Super-Hero Myths 2.0

6. What could cause a sun to turn from yellow to red?

That's actually plausible enough, since you're talking way into the future.

Try Googling "red giant"

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying here... I'm hearing one of two possible scenarios:

1) The gravitational forces were altered enough that the sun turned into a red giant, but in the meantime, Earth drifted far enough away from its original orbit that it wasn't engulfed in a fiery inferno

2) The sun didn't turn into a red giant, but turned red in some other strange way that had to do with gravity being altered

I see a couple of problems in your red dwarf scenario.

1. Ripping out a large chunk of the sun would most likely cause an energy release that would destroy most of the planets in the inner solar system.

2. If that by some miracle doesn't happen, then in order for Earth to remain habitable, it would have to get closer to the newly created red dwarf sun, since it produces less energy (the color of any star is determined by its surface temperature - red means a lower temperature due to less energy production). That in itself creates a problem, since a red dwarf, as the name implies, has much less mass than 'the old sun', which would more likely lead to the planets drifting away from it.

3. Let's say that for some reason they don't drift away. They're pulled closer. Now you have the problem of the gravity of each planet acting upon the other planets, since they're huddled closer together. That would most likely lead to collisions, destroying Earth.

That being said, there may also be problems with the red giant scenario, since I can gather from what you're saying that the sun appears to look the same size in the sky in this comic as it's always done. If that's the case then yes, Earth would probably have to be the same distance from the sun as Neptune. That would then once again mean that life cannot be sustained on Earth, since it'll be too cold out there. Yes, the sun is bigger, but it also has a lower surface temperature (which is why it's red), meaning that you'd actually have to be closer to the surface - making it appear much bigger in the sky - in order to have enough heat to sustain life.

So, where does that leave us? Well, the plausible scenario would then be that nothing has in fact happened to the sun. What's causing it to appear red might be something in Earth's atmosphere instead...?

given that Gwen was falling face up, the fact that many people have died from basal skull fracture, including Dale Earnhardt, is not a positive confirmation. though my every calculation says that depending on the elasticity of the webbing, it is completely plausible.

Petzl has an essay about falling forces that will have some relevance, being recreational climbers use a point in front of the body as their attachment point.
www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Fall-factor-and-impact-force---theory

Starting there....
Go back to the iron age, and a lot of iron was made and crudely formed, with no more than "camp fires", although it took someone with a bag of air between two paddles and a "willing" helper to pump them to create a blast forge that could make steel.

Workable blade?.

Erm.. well.. "Big knife" maybe, but a sword of any length, possibly not.
And that then depends on the steel you start with.
If you have high carbon steel as the pole you start with, your not getting far with getting it to glow red or orange hot on a camp fire.
Think of cooking pans, why dont they get to glow red hot?. It takes time to get that heat, or you need to blow the flames to get a hotter heat.

Could he have just used the pole as a weapon?.
I am thinking that maybe that would have been a better bet.
Spend all nigh hammering at a blade to get it right, your arms get tired, [experience, one of my Relatives used to be a blacksmith working on reproduction weapons] and then you spend the fight not having the full use of them, or just poke the "git" with a sharpened pole as a spear?.
Spears also have the tendency to keep your opponent away from hand weapons range.

By the iron age they had smelters and forges; A prerequisite for extracting iron from iron ore after all. The low quality iron was simply down to having to find the best ores from which to work and how to work the iron. In terms of 'crudely made' this is probably misleading. One of the reasons for switching to iron in the early days wasn't because it was 'better' than bronze, in fact bronze weapons in the early to mid iron age were probably equal in terms of strength and durability to the best iron weapons around. However one area in which iron was vastly superior to bronze was in availability and therefore cost. So iron weapons allowed for 'mass production' of weapons, making them more affordable to more people. The old Bronze swords were probably too expensive for all by the most wealthy, or their retainers, and as such became status symbols and heavily ornamented as a result. Iron blades on the other hand became cheap enough for those lower down the social order to consider buying them. So while still status symbols, most blades would be 'crude' and plain with decoration working to show how far up the social order the owner actually was.
A modern example of this type of progression can be seen with Cell Phones. Initially these were for the wealthy alone, and well out of the price range the average person. They were also large, crude and prone to not working very well - so while useful up to a point mainly served as a symbol of an individuals wealth. As time went on and the technology progressed we see cell phones become more refined, more reliable and above all cheap enough for most people to own at least a basic model. They can and are still used as status symbols, but at the highest levels this is less about capabilities and more about decoration; The most expensive cell phones are basically higher end phones with jewel covered cases. (Indeed, some of the most expensive cell phones actually have LESS capabilities than a mid range iPhone).

I said that cold forging iron or steel is quite possible not due to early iron age blades, but a much more recent myth; Ned Kelly.
Ned Kelly and his gang created suits of iron armor in the late 1800's in Australia (there is, I think, a thread on this myth). There were a couple of myths as to how they made their armor, with modern experimentation and recreations showing that the armor, which was known to be made from existing iron tools, had almost certainly been 'cold forged' over a camp fire.
The iron in this case was a lot thicker and heavier than any street pole or iron rebar. So it is perfectly reasonable to assume that cold forging a blade from such a thing is possible.

There is a Disco series called "Forged in Fire" that covers all the bases of forging blades from other steel objects, and it deals with a lot of the problems in depth as the series continues.
Getting the heat right... its sort of important.
Yes you can "Cold forge" over medium heats, but, if you are sourcing from more than one object, effectively "welding" one piece to another, when you come to draw out the blade, you face the possibility of de-lamination, splitting, and terminal blade fail.
This is why I say you may get a big knife, but not a sword...
And you have no control of the carbon in that blade.
If the initial steel is low carbon, its low carbon, you cant work it to high carbon, if its poor quality rebar, it stays poor quality rebar, but doesnt get covered in concrete so will rust away quite happily, and a whole host of other problems.
Then there is tempering.
If you cold forge a blade, you get no tempering at all, it will remain soft steel, almost pliable, and the chances of getting an edge on it are poor, because you need that case hardening to carry an edge to be anything near sharp.
"Anyone" can be a blacksmith.... its not that hard if you are happy with swinging big lumps of iron about at red hot temps to white hot through orange and smashing them with lumps of cold iron or steel hammers.
But getting to be a blade smith.... there is a lot to learn.
Part of that is learning how to keep some strength in a blade that wont snap at its first impact.

So can you cold forge a steel bar into a blade shape?. or what they would call a "blank"?..
Yes quite happily.
Can you make a blade that will work?.
Plausible.
Can a raw greenhorn rookie do that?. Plausible with a little tuition.
Can you extend that blade length to something of sword length?. plausible but doubtful.
Can you make a good blade that is usable in an extended "fight" that wont snap and still be in the same shape afterwards and just as sharp?.
We have to call busted as soon as we talk to a proper blacksmith, unless the episode described has detail missing that the forging of that blade involved white hot tempering into a bath of oil and some serious shaping to taper the blade along its length and a whole lot more that is the art of Swordsmith and not just blacksmithing.

Its the thing, if you can drive, pretty much any of you can quite plausibly move any of the trucks I have drove down a straight road with no problems at all.
As long as its hooked up and ready to roll, if you have to back under the trailer to start with, I see problems, unless you already know which suzie goes where.
Experience, you will get better as you move along there.
But the first corner, will you approach it in the way a qualified truck driver will?.

Making a good blade from a piece of steel stock is quite plausible, if all the ducks line up nicely for you, and you manage to get the right heat and the right hammering....
Yes you can cold forge any steel, and indeed, they do cold press steel under manythousandton presses to make car panels, but they are poor quality, have little rigidity on their own, and rust almost immediately if not painted.
If you want something sword shaped that looks menacing, you have it in spades.
If you want something that wont snap on the first enthusiastic parry leaving you with the handle and a sort of "Ohcr@p" look on your face, you need the services of a swordsmith.
Who will use a forge.
Because thats what you need to create a good blade.

The days of Iron age started with crude iron, and progressed through forge technology, because the learnt as they went along.
You cannot pass that knowledge to a greenhorn through osmosis, it has to be learnt, and unless the character involved knows all this already, there is little chance he will get everything right.
So attacking a wolf with a crudely forged sword "blank"?. Plausible.
However, if you dont get the death strike first time, your in trouble....?...

don't forget, I made a good part of my kit, and I have known swordsmiths of various skill levels. I know the difference between "campfire" work, and cold work, and hot work. I know the principles of annealing and tempering and work hardening. reshaping a bar into a blade is plausible. having the blade be strong enough to survive missing a wolf is also plausible.

as I recall, she was falling face up in the comic, as well. of course, if I am wrong, the fact that basal skull fracture is a thing confirms it. otherwise, the most recent carp-to-the-face episode supports the theory.