Since the Extremis story line, Tony Stark stores a portion of the Iron Man armor inside the hollows of his bones. My really basic understanding of biology knows that inside our bones is marrow, which generates some blood cells. Assuming otherwise human physiology, how much volume could Mr. Stark have to store Iron Man hardware? How much volume do we have inside our bones that is empty?
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This doesn't appear to be about the film itself, but instead of about physiology.– Django ReinhardtCommented May 12, 2013 at 12:27
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So long as the question is willing to accept a science fiction answer (e.g. nanoparticles do the job of the bone marrow as well/a wizard did it etc) then this should be on topic. If Keen is after just the volume of space available then it would be off topic, in my opinion.– AncientSwordRage ♦Commented May 12, 2013 at 13:13
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@DjangoReinhardt Look at the date the question was asked, this is about the 8-year-old comic story, not the recent film. And yes, it's about science fictional aspects of physiology.– user1027Commented May 12, 2013 at 16:28
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2 Answers
This is not just a question of is there enough space in the human skeleton to hold the "Bleeding Edge" armor design based on the "Extremis" cyborg adaptation. It is more of an issue of whether Tony Stark even has a skeleton in the classic sense after this armor/cyborg design.
First Answer: The human skeleton has no empty space. Despite what the Marvel Universe would have you believe, there is no empty space or truly hollow regions within the human skeleton. Our skeleton is at its "emptiest" would be filled with a spongy material that is creating red blood cells at the astonishing rate of 2 million cells per second.
Second Answer: If you were looking to have "hollow space" it would be found in the hip bones, the femur (upper leg bones) tibia (lower leg bone), the humerous (upper arm bone) and the rib cage (strangely enough to make the bones flexible there). The "hollow regions" within those bones would be less than 20% of the total mass of the bone.
Third Answer: If we were to assume such a thing were possible and life support functions could be maintained in some other way, then removing all the marrow from the long bones, hips, and ribs would allow approximately fifteen pounds of free space that was not used already as a blood producing and bone life-support medium.
Given the nature of the techno-organic virus used to create this current "Bleeding Edge" suit of armor, and the fact that it has taken over all life support duties including cellular processes, regeneration and physical maintenance, the technical nanostructures could have completely replaced Stark's skeletal structure, doing what bone did with a fraction of the mass of the skeletal materials, and instead being a framework by which the armor could comfortably reside.
Summary:
The Stark adapted techno-organic nano-structures would have to take over and provide support for all of the organic functions that the skeleton provides, since they would be replacing it with a lighter, malleable, more durable and damage-resistant framework.
But if the nano-structures were able to provide the support for muscles (obviously enhanced as well or they could not exist within the parameters of the new skeletal structure) and other bone functions, the entire volume used up by a human skeleton would need to be completely co-opted to allow the armor to function the way it is described in the Marvel Universe.
The armor would have to not just cover or convert the skin, it would need to suffuse muscle, tissues and blood with the life-sustaining nanostrutures for the "Bleeding Edge" armor to exist at all. This is consistent with a technology that would allow Stark to have a "healing factor" similar to Wolverine's. He would need it for the same reason, such an invasive level of inorganic material would compromise the immune system of a normal human being, especially since the material has to have such a complete and total integration into the biological processes of the human body.
References:
Iron Man Armor - Model 31 - The Bleeding Edge
answered Dec 1, 2011 at 19:59
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2But 15lbs of what? That's a unit of mass, not of volume. 15lbs of iron would likely occupy a much smaller volume than 15lbs of fiberglass. Commented Dec 2, 2011 at 6:59
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But we are assuming that it is not fiberglass. If we say there is approximately 75 cubic inches of free space in all of the "hollow areas" of the skeleton, and carbon steel (an arbitrary choice of metals) weighs 0.283 pounds per cubic inch, then that free space could theoretically hold 17.85 pounds of carbon steel. We will assume the carbon nano-structures are likely lighter than carbon steel, but will use a similar amount of volume for comparison. If we replace the skeleton completely, it is conceivable for there to be easily three times that amount of nano-structure material. Commented Dec 2, 2011 at 7:56
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2The point is, it doesn't make sense to answer a question of volume with a measure of weight. It also makes little sense to calculate mass from volume when you have no idea what the density of the theoretical material is. If the 75 cubic inches is an accurate figure (not just a random guess), then that's the answer. There's no point speculating how much the armor weighs based on that volume if you don't know what material is used. I mean, why can't it be as light as carbon-fibre? Carbon nanotubes have a specific strength 311x that of high carbon steel, which is far better than carbon-fibre. Commented Dec 3, 2011 at 18:23
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What the heck does the phrase The "hollow regions" within those bones would be less than 20% of the total mass of the bone mean? Perhaps you mean to say either 20% of the volume or maybe that if it weren't hollow, it would account for 20% of mass. But that second option would be a very strange way to express something. Commented Feb 27, 2018 at 16:57
Well, you have to take into account that our bones are porous, so theoretically you could use this space to store something. That's also where your bone marrow is, yes. You could also completely replace the bones with some other, stronger material, using the saved space for different purposes.
According to Wikipedia, 30-40% of our body weight are from our skeleton, so you could store up to 30 liters in there, for the average male.
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3I'm confused how you got from 30% of our weight is bones-> 30 liters. How'd you convert from mass->volume?– user1027Commented Jun 25, 2011 at 21:13
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1I took an average human to have 70 kg. 40% of that is 28 kg. Since our bodies are about as dense as water (a little less), you can approximate it with 30 liters.– MononofuCommented Jun 26, 2011 at 17:35
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Works for me. Even if he left half the space to still have marrow, you could coat a person with 15 liters of armor.– user1027Commented Jun 26, 2011 at 23:14
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2Except that bone density is greater than that of water; it's the heaviest tissue in the body.– aramisCommented Jun 29, 2011 at 6:15
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1@Mononofu - That estimation doesn't work out. You don't estimate the density of steel based on the weight of a ship. Commented Sep 28, 2011 at 19:16