The MCU has provided audiences with countless amazing and unbelievable events, but a group of Georgia Institute of Technology researchers recently discovered that, after being inspired by the events of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos’ snap while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet was likely impossible for him to perform.
While the series has seen a number of physical impossibilities become a reality, the research found that a critical component of being able to snap is a particular degree of friction, with the absence of friction on the metal gauntlet inhibiting the essential friction between surfaces to fully snap.
From comicbook.com:
As noted by EurekaAlert!, “Using high-speed imaging, automated image processing, and dynamic force sensors, the researchers analyzed a variety of finger snaps. They explored the role of friction by covering fingers with different materials, including metallic thimbles to simulate the effects of trying to snap while wearing a metallic gauntlet, much like Thanos.”
The team discovered that snapping was “the fastest human angular acceleration yet measured, almost three times faster than the rotational acceleration of a professional baseball pitcher’s arm.”
