In the movie Man of Steel, General Zod and Superman fought in an unfinished building. In that scene, General Zod mentioned that "trained all his life to master his senses" and then removed his armor by flexing his body.
I can't help but to notice that when he has removed his armor, one his glove was floating while other parts of his armor fell onto the ground as he levitates. What does this mean and what is the significance of it?
The Power of Imagery
Warning: This answer is about the artistic reason(s) for the levitating glove, not scientific reasons.
If you're into such things, Man of Steel is rich with imagery and symbolism. Sometimes it's conspicuous, such as when Clark is at a church and the camera pauses ever so briefly with an anguished Clark in front of a crucified Christ. Sometimes it's a lot more subtle, such as when Jor-El's image is directing Clark and Lois on the ship, and it's all done with classical poses similar to those in Greco-Roman statues: This totally jibes with Kryptonian society in the movie being based heavily on Plato's "Republic." Another subtle one is the "baptism" of Clark when he goes through a trial by fire and ends up immersed in the ocean.
Anyways, as far as imagery goes, a gauntlet is a symbol of power. (side note: the difference between a glove and, more specifically, a gauntlet is, generally speaking, that a gauntlet is used in battle/war). Notice that it's not just the case that the viewer can see a gauntlet floating---it's actually the case that the glove is foregrounded in a shot, taking up almost the entire frame, and the camera ever so subtly pauses there for just a brief moment.
So I would suggest that scene may have been less about a scientific reason and more about an artistic and symbolic message. Zod has just expressed his view that, essentially, might-makes-right when it comes to protecting Krypton (says something about even his "cruelty" was to serve Krypton's greater good). The glove symbolizes his power philosophy.
There is a theory that superman flies by manipulating gravity around him
Lex Luthor once theorized that Superman had to stem from a gigantic planet with enormous gravity, where his species had developed natural anti-gravity organs to be able to function; on Earth, this would allow him to control his own gravimetric field in order to fly. as given here
So what zod is actually is doing is nothing but manipulating the gravity around him.This means some level of telekinesis is possible by kryptonians to some distance.
Just rewatched the scene and there's no significance or special trait for that particular piece of his armor as far as I can tell. It seems to me that the reason why it levitated was to help highlight the fact that Zod was beginning to manipulate how gravity affected his personal space (hinting that he would start to 'fly' like Superman, and control the same powers).
The significance of the scene is to definitely demonstrate that Kryptonians generate a field when flying. This is suggested a number of times and places throughout the film when Superman takes off, often generating a depression beyond just his feet, and causing particulate to rise and swirl in a pattern suggesting such a field.
The benefit of this is that such a field provides generous apologetics for many of the powers, abilities, and tropes typically ascribed to Superman and his feats. For example, being able to produce super-strength doesn't work if looking at Superman, whose mass does not increase and whose acceleration is insufficient to generate the force that we see on the object. However, if Superman is literally able to project a forcefield and put more arbitrary force into his movements... that is, get more- impossible- value out of his otherwise human-range movements... then you can get super strength which aligns with the expectations of the audience.
Just adding my 2 cents. In comic cannon, it's stated many times that superman's powers extend slightly beyond his body (which is why his suit doesn't become a tattered mess everything he breaks the sound barrier). In the scene where Clark first flies, we see pieces of snow and dirt raising around his hand... this is the same as Zod's gauntlet. Zod was 'flexing' this new muscle and the field around him encompassed the suit he'd just discarded.
I agree the accepted answer should stay accepted. Imagery was probably the main purpose behind making it float, I'm just trying to offer a canon explanation.
