Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Initial_E t1_iyba43u wrote

Reply to comment by AutoModerator in [WP] You are constantly mocked for having such a weird superpower by all the other heroes. “The power to make anything into perfectly cooked soup”… One day, a massive meteor is barreling towards earth. As all the other heroes are panicking, you wait perfectly calm, at the impact zone, bowl in hand. by WoollerMan2003

500 megatons of good soup is still 500 megatons

56

imakesawdust t1_iybc6ef wrote

In his book What If?, the XKCD guy analyzed what would happen if you condensed all the rain from a thunderstorm into one giant drop. The results weren't pretty.

Still, the superhero in this story ought to find soulmate with the superpower of being able to turn anything into the perfect grilled cheese.

30

MyMomSaysIAmCool t1_iybg2g1 wrote

In Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, a couple of the characters calculate the damage that would happen if the planet was hit by a cubic mile of hot fudge sundae. Basically, it doesn't matter what it is, at that speed it's going to cause global catastrophe.

16

Mage_914 t1_iyesleo wrote

I read that as Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer at first and started wondering what wizards in pajamas had to do with this.

2

OakenHug t1_iybhapt wrote

Really, really cooked soup. Bisque even.

Turns into steam in the atmosphere, and we have toasty clouds for a while

8

R3D3-1 t1_iyc2blu wrote

The bowl of soup seems to imply that the volume and mass of the target is not preserved.

Now imagine that power being turned... Downwards.

8

Zenvarix t1_iydp617 wrote

Imagine if our hero could also undo it.

There you find a warm bowl of soup... And the next, a very angry and hungry bear, or a grenade with it's pin missing.

Or use it to "dodge" a giant green lasers. Sure, millions will still scream, for that brief moment of laser blazing past a bowl of soup (and any poor unfortunate soul also in that path) before getting smacked with planet.

Imagine the technicians and everyone else on the "moon" that just saw the planet disappear and then reappear. How flabbergasted they would be? Even the princess would be beyond confused, even if she would be relieved.

3

DragonSlayersz t1_iybdx9s wrote

True, but soup is not going to hit nearly as hard as rock.

3

Artanthos t1_iyd8av0 wrote

It would.

A comet is basically just a large chunk of water, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia.

4

Herbert-Quain t1_iyctw0u wrote

I wonder what the optimal timing would look like. I mean, if you transform it into soup at the moment of impact, you have gained next to nothing. If you do it too far out in space it'll just refreeze. So probably at the moment it enters the atmosphere so it is dispersed by air resistance? Or, if you can fly alongside it in space, perhaps you can re-heat it constantly and keep it up long enough to shrink the giant ball of soup via evaporation...

1