Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has crossed over from DC Comics to Marvel Comics. After discovering the location of Superman's home planet of Krypton last November, he has determined the weight of Thor's hammer Mjolnir, and announced it on Friday.
It's unclear, though, if Tyson's calculations are correct. According to Wikipedia, Mjolnir is made of the Asgardian metal uru. Tyson's calculations assume that Mjolnir is said to be made of neutron-star matter. Since we are suspending disbelief anyway, let's assume Tyson's math is correct: He determined the hammer must therefore weigh as much as 300 billion elephants.
An elephant, however, must be translated into some more typical unit of weight, such as a pennyweight. Seriously, though, the weight of Mjolnir would be approximately (per Wikipedia) 300 billion x (8,800 to 15,000 pounds). Using the midpoint between those two endpoints (11,900 pounds), we come up with Mjolnir weighing 3.57 quadrillion pounds.
It's no wonder that Thor is a Norse god. According to Wikipedia (notably, the entry for the comic book version of Mjolnir), "The side of the hammer carries the inscription: "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."
Despite his calculations, Tyson made a statement that made comic book fans worldwide wonder if he had the stuff to do the math. He tweeted, "Always liked the fact that Superman & Thor are both Space Aliens, distinguishing themselves from most other superheroes."
Correction: Thor is an Asgardian god, or in some continuities, a being from another dimensional plane. Superman is an alien, but really, there are tons of the other space alien super heroes, including Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and so forth.
The next Thor movie, "Thor: The Dark World," is set for release on Nov. 8, 2013.
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