Common physics errors in science fiction movies
March 28th, 2008 Posted in Physics Talk
Here are some of the most common physics errors in SF movies:
- There’s no sound in space - next time I hear an explosion when a spaceship breaks apart, I am calling the physics police. Also, sound and light don’t travel at the same speed and can’t arrive at the same time!
- There are no fires in space - even if you provided oxygen, the vacuum of the space will dissipate it all so fast! No flaming things in the space please.
- You can’t see a laser beam in space. You see the laser beam on earth because of the reflections from the dust particles.
- And there’s no reason why someone would move in slow-motion in zero gravity; in fact, they should be moving around much faster. Stop showing those goofy slo-mo movies.
The bad movie physics - report card.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
phil plait has a response to this.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Sunny Kalara:”There’s no sound in space - next time I hear an explosion when a spaceship breaks apart, I am calling the physics police. Also, sound and light don’t travel at the same speed and can’t arrive at the same time!”
But it is not the same sound. It is the sound of scales recalibrating (see also CV movies).
Sunny Kalara:”You can’t see a laser beam in space.”
Sure. Only strings.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Yeah!! Nice blog you have here. I’ve enjoyed much reading your last posts. Keep it that way.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Come,come, astronauts do move sluggishly in zero gravity. We need only look at the footage from spacecraft.