Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
I agree. Nonetheless I don't see her hitting Mach speeds.
O.K, first thing is that the universe does not work the way the people who write comic books think it does. That said, the problem is actually pretty simple.First, how much does a skyscraper weigh? Engineers designing buildings simplify the calculations by settling on a load per square foot of floor. Residential buildings are designed for a live load of 20 pounds per square foot, offices at 60 pounds, libraries and warehouses at 100 pounds per square foot. If we then add in the weight of the flooring, supports, columns, plumbing and electrical systems, and so forth, we won't be far off if we say each floor of a typical skyscraper weighs 80 pounds per square foot. For a forty story building (again, pretty typical) that would be a total of 3200 pounds per square foot.
Now as to the amount of wind needed to apply 3200 pounds to each square foot of the bottom of our skyscraper: http://www.arraysolutions.com/Products/windloads.htm
The fast, simple formula for wind loads on buildings is P = .00256 V^2,
where P is the pressure exerted and V is the wind speed in miles per
hour. Turning this sideways, we have V = sqrt of (3200 / .00256), which
is 1120 miles per hour! This is a good breeze -- in fact it's about Mach
1.6.
There are still problems with this: For one thing, skyscrapers do not
have flat bottoms, much less ones capable of resisting a force of 3200
pounds per square foot upwards. Even if they did, the air along the edges would not be carrying its full load, since it would be "leaking" around the perimeter. At the same time I am not taking into account the effects of the wind blowing along the outside walls of the building, since that requires calculating Renyolds numbers and a coefficient of skin friction, which is messy. So you will just have to become an aeronauticalengineer and do that yourself!
1120 mph with a smile on her face, not bad 😉
A mere breeze.
I know she can create winds even faster. Uncanny annual 12.