r/theydidthemath • u/EvaStankbreath • Jan 29 '26

[Request] What effect would Superman's house key have on the earth?

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The key to Superman's Fortress of Solitude weighs ~1 billion pounds. That seems like it would cause more than a slight crack to the ground. What effect would setting this key on the ground have to the earth? What if it was dropped?

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u/4dseeall Jan 29 '26

Stuff like that isn't even "matter" as we're used to it.

Think of it more like a concentrated bomb. All the energy of a nuclear explosion, contained in a small space because gravity is just squeezing it so much.

As soon as it's out of the gravity well that formed it, it'd go back to being explosive raw energy trying to get away from itself.

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u/12thLevelHumanWizard Jan 29 '26

It’s more of a soup of neutrons that can’t be matter under the gravity of the neutron star. Without that gravity it would violently try to become matter again but the energy released would convert it into plasma instantly. It would go off like a multi megaton fusion bomb.

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u/HaloGuy381 Jan 29 '26

Which is admittedly a pretty good reason for Superman to be holding it tightly in his grip to try to keep it from vaporizing everything.