So we have to determine how intense the sonic boom is to determine the likelihood of injury. For this we need to do some physics calculations.

First, we need to know how much force the speedster is exerting on the air. This is his drag force. Since he is running, he's in a position relative to the wind similar to a skydiver in the prone position, putting his coefficient of drag ($C_d$) around 1.

Except he's going a lot faster than a skydiver. Take a look at the chart on page 1 of this document about ballistics. As the projectile approaches the sound barrier, its coefficient of drag sharply increases to three times or more its value at slower speeds. We might guess that the speedster's coefficient of drag at Mach 1 is therefore more like 3, rather than 1. This might be a bit too high, but the speedster's arms and legs will be moving even faster than the rest of him and adding even more drag, so $C_d = 3$ seems like a reasonable guess.

The drag force $F$ is given by the formula

$$F = 0.5 \rho u^2 A C_d$$

Where $\rho$ is the density of air (1.205 kg/m^3), $u$ is 343 m/s, $A$ is the frontal area of the runner (about 0.7 m^2), and $C_d$ is around 3.

F = 149 kN.

To calculate the intensity of the speedster's sonic boom (plus the wind) at 3m distance, we can look at the energy he applies over a distance d, which is F * d, and divide it by the area of the cylinder at 3m distance from his path over d, which is 2 * $\pi$ * 3m * d. The result is 7905 J/m^2.

For comparison, a MK3A2 concussion grenade has 226.8 grams of TNT and an effective casualty radius of 2m in an open area. At the maximum 2m casualty distance, the energy intensity from this grenade is 18878 J/m^2. This is more intense than the speedster's sonic boom, but not by that much.

We can therefore say that being subjected to the speedster's sonic boom at 3m distance is similar to standing a bit outside the effective radius of a concussion grenade. The goons are likely to be injured from the sonic boom, though not necessarily killed or disabled.

They certainly could be killed or disabled if the winds and shockwave smash their head into the corner of a table, or if they are struck by rocks and debris that were kicked up by the shockwave.

These rocks and other flying debris could potentially kill people at much greater distances. That's a hazard with concussion grenades as well, though it's somewhat unusual.

Burst eardrums are a given.

If the speedster and goons are indoors, the shockwave itself would become lethal at 3m because the sonic boom reflects off the walls and strikes the goons multiple times. Same as we see with concussion grenades.

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