# What keeps The Flash on the ground?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 23, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693 "2011-03-23T05:19:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/1 "2011-03-23T05:19:22Z")
say he’s racing Superman around the world - what is keeping him on the ground? superpowers, magic or plain physics? just wondering.
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### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/2 "2011-03-23T05:46:16Z")
Aura-of-all-trades, probably.
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### Author:  [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/3 "2011-03-23T05:48:47Z")
> [@shijinn](#):
>
> say he’s racing Superman around the world - what is keeping him on the ground? superpowers, magic or plain physics? just wondering.
Gravity. Same as you.
I don’t think it’s been addressed. The issues of heat shielding and metabolism have been addressed but I don’t recall ‘staying on the ground’ ever having been an issue. I think the answer is 1) It’s a comic book 2) There’s more involved in his speed than simply being able to apply a larger force to his movement, there’s the ‘speed force’ which I would guess makes him fast without special strength or leaping power 3) Even were his speed due to great forces, presumably he could keep lateral by running at an angle closer to the ground or just adjusting his running style in terms of how hit feet hit the ground to keep the vertical component of his force to the minimum. Cars can go very very fast without leaving the ground at all.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/4 "2011-03-23T05:51:07Z")
Chuck Norris.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/5 "2011-03-23T06:07:03Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#):
>
> Gravity. Same as you.
Nope; if that was true, the moment he hit a slight rise he’d go shooting off into the air like he was launched from a cannon. Nor would he be able to stop very fast or turn corners well; like most speedsters, he acts like he has selectively sticky feet when he is running.
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/6 "2011-03-23T06:11:19Z")
He creates his own quantum gravity through hyper-ion speed.
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### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/7 "2011-03-23T06:24:24Z")
Current Flash taps an energy existing in the DC universe called the, well, the Speed Force. Yeah, like gravity or electromagnetism, but for speed. I know.
And of course it has its own properties, mostly whatever the writer using the concept at the moment decides they are.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/8 "2011-03-23T06:49:34Z")
One could theorize something like that he’s not moving fast, time is simply travelling different for him.
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/9 "2011-03-23T09:11:49Z")
Gecko boots.
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/10 "2011-03-23T10:27:14Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Nope; if that was true, the moment he hit a slight rise he’d go shooting off into the air like he was launched from a cannon. Nor would he be able to stop very fast or turn corners well; like most speedsters, he acts like he has selectively sticky feet when he is running.
Actually, though I’m not a huge Flash authority, it seems a bit more like his powers enable him to accelerate in whatever direction he chooses to, without needing to cause an equal and opposite reaction - if he wants to go back to the ground, he just speeds that way.
😃
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/11 "2011-03-23T11:32:42Z")
it’s very simple, he just – oh Look! A squirrel!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/12 "2011-03-23T11:45:29Z")
Of course, when you combine Superman and The Flash, they can’t help but go flying off into space. Have a look at the cover of Action Comics #314 (July 1964) “The Day Superman Became the Flash”
[http://www.wonderland-site.com/html/comix/comics04-01.htm](http://www.wonderland-site.com/html/comix/comics04-01.htm)
[http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/306/](http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/306/)
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/13 "2011-03-23T12:10:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> One could theorize something like that he’s not moving fast, time is simply travelling different for him.
I’m not a physics expert, but I don’t think that would make a difference. In fact, relativity would suggest time\* is \*different for him - he really is experiencing less of it than we are. But he’d still fly off the earth when cresting a hill.
What I’ve always wondered is why it’s never occurred to him to try flying - not like Superman, who just jumps and then is magically propulsed - but like a swimmer. I’d think doing an underwater stroke motion should allow him to ‘swim’ up into the air when desired.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/14 "2011-03-23T12:54:13Z")
> [@chrisk](#):
>
> Actually, though I’m not a huge Flash authority, it seems a bit more like his powers enable him to accelerate in whatever direction he chooses to, without needing to cause an equal and opposite reaction - if he wants to go back to the ground, he just speeds that way.
> 😃
No. Falling is a problem for the Flash. If he could accelerate in any direction he chose, he would be able to fly.
The Flash’s speed force connection / aura does cause him to interact with the world around him in unexpected ways. He can vibrate through solid objects, he can run at several times the speed of sound without disrupting the area around him, et cetera. However, there seems to be an ability to shut off some of that when he wants to - normally he doesn’t cause air disruptions when moving, but when he so chooses, he can.
The second Reverse Flash’s powers were specifically different from the Flash’s - instead of running fast with a speed force connection, he actually had a distorted relationship with time. His supersonic running DID cause disruptions.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/15 "2011-03-23T13:58:00Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#):
>
> Gecko boots.
He saved 15% on them, in just 15 minutes. 😉
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/16 "2011-03-23T14:53:35Z")
> [@bup](#):
>
> I’m not a physics expert, but I don’t think that would make a difference. In fact, relativity would suggest time\* is \*different for him - he really is experiencing less of it than we are. But he’d still fly off the earth when cresting a hill.
>
> What I’ve always wondered is why it’s never occurred to him to try flying - not like Superman, who just jumps and then is magically propulsed - but like a swimmer. I’d think doing an underwater stroke motion should allow him to ‘swim’ up into the air when desired.
He has done that at various times, though it’s more of a treading water-style stroke (or else he uses his hands to create a whirlwindy thing that pushes him up off the ground).
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/17 "2011-03-23T18:03:02Z")
Is it ever actually established just how fast he is? In current continuity, I mean, not Golden Age where everything went up to 11. Because if he can circle the world in less than an hour and a half, then gravity _wouldn’t_ keep him on the ground.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/18 "2011-03-23T18:43:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Is it ever actually established just how fast he is? In current continuity, I mean, not Golden Age where everything went up to 11. Because if he can circle the world in less than an hour and a half, then gravity _wouldn’t_ keep him on the ground.
I believe that in current continuity, he can closely approach light speed, but rarely does so. (He doesn’t want to pull a Barry.) He also refrains from using some of his other abilities most of the time, because they’re too destructive. That was definitely the case in the _Justice League Unlimited_ series, at least–I’m not up on the comic books.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/19 "2011-03-24T13:40:55Z")
> [@Balance](#):
>
> I believe that in current continuity, he can closely approach light speed, but rarely does so. (He doesn’t want to pull a Barry.) He also refrains from using some of his other abilities most of the time, because they’re too destructive. That was definitely the case in the _Justice League Unlimited_ series, at least–I’m not up on the comic books.
Barry, Wally, and (theoretically) Bart are all capable of light speed, at which point they risk being absorbed into the Speed Force and often start careening through time.
Jay and Max are slower, due to age primarily, though Jay’s never demonstrated an ability to approach light speed to my knowledge. Jesse Quick supposedly tops out at about one half of light speed.
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### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-the-flash-on-the-ground/575693/20 "2011-03-24T14:13:49Z")
so… that means at that speed, there’s no way he would be able to stay on the ground, unless it was some magical property of the Speed Force. or, to put it another way, there’s no way Superman could have kept up with the Flash unless he cheats. (by flying towards the earth, keeping himself from taking off)
does that make sense?
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