The Science of Sonic is brought to you by Nathan's Famous hot dogs, multiple award winner and the best chilli dogs in all of Manhattan.
Part one here
Lets crunch some numbers! The average calorie amount of a chilli dog is 380, however considering sonic piles on the condiments let's round it off at 400. I'd also like to add that Sonic actually technically chomps down into a coney dog, a popular variation of a chilli dog. But anyway, a proffesional marathon runner burns 1400 calories in an hour running at an estimated 23 mph, so if Sonic is running at 200 Mph for an hour how many chilli dogs would he need to prevent himself from dropping dead?
Well uh, such a calculation is beyond me but from the farthest I got on my calculator I believe 32 chili dogs would need to be eaten in one sitting in order to power for that next sprint. With the blue blur moving so fast, his stamina must leave him very quickly so he would have to constantly use his trusty nose to find a food source (this would probably explain why he had something of a pot belly in his early days). Of course, sonic can roll into a ball and rest while the momentum carries him, but even an hour of sprinting would be beyond Sonic's stamina limit.
Or would it? Does the fastest thing alive even have a stamina limit? I actually have a different explanation, and it has to do with seven of the most famous gaming macguffens of all time!
Chaos Theory
If you think that explaining sonic in an scientific manner is ridiculous, then to explain the chaos emeralds is impossible. But I'ts still an energy, and at least that can be analysed. In essence, The chaos emeralds are essentially "wands", a beacon that can be used to harness unbelievable amounts of energy and transfer it into a controlled state. But "harness", isn't quite the right word as the emeralds can do so much more, they can power Robotniks tools of destruction as well as create/control a force that ripples though all living beings. When we were young we were all told from our old grade school teachers that energy can only be transferred or destroyed, never created. Of course this is wrong come nuclear energy as well as unusual cosmic events.
And then there's the Chaos emeralds, stones that can split atoms, minus the nasty radiation bit. These stones gather energy from a life force that flows through living beings, thus all living beings seem to be attracted to it in many different ways. And the stones themselves, at least in theory, can indeed create life and/or this life energy. The mad doctors interest in them is very much justified, his lack of responsibility and the destruction this entails must be left to our heroes whenever needed. I like to believe that the chaos emeralds themselves are responsible for the varying levels of "intelligence" (and anthropomorphism features), whether this evolutionary event was instantaneous or over time is another discussion entirely. It's also hard to know what the requirements are to be able to harness the emeralds power. I find it interesting that neither the small naive woodland animals or the intelligent Dr Robotnik are unable to have super forms.
Anyway, Sonic must be getting his stamina from the emeralds, the energy could be given off like a radio tower and be attracted to Sonic during adrenaline syncronicity (like runner's high). As long as Sonic never slows down, he will never get tired. This may be harder to believe in the more recent games since he isn't always in radius of the objects, but I'm already splitting hairs here. So let's head back to the drawing board...
Sonic by Design
Stamina aside, Sonic runs fast simply because he does. He easily proves it simply by being who he is (not that he can't do anything else), but not only is he fast, he also looks fast. Whether his origin is years of chaos emerald evolution, or simply being a freak of nature (and that SEGA was being particularly creative), his design plays a crucial part. His slicked back quills for example, can easily act as small gliding wings (like a hydrofoil at full speed), to help him keep straight when running on water. In fact, the idea of design reflecting abilities goes for the entire Sonic character roster! Here some examples:
Sonic:
•· Big Eyes= enhanced vision
•· Long nose= sensitive smell
•· Strong but flexible quills= Helps roll into ball, doubles as attack, helps keep him stable at high speeds, may act as air brake
•· Shoes and socks= bad case of athletes foot
•· Wears Gloves= a gentleman?
Miles "Tails" Prower:
•· Big ears= enhanced hearing (useful when flying)
•· Two Tails= Hence nickname, dislocates tailbones and uses tails to fly
•· Wears gloves= A Mickey Mouse fan
•· Wears light flat shoes= Perfect for landing
Rouge
•· Big ears= Enhanced hearing (again, perfect for flying)
•· She has big... = She's a slut
While simplistic, the characters design naturally reflects their abilities and sometimes their personalities, this is interesting to note because actually a number of cartoon and video game characters actually have their personalities change more than their actual design. Sonic's design has hardly changed, and same goes for his personality, or at least as far as we can tell. SEGA has been very gradual with elaborating Sonic's identity, but that's not for science to dig into.
And there we have it! I hope I've satisfied you're curiosity into the incredible physics behind Sonic the Hedgehog and his cronies. I was a little late with posting this one because I've recently become leader in the Under the Radar union and because I'm also started working on another project, The Mythology of Mario! Coming soon to certain Nintendo unions...
But right now I think it's time for another chilli dog.
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