I think that depends on what kind of light/radiation his eyes emit. Has it ever been determined what kind of radiation he gives when he is heating x-raying? I know his x-ray vision *can not* be x-rays. To heat in some situations and see through things in other situations he has to have a certain sensor/regulator built into his eyes or something that changes the focus of the light/radiation/whatever depending on if he just wants to see, wants to use heat vision, or wants to see through something. To quote a professor of mine, "It is very tricky question!" I wonder if anyone who came up with the idea of Superman actually thought that through.
The heating could be one of many types of light. I keep thinking of the different things we learn about in different medical applications -- RF ablation of tumors, Ultrasound ablation of tumors, etc, all which use a heatnig of sorts to a very high temperature to burn away rogue cancer cells. However, I can't see Clark's eyes emitting ultrasound waves. I can't think of anything that would allow him to see through objects. And he seems to be able to selectively see through things. If I can figure this all out, I am going to write that fic about Dr. Klein I have been thinking about and have him discover this!
Off to fish out the physical optics book . . . oh wait, I sold that back as soon as I took the final exam. Hmm, what about medical imaging? Shoot, gave that book away as quickly as possible (optics and imaging are not my friends
. In fact, they are my enemies. My mortal enemies.). Any other takers?
- Laura
