How does Sonic run fast?

[Guest]

I just wanna make clear that I AM FULLY AWARE THAT SONIC IS A TALKING BLUE BIPEDAL HEDGEHOG!!!

In all seriousness, I really want to know what real-world physics would be behind Sonic's super-speed.

I thought of this question while watching an episode of Sport Science (specifically the one that pits some famous athlete against an emu in a race), after they explained how the emu's speed was because of the humongous downforce created and long strides (or something along the lines of that; it's been a while since I've seen it). But since that day, it just kept bugging me.

Is there anyone here that has any vague idea?

[Diogenes]

It's magic. Really, that's all there is to say; no real-life physics can explain how Sonic can run at the speed of sound.

[eXtaticus]

Mystical powers. In one episode of Sonic Underground, his "special abilities" were taken away during a trip to an alternate universe, and this included his speed - no physical abilities were removed, so this signifies that Sonic's ability to run fast can be pinned down to some form of magic. Probably the same as Shadow's Chaos Control and Silver's telekinesis, actually...

[Raxz]

Superheroes are usually either cyborgs, aliens, mutants, supernatural beings or freaks of science. Usually under the "alien" category the superpower in question goes unexplained, and this is the category Sonic falls under. Oh and I guess supernatural beings generally go unexplained too further than "some sort of heavenly/demonic power."

Really, you're not supposed to think about it that hard. Sonic just is.

Oh, and I brace myself for the impeding argument of whether Sonic's an alien or not...

Edited April 23, 2011 by Raxz

[DarkLight]

Well, he puts one foot in front of the other then puts the other foot in front of the first foot. This of course, creates movement and steadily goes from walking to jogging and finally to running.

....That didn't make a lick of sense, did it?

[Cola]

Mystical powers. In one episode of Sonic Underground, his "special abilities" were taken away during a trip to an alternate universe, and this included his speed - no physical abilities were removed, so this signifies that Sonic's ability to run fast can be pinned down to some form of magic. Probably the same as Shadow's Chaos Control and Silver's telekinesis, actually...

DO NOT SPEAK OF THAT SHOW!

I'm sure Sonic's like... absurdly light and really streamlined and has some explanation for his abilities.

[Diogenes]

Oh, and I brace myself for the impeding argument of whether Sonic's an alien or not...

Well whether he is or not, the superpowers aren't really a species-wide thing; some hedgehogs/Sonic-styled animals have superpowers, but not all, and those that do can have vastly different kinds of powers. So you can't really attribute his powers to "his species can do this".

[Raxz]

Well whether he is or not, the superpowers aren't really a species-wide thing; some hedgehogs/Sonic-styled animals have superpowers, but not all, and those that do can have vastly different kinds of powers. So you can't really attribute his powers to "his species can do this".

Edited April 23, 2011 by Raxz

[Blue Blood]

No matter which way you look at it, Sonic is designed horribly for running. Huge spikes that will weigh him down, he holds his arms behind/in front of him while running (so they're dead weights rather than being used to an advantage) his ears stick up like sails on a boat and then there's his eyes. Huge, massive eyes that would constantly get buffeted by wind and grit. At 768mph, that's going to hurt.

[Gatestormer]

I would just say that Sonic's legs are unbelievably powerful, the push he gives everytime he takes a step gives enough force to send him incredibly far, which explains how he is also able to jump very high and far (look at some scenes to see how far he can jump without even taking a run-up, for example the scene in Unleashed where he jumps from the Mazuri boss area to the Gaia temple). When Sonic runs as fast as he does, there's no way his feet move fast enough to cover that distance in the same way our legs would only be able to. When you watch him from the 2D view in Unleashed without the boost, his animation is actually quite slow for the speed he's moving at, it's still fast but not realistically fast enough which would have to mean he's able to take huge strides quickly which is all thanks to the sheer power in his legs. His weight has to come into it as well, he's incredibly light which makes it even easier for him to move faster. Maybe that's why he slimmed up for Adventure to be able to run faster.

For our physics though, it's complete gibberish.

EDIT: To reply to Blue Blood's mention of his arms, I always assumed he put his arms behind him because they're not powerful enough to fight against the massive G-force inflicted on them when moving that fast. Kinda like how on speed rollercoasters you get pushed back into your seat with the speed and if you try to move forward, it's very hard.

Edited April 23, 2011 by ENVY16

[Raxz]

I would just say that Sonic's legs are unbelievably powerful, the push he gives everytime he takes a step gives enough force to send him incredibly far, which explains how he is also able to jump very high and far (look at some scenes to see how far he can jump without even taking a run-up, for example the scene in Unleashed where he jumps from the Mazuri boss area to the Gaia temple). When Sonic runs as fast as he does, there's no way his feet move fast enough to cover that distance in the same way our legs would only be able to. When you watch him from the 2D view in Unleashed without the boost, his animation is actually quite slow for the speed he's moving at, it's still fast but not realistically fast enough which would have to mean he's able to take huge strides quickly which is all thanks to the sheer power in his legs. His weight has to come into it as well, he's incredibly light which makes it even easier for him to move faster. Maybe that's why he slimmed up for Adventure to be able to run faster.

For our physics though, it's complete gibberish.

[Ferno]

Chili.

The Chili on the Chilidogs provide Sonic with the propulsion he needs.

Be sure to steer clear when he boosts.

[Raxz]

Now a real hard question is, how does Blaze run fast, and without tripping? I mean, she wears high heels. Not just high heels, but the tallest high heels of any cast character. What the hell.

I always thought Shadow's skates did all the work, while he just played along and looked all epic to match...

Edited April 23, 2011 by Raxz

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I'd hardly throw in Magic into the equation, because it doesn't help other characters cases with their abilities speed or not. It be much better to say he was born with it and call it a day.

Now, if you want a scientific explanation for it, well...good luck doing it without making a biophysicist, physiologist, anatomist, or any other scientist cry at the same time. He defies natural law in every manner possible.

For starters, let's go with his legs: they're skinny. Skinny as a small pipe. Unless he has an entirely different kind of muscular system (which would make things more complicated biologically speaking), they're not going to have anywhere close to the amount of strength needed to push him anywhere near 100 mph. Take a cheetah's legs, as they're muscular enough propel the animal at 70 mph. Of course, the cheetah's legs aren't the only thing that propels it: since it's quadrupedal it has an entirely different gait, as even it's spine is used as a spring to help in it's speed along with the animal's overall flexibility. But Sonic's a biped, so his legs may take even more work to push him at high speeds.

Then there's Sonic's nose: it's too small. Once again, using a cheetah as an example (since it's the fastest thing on land), Sonic would need a much larger nose to help with oxygen intake. Moving at the speeds he does requires a lot of oxygen, and to get that much oxygen you'd need a fairly large nose. And going by how small his torso is compared to his head, his lungs wouldn't be powerful enough for the oxygen intake either. That's of course unless he has a different kind of respiratory system.

Then there's his shape. His head is pretty spherical. While it's more aerodynamic than a box, Sonic's head would need to be like an arrow in order to limit the drag forces he faces. Of course, that would change his skull quite a bit. Now if you don't want to go with an arrow, you'd have to be like the cheetah and have it's head small enough to limit drag.

Going towards his overall body, Sonic's body would have to be IMMENSELY muscular and durable to handle the forces that occur to his body while running anywhere near something like 100 mph. And when I say muscular, I mean Sonic should be the physically strongest character in the series, stronger even than Knuckles of all characters. His skeleton should be so strong it's indestructible to just about anything that hits it since his foot is capable of impacting the ground at such high speeds. And with that strength, he shouldn't be able to be hurt by anything at all by anything short of a laser or a nuke (and I'm wondering if even that).

Also, one would have to wonder how Sonic's eyes don't get any dirt in them, or how they don't suffer from the friction in the air as he moves. And then there's the amount of energy needed to move at such speeds and how he keeps from cooking himself to death while building up the amount of heat his body would produce at Mach 1. The cheetah can only run at 70 mph for only 500 m (1600 ft) because of that very reason, it would burn itself to death because it's body temperature is so damn high. And it takes A LOT of energy just to move as fast as it does. And that's just at 70 mph. Imagine Sonic's body temperature at 760 mph and the astronomical amount of energy he would need to move that fast!

And that's just the simple stuff. But since Sonic is capable of what he does, it can be assumed very much that his body is as different as I mentioned. Of course, there are a bit of inconsistencies when you look at what I said and compare it with what he does in-game, but they're not really important.

I guess it's true what David Peter said about speedsters:

if you play them accurately, they're impossible to beat

Edited April 23, 2011 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Diogenes]

Also magic.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

You guys have answered my question to lengths which have left me in entire awe. I only have this to say in reply:

How does the boost work?

[Blue Blood]

How does the boost work?

[Ferno]

You guys have answered my question to lengths which have left me in entire awe. I only have this to say in reply:

How does the boost work?

Edited April 23, 2011 by Inferno

[Unknownlight]

There was a reasonably good explanation somewhere in this topic, if you can find it.

Basically, seeing how it's impossible for Sonic to really run that fast, and the fact that he can boost on rails/in midair/on those special stage things from Sonic Rush, Sonic's speed probably comes from boosting, but when he's going slower it's less noticeable that he's boosting and he can't kill enemies just by touching them.

Boosting is basically exactly what Sonic Rush said it was: a release of tension (Tension Gauge). Like a rubber band stretched to its limits and then let go. Which means Sonic's superpower is that he just has a ridiculous, absurdly huge amount of energy within him, and he can release a bunch of that energy all at once to fling himself forward at speed. Pure calorie. He must eat a lot.

[Unknownlight]

But what about Light Da-- *shot*

MORE ENERGY! MORE! MORE!

[eXtaticus]

How does the boost work?

Farts, from the consumption of too many chilli dogs. That is all.

[Blue Blood]

Farts, from the consumption of too many chilli dogs. That is all.

Unleashed HD. Try to boost with an empty gauge. Sonic farts.

[azoo]

Feet.

Also, boosting occurs when he feels like it.

[Mr. Awesomest]

AHEM.

Christmas Island. What do you think of when you think of Christmas? Santa, presents, trees and reindeer were probably your first four. Forget those. What Christmas Island has is snow. LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW. Like, Finland snow. Since the inhabitants are probably all huddled up in jackets, and the fact that snow slows them down, they must adapt; and by adapt, I mean BECOME FASTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE BEAR. This means that if they can move as fast as, say, Silver, through knee-deep snow and with all the heavy winter clothing on, chances are, they're going to move faster without it. Sonic was just one of those lucky individuals who could manage Amy's speed with twenty pounds of stuff on him and through waist deep snow.

Edited April 23, 2011 by Mr.Awesomest

[Ryusuke]

How does Sonic run fast? Because he can. >.> <.<