Now that Spider-Man: Homecoming is available on DVD and digitally, I can start analyzing the physics in my favorite parts of the film. Normally, I love looking into the physics of superheroes—the flying, the swinging, the clobbering. But this time, physics shows up in a different way.

Near the beginning of the movie, a scene shows Peter Parker in his physics class. The teacher asks a question that is first answered by Flash, then Peter. It goes like this:

Teacher: OK, so. How do we calculate linear acceleration between points A and B?

Flash: Product of sine of angle and gravity divided by the mass.

Teacher: Nope. Peter?

Peter: Ummm ... mass cancels out so it's just gravity times sine.

Also, we get a quick view of the board—which I'm assuming goes with the question the teacher asked. I recreated the basic parts of the drawing so you can see what they're talking about.

Turns out, superheroes don't just illustrate physics—they do physics, too! But just like movies can show less-than-plausible physical feats, they can screw up chalkboard examples like this, too. How did Spider-Man: Homecoming do?

What is the question really asking?

This is tough. Movies aren't usually heavy on physics jargon, so I'm not 100 percent certain of the question the teacher is asking. What does "linear acceleration" even mean? Really, there are only two options. Linear could mean in one dimension. But since this problem is likely dealing with the swinging pendulum from the board, one dimension doesn't make much sense. The other option is for linear to mean the component of acceleration in the direction of motion. I know that sounds crazy, but let me start with the definition of average acceleration: