science

Patty Spivot

Patty Spivot is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Patty Spivot rather than just read about it. In short: Patricia "Patty" Spivot is a fictional character who appears in various DC Comics publications and was created by writer Cary Bates and artist Irv Novick. She is a friend and partner of the second Flash, Barry Allen.

Key takeaways

Patty Spivot belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Patty Spivot to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Patty Spivot from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Patricia "Patty" Spivot is a fictional character who appears in various DC Comics publications and was created by writer Cary Bates and artist Irv Novick. She is a friend and partner of the second Flash, Barry Allen. She first appeared in "Five-Star Super-Hero Spectacular" (DC Special Series #1, September 1977). Spivot appeared as a recurring cast member on The CW television series second season of The Flash played by Shantel VanSanten. This version is a detective of the Central City Police Department. The character made her cinematic debut in the DC Extended Universe film The Flash, played by Saoirse-Monica Jackson.

Fictional character biography Patricia 'Patty' Spivot is the part-time lab assistant to police scientist Barry Allen in the Central City Police Department. She later becomes the police department's full-time forensic blood analyst. After David Singh takes over the crime lab as director and begins to emphasize the quantity of the cases solved over quality, Patty decides to leave Central City for Blue Valley, Nebraska. However, she is called back into action by Barry Allen to investigate the death of Elongated Kid. At the crime scene, Barry and Patty find a young boy hiding in a shipping container and intend to interview him as a witness, but he refuses to open up to anyone but Patty. Shortly thereafter, the boy reveals himself to be Eobard Thawne. Thawne had been responsible for the death of Elongated Kid and threatens to kill Patty, but is thwarted by Flash, Kid Flash, and Hot Pursuit (an alternate version of Barry Allen).

Flashpoint Patty, wanting to do something bigger with her life, steals Hot Pursuit's gear from the Central City Police Department. As Patty is fleeing on her motorcycle, her vehicle detects a timestorm and initiates an emergency chronal-evac that transports her to the year 3011. Patty is captured by Brainiac's forces and placed in a hibernation chamber, but manages to escape. Patty later encounters Kid Flash, who tells her that he was born in the 31st century. The future he and Patty are in is nothing like his time, meaning that something must have changed in the timeline. Patty tells him that her bike can travel through time but only if it has the Speed Force tank, so Kid Flash agrees to find it. Bart lets himself be captured by Brainiac, who places him in a virtual reality chamber. Inside the chamber, Bart manages to rewrite several of Brainiac's programs, including his security systems. This allows Patty to enter the citadel and rescue Kid Flash. They manage to find the Speed Force tank, but Patty is impaled by Brainiac. Before dying, Patty smashes the tank, allowing Bart to regain his speed and escape to the past.

The New 52 Patty Spivot was resurrected following the events of the "Flashpoint" storyline, which rebooted the continuity of the DC universe. In this new reality, Barry never marries with Iris West and enters a relationship with Patty. After the Future Flash incident, Barry and Patty break up.

In other media

Patty Spivot appears in the second season of The Flash (2014), portrayed by Shantel VanSanten. This version is a uniformed police officer who intended to become a CSI, but joined the police force to seek revenge on Mark Mardon for murdering her father when she was a teenager. Over the course of the season, she helps Barry Allen / Flash and the Central City Police Department (CCPD) capture metahumans, enters a relationship with him, and forgoes her revenge, though she disagrees with his overprotective tendencies in the face of various enemies. After discovering Barry's secret identity, she breaks up with him, resolves to remain friends with him, and transfers to Midway City to become a CSI. Patty Spivot appears in The Flash (2023), portrayed by Saoirse-Monica Jackson. This version is a co-worker of Barry Allen and Albert Desmond. Additionally, an alternate reality version of Spivot who became Allen and Desmond's roommate makes a minor appearance.

References

External links Character Comic Vine profile

Illustrations

Patty Spivot: Patty Spivot (portrayed by Shantel VanSanten) as depicted in The Flash (2014) — Patty Spivot (portrayed by Shantel VanSanten) as depicted in The Flash (2014)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Patty Spivot

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Patty Spivot claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Patty Spivot before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Patty Spivot ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Patty Spivot

In research: Patty Spivot appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Patty Spivot in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Patty Spivot is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Central City Police Department officers, Characters created by Cary Bates, Characters created by Irv Novick, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Patty Spivot outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Patty Spivot in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Patty Spivot means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Patty Spivot out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Patty Spivot in simple terms?

Why does Patty Spivot matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Patty Spivot?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Patty Spivot.