Would Sonic the Hedgehog Be Able to Survive His Own Speed?

When it comes to fictional animals capable of breaking the sound barrier, there's no beating Sonic the Hedgehog, but would he be able to survive his own super swiftness?

Sonic's the star of the long-running Segavideo gamefranchise, where he spins and rolls at breakneck speeds in order to defeat the evil Dr. Robotnik. How fast does he go? As his name implies, he reaches sonic speeds, meaning that he can travel as fast as asoundwavethrough Earth's atmosphere: roughly 767 miles (1,235 kilometers) per hour, depending on air temperature. He also becomes "Super Sonic," so it's safe to assume he exceeds the speed of sound as well.

That's incredibly fast! Consider that the world's fastest organism, theperegrine falcon, only reaches a maximum speed of 200 miles (323 kilometers) per hour. For sustained speeds, the cheetah is Sonic's closest rival at a mere 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour. Sonic smokes them both.

So could Sonic realistically handle supersonic speeds? Let's think about it. Humans routinely break the sound barrier in supersonic aircraft. Aboard the now-discontinuedConcorde, passengers could even enjoy an in-flight meal. But this is all within the artificial confines of an airplane. All Sonic has is his incredible body.

Because his body WOULD have to be incredibly strong and durable to achieve and survive the wear and tear of supersonic speeds – even if he's rolling through smooth tubes and chutes half the time. As "The Physics of Superheroes" author James Kakaliospoints out, a super-fast organism like The Flash would need super-healing abilities to rapidly recover from the physical damage of each acceleration – to say nothing of smashing into things. The same goes for Sonic.

But then again, if we're to assume Sonic's species evolved to reach such high speeds, he must be sturdy enough to survive it — at least in the short term. So perhaps he does have the sort of enhanced healing speeds necessary to keep all his bones and ligaments from snapping.

Or are we being too hard on Sonic? He's ahedgehogthat chases coins across a pinball landscape and, in later games, achievesfaster-than-light旅行。另外,他仍然在更多的than 27 years.