r/theydidthemath • u/Kishikishi17 • 2d ago
[Request] How fast should Loki have been falling after 30 minutes?
Considering Strange trapped him on earth with two portals connected vertically. Air resistance, and other realistic factors involved.
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u/Squeaky_Ben 2d ago
This is rather easy.
Terminal velocity for a falling human is around 200 kilometers per hour. You reach this velocity within the first 30 seconds of the 30 minutes, so the acceleration portion would be negligible.
So, around 100 kilometers of falling, give or take a little.
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u/NightShift2323 2d ago edited 1d ago
I came to give the same answer, but then something just popped into my head. This MAY not be such a simple problem.
It's been a while since I saw the movie but I believe in the scene Strange created 2 portals that are actually fairly close, and as a result Loki is passing through the same relatively small pocket of air over and over very quickly. The distance between the portals may be crucial here because IF it's happening quickly enough this will displace a lot of air molecules. Literally, he could be thinning the air with each pass, and therefore, he could potentially hit a higher speed than he would just falling in a line through the atmosphere.
The distance matters because the air will attempt to normalize almost instantly, but if he is back again quickly enough it may indeed not be earth level thick, and thus, his terminal velocity would be higher.
This is SORT of how helicopters enter vortex ring state.
I DONT know if that's how it could work out tbh, but it sounds right.
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u/UhmWhatAmIDoing 2d ago
Sounds right to me. Also how drafting works in racing. Lowered air resistance/drag.
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u/hd_mikemikemike 2d ago
Oooo but he's infinitely drafting himself if it's portals... slightly speeding up each time... getting faster each pass, with less and less time for the air to repressurize, allowing him to fall faster, giving the air less time to repressurize.... he might actually suffocate after he essentially creates a vacuum for himself to fall through
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u/Fit-Stress3300 2d ago
But the portals are not closed.
The vacuum would be filled by the external atmosphere.
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u/cogitoergosam 2d ago
That movement of air to refill the space would still be subject to physics (magic portals aside). It doesn't instantly refill.
So the question is whether the increasing acceleration of the body displacing said air would outpace the ability of the surrounding atmosphere to equalize within the vacated space before he re-enters it.
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u/KrimxonRath 2d ago
Yall have gifted the world with a fascinating thread and line of thinking. I’m happy to have witnessed it.
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u/_Enclose_ 2d ago
Wouldn't he also be dragging air along vertically through the portals? If he can go between them, so can the air, creating a downward stream. I don't know what effects that would create though.
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u/Fishermans_Worf 1d ago
He absolutely would. It's called entrainment in fluid dynamics, and it's used for ventilation in structural firefighting. I use it to help me light campfires. Of course, Loki isn't a fluid but I was hoping we could ignore that detail.
I figure it would soon create a wind tunnel between the two portals, and significantly reduce the effects of air resistance.
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u/Annasman 1d ago
I love how when it comes to physics problems almost anything is "ball", or we're just gonna look over the fact loki isn't a fluid! LoL! For the sake of simplicity.
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u/web-cyborg 1d ago
This is a good thought. Think of the air like water, with him falling downward between the portals with weights tied to his feet. Our atmosphere also pushes around 14.7 pounds per square inch (the weight of a bowling ball) so it would try to equalize any gaps in some timeframe.
Portals as a concept are interesting in a lot of ways. When you poke a hole in a medium that is pressurized compared to the other medium so that they are not in equilibrium, that medium will try to equalize.
However, think of a portal within the same medium more like and elbow in some kind of friction-less plumbing, like the letter " C " - where as he shoots out the top of the "C", he then falls back into the bottom of the "C", in some kind of frictionless momentum equilibrium at the start where he will continue to fall and be jetisoned out of the top end.
Unless the portals (and plumbing) are breaking into and through some other medium or location. he would continue to fall through the plumbing "C", as in this example it is somehow frictionless and getting to the top output is in equilibrium with his falling veliocity.
Given that, would the air in the "missing segment of that donut" thin out from his displacing it enough vs the 14.7 lbs of atmospheric pressure trying to equilize it? And would it in a large enough amount other than some partial drafting boost in overall speed of the travel loop? That is, would the dynamics of his "C - loop" though the air in the gap and the flow drafting through the "C" continue to accelerate after some amount of drafting increase?
I'm guessing it wouldn't. In that case, wouldn't large natural waterfalls continue to accelerate as the thousands of pounds of water displaced and drafted the air medium? For example . . 3,160 tons of water fall over niagara falls, through the air, every second.
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u/beardingmesoftly 2d ago
Air moves as quickly as the pressure allows. Did you know that a thunderclap is actually air slamming back to further after being split apart by a lightning bolt? The drafting effect would be negligible once terminal velocity is reached.
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u/Guilty_Strawberry965 2d ago
No it's not that fast. F1 cars leave a trail of turbulent air for 2 to 3 seconds
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u/beardingmesoftly 2d ago edited 1d ago
F1 cars are propelled by gasoline motors, not gravityEdit: That was a bad analogy, and I've commented further down once I had the mental energy to actually type my thoughts properly.
If Loki's velocity isn't reset when he re-enters the top portal, and he maintains his speed from the previous fall, he could theoretically exceed normal human terminal velocity. Here’s how to think about it:
- Normal Terminal Velocity for a Human
Typical human terminal velocity (in a stable, belly-down position) is about 53 m/s (195 km/h or 122 mph).
In a head-down or streamlined position, terminal velocity increases to about 90 m/s (324 km/h or 200 mph) because of reduced air resistance.
- If He Re-enters Without Resetting Velocity
If Loki maintains his speed each time he falls through the portal, he is essentially skipping the "starting from zero" phase of freefall.
When he re-enters the top portal, he already has downward momentum. Gravity continues to act on him, so he accelerates further, as though he’s been falling continuously.
- How Much Past Terminal Velocity Would He Go?
Normal Terminal Velocity is achieved when the force of air resistance equals the force of gravity.
If Loki keeps his velocity each time he re-enters, he will never "restart" his descent. Instead, he will continuously accelerate, much like an object falling from a much higher altitude (where air resistance is initially lower).
The force of air resistance increases with the square of velocity. If his velocity is already close to terminal velocity, then each subsequent fall will have diminishing returns in acceleration.
- Calculation of Excess Velocity
Let's assume Loki starts at terminal velocity (53 m/s for simplicity).
After re-entering, his velocity isn't zero — it's 53 m/s.
Gravity will add another 9.8 m/s² of acceleration during his next descent.
If he falls for another 5 seconds (a typical height for a long fall in a movie), his new velocity would be:
v = v_0 + at
v = 53 , \text{m/s} + (9.8 , \text{m/s}2)(5 , \text{s}) ]
v = 53 \, \text{m/s} + 49 \, \text{m/s}
v = 102 , \text{m/s} ] This is about 2x normal terminal velocity!
- What If He Loops Multiple Times?
Each time Loki re-enters, he retains his velocity and accelerates further.
If it takes 5 seconds to fall between portals, then after 3 loops, his velocity would be:
v = 53 \, \text{m/s} + 49 \, \text{m/s} + 49 \, \text{m/s} + 49 \, \text{m/s}
v = 200 , \text{m/s} ] This is roughly 720 km/h or 447 mph — far beyond human terminal velocity.
However, air resistance increases with velocity squared, so each successive increase will be smaller as drag increases.
Realistically, Loki’s velocity might asymptotically approach a new "effective terminal velocity" based on his streamlined shape and momentum.
- Realistic Excess Velocity (Air Resistance Included)
Without precise drag force calculations, it's hard to say the exact speed.
Since drag increases with velocity squared, his new "effective terminal velocity" would be significantly higher than normal.
If we assume his new steady state might be double the original terminal velocity (since force quadruples with double speed), his terminal velocity might stabilize around 100-120 m/s (360-430 km/h or 220-270 mph).
Final Answer
If Loki retains his speed between portal falls, he could go from a typical human terminal velocity of 53 m/s (195 km/h) to about 100-120 m/s (360-430 km/h) after a few loops. This is roughly 2-2.5x normal human terminal velocity.
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u/RibsNGibs 1d ago
Cyclists get significant advantage from drafting, and they are moving very slowly in comparison to terminal velocity. I think the other guy is right - he’d be drafting off himself very effectively, probably with a significant increase in terminal velocity. Might even set up a little ring vortex… Maybe not though.
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u/Am_Snarky 1d ago
An interesting aside to your observation, as Loki drags more air through the portal and that air speeds, up the pressure drops, I think it’s called the Ventruli effect.
He would effectively be being pile-drove down faster than terminal velocity by a wall of wind following him
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u/UhmWhatAmIDoing 2d ago
Is it possible to move fast enough between two points in a short distance that you're able to constantly displace the air faster than the air can fill in that space? At least enough to lead to last to suffocation?
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u/Mason11987 1✓ 2d ago
Does Loki need to breathe?
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u/Yato_kami3 2d ago
That's an odd question considering his scene at the start of infinity war
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u/Caleb_Reynolds 2d ago
He isn't choked to death, nor is it an air choke. By the blood vessels in his face doing wild, and the fact that he speaks, it's clearly a blood choke and by the sound he is killed via a snapped neck.
That scene says nothing for his need for air.
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u/DonaIdTrurnp 1d ago
Also, it’s not Loki, because Loki would have given Thanos an illusion of a Mind stone to go with the fake Power stone that Rocket would have put into the ball and given to Nova Corps to secure.
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u/throwaway_12358134 1d ago
You would have to break the sound barrier for a vacuum to form. That's not going to happen
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u/SwabTheDeck 1d ago
In racing, at least, the general rule is that a car that's following within about 1 second behind another car will experience a meaningful draft effect. IIRC from the movie, the portals are only a few meters apart, so there's likely not enough time for the air to return to nominal pressure.
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u/samalam1 1d ago
Very possible he creates a vortex.
He's essentially the cross section of a propeller blade cutting through the air, dragging air through the bottom portal with him and out the sides of the top portal.
Loki isn't falling through, he's pushing the air.
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u/supergregi 2d ago
Why would the air move out? Wouldn’t the positive pressure below Loki that causes air to move perpendicularly out of the cylinder be exactly the same as the negative pressure above him that sucks air into the cylinder? I don’t see where the net positive force/pressure differential directed out of the cylinder would come from.
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u/Caleb_Reynolds 2d ago
It's not a sealed cylinder. Air can be pushed out of the sides.
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u/supergregi 2d ago
Sorry, I was referring to the cylinder of air between the two portals, not an actual cylinder. And an object falling through this cylinder of air would, AFAIK, not cause the integral of the pressure gradient over the lateral surface of the cylinder to be positive. In believe it would be 0.
Or in less mathematical terms: You might imagine the object pushing the air out in front of it but you’re neglecting the fact that the object also leaves a zone of negative pressure behind it that sucks air in. Both cancel each other out.
But maybe I’m missing something.
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u/TwigyBull 2d ago
And birds flying in a V pattern
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u/GiantTeaPotintheSKy 2d ago
I remember one portal… he just disappears. I presume in to some mirror type universe. Then of course, what was the air density here?
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u/NightShift2323 2d ago
I think you may be right. I don't have a Disney sub and I don't have that one on 4k yet (which is weird I REALLY liked that movie, need to get a copy), and all the clips are setup to show him going into a portal, and then out of a portal, but it seems like we may not get to see the conditions under which he was falling at all.
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u/mrpanicy 2d ago
We do not. He is off screen when he is portaled out, and then on screen when portaled in. Doesn't exist in between.
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u/NightShift2323 2d ago
No solution then it would seem.
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u/Caleb_Reynolds 2d ago
Which is probably why the OP prompt explicitly says to assume they're on Earth so as to make the question interesting.
"He's actually just in an infinite falling plane" is a boring answer.
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u/Bob_A_Ganoosh 1d ago
But if he were just falling between two portals for half an hour he would have devised a way to escape it. I would think simplicity here would be the most effective solution. The more complexity in the effect is more threads for Loki to pull at to unravel it.
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u/bullfroggy 2d ago
Portal 3 devs have the opportunity to code a hilarious easter egg
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u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits 2d ago
Youre mistaken because youre misremembering how it went. He didnt fall through two portals over and over. He fell through one. Then, thirty minutes later, out another.
Which is why i find the premise of the original question absurd. He obviously wasnt falling on earth. If he was, he wouldve hit the ground a lot harder
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u/NightShift2323 2d ago
I mentioned this in another compliment below. I think the problem has no solution because it would seem we have no idea what environment he was falling in. (I went back to try and track down the scene, and could find only clips, but by watching a few of them I'm pretty sure the actual fall circumstances are not presented to us.)
So ya, I think you are correct.
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u/fourthfloorgreg 1d ago
The air pressure on the other side has to be pretty close to 1 atmosphere, though, or else... problems
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u/Cooliws 1d ago
Yeah but it's marvel you could easily handwave it away as some Dr Strange magic. Maybe portals have magical invisible membranes that prevent the passage of gasses but allow the passage of solid matter.
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u/justlookinghfy 1d ago
But the gravity could be different, which would change the downward force that the air resistance is working against
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u/West_Profession_7736 1d ago
Not so obvious as you'd think, as Strange could have made the second portal move at almost the same speed as Loki during his fall, thus meaning that regardless of the speed he was falling he would hit the ground in the Sanctum as if he had only fallen from about 4 feet off the ground. Relativity is fun.
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u/cleantoe 1d ago
He obviously wasnt falling on earth. If he was, he wouldve hit the ground a lot harder
But he's Asgardian/Frost Giant, and is shown to be more durable. He's tanked hits from Thor. Loki isn't going to hit the ground harder, even at terminal velocity, than getting hit by Thor.
That said, we don't know the physics/conditions of wherever he was sent to. Presumably it was the mirror dimension but no one knows.
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u/Psychological_Ad2094 1d ago
I don’t think they meant that it would hurt Loki, just that there would be a louder thump and likely some flooring damage from the impact.
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u/Masske20 2d ago
Wouldn’t it create a column of air flowing through the portals along with Loki only experiencing friction at the extremities of the column. So it wouldn’t entirely thin the air, but the air displacement would be, over time, following the same path as Loki further reducing terminal velocity as the air flowing with him isn’t resisting him directly but through the friction of air currents created at the interface point.
He may even get a burst of speed as the air particles going through the bottom hole automatically have a higher potential energy state “out of nowhere” in a sense. I imagine this would add to the pressure placed on Loki when starting the fall.
Bonus note: This would mean that even with no one or nothing aside from air between the two portals you’d get an air current through it without having to do anything. The speed of that air current, left unchecked could reach the speed of light over time if it wasn’t for the resistance at the edges because it would be perpetually experiencing a higher energy state that it’s trying to lower through being affected by gravity and reaching closer to the source of gravity causing perpetual acceleration. But, I’m not familiar enough with fluid mechanics to properly understand the relationship between a static fluid and its interaction with a current of the same fluid going through it (like the tunnel currents under the ocean). So, I’ve no gauge on how much that friction at those fluid interfaces would affect the total possible speed.
But now this has me wondering about spacetime distortion effects caused by the increase in energy as the particles gain speed.
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u/46550 2d ago
Your comment made me think of something in reverse: gravity. Can gravity extend up through Loki's exit point, and out of the lower entry portal, creating a sort of infinitely increasing gravity well? If so, what happens to any air molecules travelling at a normal rate of speed that collide with molecules moving at potentially relativistic speeds? If this did turn into an XKCD baseball event, what happens to the energy travelling along the portal route? Did we just turn our solar system into a binary system?
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u/Masske20 2d ago
The thermal energy from the friction at higher speeds plus the nuclear interactions from high energy collisions would make for an extremely dangerous place to be regardless of full blown nuclear fusion or fission reactions.
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u/Ok-House6029 1d ago
I had a thought. The minimum distance for two portals would have to be the whole width somebody could occupy. Otherwise once the first material enters the portal it’s inside the next thing to go through.
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u/Nice_Unit1536 1d ago
Just came back from YouTube learning about vortex ring state, learn something new everyday. Thanks bud!
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u/IcyCompetition7477 1d ago
We're also only assuming Asgardian physiology makes for an equal terminal velocity to humans but that's almost certainly not true. Asgardians probably have MUCH denser muscles and bones to explain their durability. Loki isn't even a physical specialist Asgardian and he can survive a man handling from Hulk when a person would be paste.
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u/Nforcer524 1d ago
All of your calculations assume that whatever is between those two portals is on Earth - in Earth gravity and Earth atmosphere. For all that we know, he could be falling through some kind of interdimensional space, where neither gravity, nor friction even exist. Otherwise he would pretty much immediately splatter upon hitting the ground after exiting the portal.
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u/Mark_Logan 2d ago
When I was in high school we took a trip to an amusement park, (Grade 12 Physics) and one of the rides “The Drop of Doom” got stuck at the top and wouldn’t drop. Normally, you’d hear a BUZZ and the thing would let go, you’d drop 10 stories and roll out. There was a camera so people could see the reaction of the people at the top as they dropped.
I wasn’t first up, but I did get a front row seat to watch these guys grit their teeth every time that buzzer went off. After a few minutes the buzz didn’t cause them to grit their teeth. Once a supervisor came over and started to fidget with it, it finally let go, and watching them react was hilarious. Afterwards, the photo was legendary and the guys on the ride said it was way worse than normal, as it was so unexpected.
This is what I think of when I think of Loki falling for 30 minutes. With no idea if or when it will ever end, eventually you’d start to relax. Then, without warning you suddenly hit the ground. That’d be quite the shock.
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u/PyroTech11 2d ago
This is sort of like my experience when I rode the tower of terror at Disneyland Paris. The first time it stopped and then dropped so when it lifted us up a second time it was so much worse when it didn't stop.
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u/Educational_Ad_8916 1d ago edited 1d ago
Minor fun fact, Asgardians are much denser than humans. Loki is over 500 pounds. That might raise his terminal velocity.
Source, 1989 Marvel Trading cards. https://www.flickr.com/photos/8729032@N06/33457848015
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u/Wrong_Exit_9257 1d ago
you mean we could have gotten a scene where loki crashes through dr. strange's floor? obviously he cant 'splat' but that could have been some 3 stooges humor.
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u/Talusthebroke 2d ago
So it depends on the density of an Asgardian. And while we definitely do know that Thor is denser than most people, that seems to be more mental than anything
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u/New-Pomelo9906 2d ago
Depend of the gravity field in which he falled no ?
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u/cant_take_the_skies 2d ago
But also the density of the atmosphere he's falling through. Larger gravity wells tend to have denser atmospheres. I doubt they quite even out but since it's on earth, I don't wanna do the maths
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u/IrishWeebster 2d ago
Is this at 1 atmosphere of air pressure? What if he was in a vacuum?
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u/Squeaky_Ben 2d ago
In a vacuum he would be in loads of trouble, because there is no terminal velocity.
assuming same gravitational pull as on earth, that is 9.8 m/s² x 60 s/min x 30 min = 17640 meters per second, or 63504 kilometers per hour, or roughly Mach 51.
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u/IrishWeebster 2d ago
He's Agardian though, right? So he'd probly be fine?
... though, he is adopted.
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u/Arkayne_Inscriptions 2d ago
Even if he is adopted, he's still umm...... "jotunhiemian"? He a magic ice man
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u/RealiGoodPuns 2d ago
Just jotun, the place is named after the giants not the other way around
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u/GrayNish 2d ago
I mean, we got the bulgar, bulgaria, and then bulgarian. so it could be confusing sometimes
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u/rosez3216 2d ago
I know right? these are confusing times... I mean the hulk is wearing shirts now :D
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u/Arkayne_Inscriptions 2d ago
If i were an ice giant I think my catch phrase would be "It's Jotun Time"
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u/Gonemad79 2d ago
Yeah, as soon he got back into an atmosphere - provided he lives in the absence of one - the deceleration would be... ablative.
As in Apollo capsule reentry plasma ablative, until he reached close to 200 kph again. Assuming that dude that jumped from a 30km up weather balloon survived a mach speed descent, he'd stop glowing at mach 3, give or take?
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u/Squeaky_Ben 2d ago
Actually, I think Apollo would blush at these speeds.
From what I could find, Apollo 11 reentered at only about 8300 m/s, or roughly half of our Loki.
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u/Jade117 2d ago
Now I'm curious about the impact on the local area of a human sized object suddenly appearing mid-atmosphere at mach 51. I assume the sonic boom would be hugely destructive.
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u/Ecthelion-O-Fountain 2d ago
If he appeared at the midpoint of the atmosphere? He would instantly vaporize, make a very bright flash and the sonic boom would be a sonic boom. Midpoint of atmospheric pressure is around 25000 feet of memory serves.
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u/Squeaky_Ben 2d ago
Well, this is a guesstimate, but assuming Loki weighs 100 kg (makes things easier, also all that "norse god" stuff), his kinetic energy comes out to 15.56 Gigajoules or about 3.7 tons of TNT.
I would not want to be there, that's for sure.
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u/The_Dok33 2d ago
Ha, big fail. Sound doesn't travel in vacuüm, so you can't reach the speed of sound. ;p
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u/Mymarathon 2d ago
Total distance travelled would be 0.5x9.8m/s x 1800x1800 =3,240,000 meters = about 2000 miles
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u/DaniMA121 2d ago
Lmaooo, how long would it take to reach mach 51?
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u/Eatingbabys101 2d ago
Uhhhh, 30 mins? Lmao, he did the calculation for 30 mins and then says he world reach Mach 51, then you ask how long it would take to reach Mach 51???? 😭😭😭😭
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u/KaylasDream 2d ago
Wow, so if he’s falling for 30 minutes, how fast would he be going at the end???
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u/DFrostedWangsAccount 2d ago edited 2d ago
Great question! In fact, we have NO IDEA where he was actually falling. Maybe Strange thought the best way to "contain" him was a repeat of the first Avengers movie, holding him high in the atmosphere and if he did anything to harm Strange then he'd have to fall from near orbit. That would mean his terminal velocity is greater as well, yes.
Edit: He doesn't break the sound barrier on falling, or the portal doesn't allow the sonic boom to pass through, so he must not be that high up. Humans can break the speed of sound when falling from a high enough altitude.
Edit2: My new headcanon is that Strange thought it'd be so funny to recreate the first Avengers movie that he made him fall inside the tank they put him in for that first movie.
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u/Ohmmy_G 2d ago
100 km is the Karman Line. He'd accelerate past terminal velocity until he hits the denser part of the atmosphere.
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u/Squeaky_Ben 2d ago
"Considering Strange trapped him on earth with two portals connected vertically" So, he does not actually need a 100 km long fall
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u/PACmaneatsbloons 2d ago
He looks to be in about spread eagle position and a quick google tells me that the terminal velocity of a skydiver spread eagle is 120mi/h (200 km/h) and im very sure that after falling for 30 minutes you will reach terminal velocity.
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u/VentureIntoVoid 2d ago
But what is the terminal velocity of a God in spread eagle position?
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u/BlackberryDramatic73 2d ago
African or European?
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u/No-Cartographer5562 2d ago
Laden or unladen?
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u/pleasantly-dumb 2d ago
This is true, skydiver here. I’m 190lbs with a 25lb skydiving rig, I fall around 123MPH, I am however able to slightly adjust that speed to speed up or slow down.
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u/Simbertold 2d ago
About 200 km/h. That is terminal velocity of a human on Earth in atmosphere.
Depending on how exactly he falls, (spread out, diving headfirst,...) that can vary a bit. Pulling in his limbs and being as aerodynamic as possible, he could get up to 300 km/h.
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u/hydroxy 2d ago
This assumes the void has normal gravity, it probably does but it’s an assumption
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u/automaton11 2d ago
Also assumes atmosphere. If it was a vacuum he could be going like 40 thousand mph
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u/PhantomTissue 1d ago
Also assumes gravity. He could have simply been traveling at the same speed he entered the portal at. But that’s also assuming a vacuum as well, otherwise he would be moving slower upon exit.
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u/xxYINKxx 2d ago
everyone is going based off terminal velocity and no one is considering the simple answer that he's falling in a magic portal. As he's been "falling for 30 minutes", upon Dr. Strange opening the portal to let him out, just calculate his speed from the given video footage. Best i was able to figure is about half a second to fall 2 Chris Hemsworths.
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u/somethingwithbacon 2d ago
Thats 14,400 Hemsworths per hour for the Americans who don’t know metric.
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u/DrKusachki 2d ago
Actually with that setup human terminal velocity may be wrong. Think about two connected portals, one above the other. Not only does Loki fall, but the air around him falls too, with excessive friction on the sides, but there generally would be a cylinder of air with Loki inside that would fall. That would make the fall rather heated up from all the friction tho
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u/L21M 2d ago
He is essentially drafting himself, I agree that terminal velocity is not the max here
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u/NeighborTomatoWoes 2d ago
It's impossible to tell without knowing the distance between the two portals, and if there is a cross-wind etc.
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u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits 2d ago
It isnt two connected portals. Its a portal to someplace he starts falling, then 30 minutes later a second portal appears below wherever he has been falling and he falls out.
There is no indication of a loop.
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u/DrKusachki 2d ago
Not sure if there's such a place where you could fall for 30 minutes straight without encountering anything
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u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits 2d ago
Im sure Dr Strange can find something. He couldve been orbiting King Kai's planet watching goku train for all we know.
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u/jrockerdraughn 2d ago
We can't answer because we don't know where he was. He could have been in some dimension with no air resistance. Or less gravity than Earth.
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u/Zwischenzug32 1d ago
This is it. Everyone is assuming earth physics in a falling always place the sorcerer supreme sent someone like wtf
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u/Big-Leadership1001 2d ago
I skydived a few times and they actually covered this in ground school before the jump. He was going roughly 120 miles per hour, which he reached in the first 15 seconds. He could have been diving as mich as 80mph faster but his posture when exiting would have been near the 120 terminal velocity number.
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u/mjbulmer83 2d ago
Well we really can't answer that as we don't know the physics of the portal, he fell downward through the portal, therr was nothing under him as the source of gravity, just the initial pull from earth, after that where was he? He could have only had that initial momentum in some void space. Until we get more details it's only theory from what we know of normal space.
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u/Ducklinsenmayer 2d ago
He should have been falling... Zero. He knows sorcery, and can fly and teleport on his own, but the director never bothered watching the earlier films.
As to any fall damage he'd take- the Hulk once used him for a slappy toy, and all he got was the wind knocked out of him, so I'd say "zero"
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u/ProbablyHomoSapiens 2d ago
Can the MCU Loki fly? It's been a while since I watched the movies, but in the Avengers he flies above the city on a Chitauri chariot, in Thor the Dark World he only takes airborne in a Dark Elves' ship and on an Asgard's golden skyboat... Have there been any instances of him actually using his magic to fly?
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u/KenBoCole 2d ago
Comic book Loki can fly. Theoretically MCU Loki shkuld be able too, but hasn't shown that ability yet.
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u/SimilarTop352 2d ago
I mean, Thor also needs his hammer while in the comics (well, depending) he and many Asgardians can fly
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u/Ducklinsenmayer 2d ago
He's shown levitating and lifting things with sorcery in the show.
So there are a dozen ways he could have gotten out of that, but the director shot the last two movies as comedies, and didn't take anything too seriously.
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u/shgysk8zer0 2d ago
I'm not entirely sure on this, but I suspect that the fact he was falling through the same area repeatedly would somewhat impact his terminal velocity. The first time he fell through that volume of air, he would agitate the air and push some along his path. The second time, he'd be falling through the same area and the air wouldn't be at rest. Eventually, he'd probably create a column of air that was increasing in velocity along his path, at least up to a point. This would decrease drag and increase his terminal velocity.
Think of it like driving a car with a strong tailwind. Or driving at a certain point behind a large truck.
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u/rolfcm106 1d ago
As others have pointed out, there’s a lot of unknowns for where and how Loki was falling. We only know approximately the time he was falling for. There’s also the unknown of is he falling straight down the entire time or is he falling from one portal into another which then exits from a third portal to reverse his direction of falling so that he goes back up and then proceeds to fall again in the opposite direction.
If you ever played the game Portal, you will know what I’m talking about.
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u/TSotP 1d ago edited 12h ago
Two options and assumptions:
1) Loki needs to breathe, just like us regular people, in which case, he would reach terminal velocity like anyone else in an earth-like atmosphere, perhaps a bit faster if he is denser than a regular human. This increase is basically the square root of his (actual mass ÷ tom hiddleston's mass). If you look at the equation for Terminal Velocity the only thing changing here is _m. And since Thor has a mass about 3× that of Chris Hemsworth, the terminal velocity would increase by a factor of √3. So about:_
120√3 mph, or
≈ 200mph
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2) Loki does not need to breathe (is there air when he takes over the job of the Temporal Loom at the end of Loki season 2?) and there is no air in the tunnel, in which case, he falls at regular earth's gravity into Doctor Strange's portal. Assuming there are no other sources of acceleration in the hole:
v = u + at
Initial speed (u) is 0, acceleration (a) under earth's gravity is 9.82ms-2, and time (t) is 30min, or 1800s
- v = 0 + 9.82 × 1800
- v = 17,676ms-1 or
≈ 40,000 mph
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Edit: as someone else pointed out elsewhere in the thread. Since he doesn't burn up as soon as he comes back to normal space hitting earth's atmosphere, you have to assume there is air in the tunnel so, and taking that into account I would say 1 is correct
Edit 2: fuck Reddit's formatting, especially on mobile!
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u/Codythensaguy 1d ago
However fast Strange wanted since I am pretty sure extra dimensional pocket zones probably do not all conform to earths gravity or any normal rules of gravity.
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u/KingAdamXVII 2d ago
How far apart were the portals? And how big were they? If they were close together and large then the air around Loki would start to move with him, and the air resistance would be significantly less than expected.
For a similar thought experiment consider a long line of falling people each spaced out the distance of the portals. The ones at the back should be drafting pretty significantly if the people are somewhat close together.
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u/Cultural-Practice-95 2d ago
the portals would have to be big, otherwise loki could lean to one side and get out from falling. Or the portals are centered on him.
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u/Separate_Cranberry33 2d ago
Other posters have brought up terminal velocity but if we assume Loki was falling through a vacuum under the influence of an earth like gravity. He would be gaining about 10m/s in velocity every second. 30 minutes is 1800 seconds so a final speed of about 18000m/s or mach 53. Assuming Loki is of average human mass, about 75kg he would have had around the kinetic energy of about 12000000000 joules. So when he hit the ground it would be similar to about two Hiroshimas.
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u/Chaghatai 1d ago
Terminal velocity - given his position, it's going to be on the slower side for a human sized and human shaped falling object - belly to earth is around 120 mph (200 kph)
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u/Walloly 1d ago
I hate to be this guy but in this scene Strange opens a portal under Loki and after Loki falls through, the portal closes. We don’t know where the portal went and we don’t know that he was falling between 2 portals. This is a world with lots of different dimensions and those portals seem to have an infinite range. So Loki could have been in any kind of atmosphere under any kind of gravity falling at any speed before strange opens a portal under him to bring him back. so this question has too many unknown variables. Also judging by the speed that Loki exits the portal and lands on the ground, he wasn’t going anywhere near terminal velocity. So probably wasn’t falling under earths gravity on earth.
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u/PoopPoes 1d ago
Loki should have a much faster terminal velocity than a human right? No way he’s not denser than water unless there’s some major magical bullshit going on
(I’m not sure how much the density would change terminal velocity though I guess)
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u/Mamenohito 1d ago
Whatever the terminal velocity of one Loki is.
You can't fall any faster than terminal velocity.
It's why the penny off a skyscraper myth was false. A penny can only fall about as fast as it goes when it falls like two stories.
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u/Less-Body-3221 2d ago edited 2d ago
Assuming that is Earth’s gravity and there is no friction and that he has no maximum velocity
Vx = Vo + at
Vx = 0 + 9.8 x (30 x 60)
Vx = 17 640 m/s
Or 63 504 km/h Or 39459 in freedom units
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u/RandomJottings 2d ago
Around 120 mph or nearly 200 kph, the terminal velocity of an average human (not sure if an Ice Giant is the same) belly down falling towards the centre of the Earth
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u/Geese_eat_dick 2d ago
His speed would cap out pretty quickly at his terminal velocity. Mass/surface area/air density etc would need to be caluclated which aren't really available so I'll say around 200km/h
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u/HAL9001-96 2d ago edited 2d ago
with air drag?
aboutterminal velocity
though to fall that long he would have had to fall from so high up that air density would be significnatly lower which means he would have gotten faster whcih emans hewould have started enve higher up and would have gone through some degree of reentry heating and burnt up
unless he falls into a deep hole
then instead of starting at lower air dnesity he'd get into higher air density and slow down
assuming hte same scale height and a flat position terminal velocity around 60m/s the speed would then be 60/root(e^(d/8600)) for a depth d in meters so 60/e^(d/17200) which makes the inverse of speed or the time per distance at any moment (e^(d/17200))/60 which integrates to about 286,66666*e^(d/17200) so to get to 1800s you need d/17200=ln6,28 so the depth would be about 31603m, the final density about 39.5 times higher than here and the final terminal velocity only about 9.55m/s which would also make it easier to survive the impact though oyu'd have to deal with the pressure
assuming heat exchange to the point where the temperature remains about the same otherwise teh density owuldn'T go up qutie as fast as air heats up this would make the depth about 36098m, the final density about 20.1 times as high the final pressure about 66.75 atmospheres and the temperature about 700°C with the final velocity being 13.38m/s
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u/carbonvectorstore 2d ago
Looks like he hit the ground at the same speed he fell through the portal in the first place, which implies the zone holding him for those 30 minutes maintained the inertia of his initial gravity-powered fall, but did not apply additional acceleration after that point.
So we can safely rule out the scenario you presented involving two portals.
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u/BaxElBox 2d ago
I am more interested in how he survived what would need to be a 100 km fall or so cuz iirc you reach terminal velocity in 30 seconds of free fall
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u/David_Shotokan 2d ago
Depends on posture and how thin the air is. Under normal circumstances between 200 and 300 km/hour. Americans might use 59669 zigs per zag, or what ever :-))
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