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Physics Goes To Hollywood

pigreco314 writes "What do films like Independence Day, Armageddon and X-Men have in common? The answer is that apart from costing millions of dollars to make, they all feature in a new course called Physics in Films that is being taught to students at the University of Central Florida, according to PhysicsWeb. Costas Efthimiou, the mathematical physicist who teaches the course, believes that non-science students learn more about the fundamentals of physics by studying films and science fiction than they do from more traditional approaches." Among the topics discussed is "the conservation of momentum in Tango and Cash."

228 comments

  1. in related news by mirko · · Score: 5, Interesting

    mind this studies :)

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
    1. Re:in related news by mirko · · Score: 1

      s/this/these/

      BTW, the above already got mentioned on /. courtesy of Roland Piquepaille and Simoniker who obviously forgot it... ;)

      --
      Trolling using another account since 2005.
    2. Re:in related news by bonch · · Score: 1

      I think this "class" is another example of our colleges going to hell.

      I would refuse to attend a physics class that used freaking X-Men to teach me physics. How about using that class time to instead let me listen to a lecture by a famous physicist? What is Wolverine going to teach me that he wouldn't?

    3. Re:in related news by Crayon+Kid · · Score: 1

      I would refuse to attend a physics class that used freaking X-Men to teach me physics.

      Here here. I mean, come on, physics in the movies? Please. When's the last time you saw a movie where an explosion in space does not make any noise? Any intelligent person with even basic physics knowledge has to make a conscious effort to ignore the blunders when watching a movie. And I mean ANY movie that involves a bit of action. Otherwise he gets caught in questions like "why the hell are they walking on Mars just like they do on Earth" and the whole movie watching experience goes down the drain. By assuming you will take this kind of crap, the movie makers are basically insulting your intelligence. Then again, perhaps I'm deluding myself into thinking that more than half a percent of the spectators are noticing.

      I used to think the those people making those silly 60's movies about "the giant woman from outer space" were just naive. But now that I've given it some thought, I think those bastards were doing it on purpose too. Better it looks good than respect those silly laws of physics.

      --
      i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
    4. Re:in related news by shmokey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When's the last time you saw a movie where an explosion in space does not make any noise?

      Akira...

      --
      http://samtron.cjb.net
    5. Re:in related news by Rosonowski · · Score: 1

      Well, the explosion in space might make some noise, within the explosion. There is an atmosphere of the oxygen needed for it to explode in the first place.

      But now I'm just being pedantic.

      --
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    6. Re:in related news by tsg · · Score: 1

      The class is specifically designed for non-science students that have to take a physics class. In other words, required to graduate but they'll probably never use it again. If using the movies actually motivates the students to learn some actual physics, I say more power to him. I'm sure this is not the same physics class that physics majors, or even science majors, are taking.

      --
      People's desire to believe they are right is much stronger than their desire to be right.
    7. Re:in related news by ACPosterChild · · Score: 1

      You've got to be kidding. How about a lab where students jump as high as they can, measure it, and calculate how many newtons of force they generated. Then, they watch a movie segment and guesstimate how far Wolverine jumps and calculate how much force he had to generate to make that jump. Hmm, it's interactive, they get to watch a bit of a movie, AND they get to apply theories they've learned.

      I assume that you also got mad at any super-feats in an actually comic book, too. Because film is only one more way to present the same data.

    8. Re:in related news by Crayon+Kid · · Score: 1

      I assume that you also got mad at any super-feats in an actually comic book, too. Because film is only one more way to present the same data.

      Fantasy and superheroes is not the best place to use if you want to teach physics, IMHO. And I was mad at SciFi and realistic action movies -- if those fail to present accurate physics what are we to do, go watch documentaries?

      --
      i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
  2. ummm.. by zcat_NZ · · Score: 5, Funny

    For every slashdotting, there is an equal and opposite failure of the webserver?

    --
    455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2
  3. Sounds fun... by shrykk · · Score: 5, Informative

    But it's just another course trying to entice non-science students to do science. What's the point?

    In UK universities in 2003, there were around 35,000 applications made to study Sports Science BSc. To study Materials Science, 37. Just thirty-seven.

    Which do you think produces better scientists?

    --
    #define struct union /* Reduce memory usage */
    1. Re:Sounds fun... by samhalliday · · Score: 5, Insightful
      But it's just another course trying to entice non-science students to do science

      no... its really not. the guy giving the course theorises that the general public learns more from movies than school classes. he doesn't want more physics students; he meerly wishes the movies to more accurately portray physics, and not have more classic "mission to mars" physics (newton? who was he then?)

      Which do you think produces better scientists?

      well, even that's debatable ;-) [by the way, i think your numbers are off... my UG uni alone takes about 20 students a year on materials physics]

    2. Re:Sounds fun... by shrykk · · Score: 2, Informative

      The source was Professional Engineering Magazine. Probably have the issue around somewhere.

      --
      #define struct union /* Reduce memory usage */
    3. Re:Sounds fun... by samhalliday · · Score: 1

      aah.. its probably only quoting people doing the single course with the exact title "material science"; i would just throw that statistic to /dev/null as most material scientists i know of did physics specialising in materials (and besides, its a much more hardcore course)

    4. Re:Sounds fun... by YOU+LIKEWISE+FAIL+IT · · Score: 5, Insightful
      But it's just another course trying to entice non-science students to do science. What's the point?

      To answer your question in general:

      What's the point? The point is that we need as many people as possible gaining as much exposure to science education as possible. You don't teach people about things like "scientific method" or the notion that we have theories that are constantly revised under scrutiny, or Occams razor, and 20 years down the line you have a five billion dollar a year "magnetic medicine" industry.

      Sadly, as it's not legal for me to wait around the corner and thrash the people coming out of, say, the magnet shop with a broom, it looks like the best we can do is try to educate their children to think for themselves. Here's a prescription: scientific education helps treat and prevent anxiety, gullibility and irrational prejudice.

      --
      One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
    5. Re:Sounds fun... by SmackCrackandPot · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In UK universities in 2003, there were around 35,000 applications made to study Sports Science BSc.

      Yes, but those 35,000 applicants all aspire to being self-employed personal trainers earning 40 pounds/hour. Compare that to the career opportunities for science graduates and can you blame them?

    6. Re:Sounds fun... by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      Yes, but those 35,000 applicants all aspire to being self-employed personal trainers earning 40 pounds/hour. Compare that to the career opportunities for science graduates and can you blame them?

      That's a bit like kids playing basketball as a way out of the ghetto. Of course, there's the odd Shaquille or Mike Jordan, but most people go nowhere.

    7. Re:Sounds fun... by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      The implication of the way you quoted the figure was that it was rather specifically B.Sc. courses in Materials Science. No-one at Cambridge does a B.Sc. in MatSci, for example, but there are plenty of people who come out with a B.A. having studied MatSci as part of a Natural Sciences degree.

    8. Re:Sounds fun... by robfoo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hey, don't knock Magnet Medicine. My uncle complained that his Windows kept crashing. So I put a couple of strong magnets on his hard drive, and hey presto - problem went away!

    9. Re:Sounds fun... by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm glad I'm doing a Computer Science degree. I know that when I graduate I'm gonna be earning about 40 pounds/hour freelance programming for some up-and-coming dotcoms. No, wait... :)

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    10. Re:Sounds fun... by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      In the late 90s, I met a lot of asshats who were studying computers because they could make a lot of money. Not because they were interested or talented, just for the money.

      I'm glad to say that many of these people have quit the industry now. They're probably estate agents now.

    11. Re:Sounds fun... by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 1
      Here's a prescription: scientific education helps treat and prevent anxiety, gullibility and irrational prejudice.

      It may help, but it's not perfect. I know a really smart guy with a PhD in Geology. He's way into astrology. Lot's of educated people believe in weird things, not to mention all those university professors in Rwanda that engaged in some very violent prejudice.

      I suppose without scientific education it would be much, much worse, however..

      --
      http://www.rootstrikers.org/
    12. Re:Sounds fun... by SmackCrackandPot · · Score: 1

      At the moment, fitness clubs are one of the biggest growth markets in the UK, especially the multi-purpose centres (swimming-pool/jacuzzi,weights, cardio-vascular equipment, tanning-rooms, restaurant/bar,beauty-salon. Unlike the USA or Canada, we don't have a fitness club in every subdivision/suburb, yet alone any open 24-hours. The only limitation to growth is the lack of space. Membership of such clubs is typically 60 pounds/month. There was such a shortage of trainers, that many clubs were offering to train staff themselves, rather than require a sports degree.

    13. Re:Sounds fun... by ifwm · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It sounds like you're making a value judgement about what a good scientist is. Is a psychologist, who strictly adheres to scientific method a good scientist? What about economists?

      As to the point, I submit that it helps people think SCIENTIFICALLY, i.e. using scientific method. That alone justifies the course in my book.

      UCF Class of 2001
      and hopefully 2005 as well.

    14. Re:Sounds fun... by Rutulian · · Score: 1

      Here's a prescription: scientific education helps treat and prevent anxiety, gullibility and irrational prejudice.

      I understand your point, but I have to disagree with this statement. Training in science doesn't automatically make you a logical and rational person. It gives you those skills, but using them requires a conscious and concerted effort. I've met plenty of scientists that are plenty bright in their fields, but are just as moronic as the next guy when it comes the swallowing news media hype or possessing irrational prejudices.

      I would further argue that a science education is not the only way to practice analytical skills and critical thinking. A good liberal arts education can, and usually does, do the same thing. The problem is, you actually have to do some reading and write some papers to go to school; you can't just sit back and watch movies.

  4. it's all politics by motiv8x · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Hollywood is nothing but a political machine. Can't wait for Michael Moore's "Farenheit 9/11" to come out!

    1. Re:it's all politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Michael Moore is a mental case.
      Agree 100%, he is just as willing to avoid, bend, and simply make up 'facts' as the people he likes to attack.

      >Why doesn't he just outright say "Down with America, it must be destroyed"
      Because his voice would be lost in the ocean of others saying the same thing?
      His view of 'I love america, but not what it has become' is a little different to that..

      >Ohh...I get it. That would make it to easy. My bad.
      Just wondering what would be made too easy.
      taking down america?
      calling michael moore a mental case?
      opening the next beer?

    2. Re:it's all politics by DigiShaman · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "Ohh...I get it. That would make it to easy. My bad."

      By that, I mean it would expose Moore to the public at the most basic level as to how much of a nutcase he really is.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    3. Re:it's all politics by digitalunity · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why do you call him a mental case?

      If you don't like or don't agree with him, then just discredit him or the facts he puts in his movies. Calling him a mental case because you don't like what he has to say is just closed minded.

      It's like the media suddenly calling judges 'activist' because they don't agree with what the judges have to say. Judges are there to interpret the law, but when a conservative doesn't like something a judge says, they just label the judge 'liberal' or 'activist' instead of attacking the legal or logical basis for the judge's decision.

      When you want to disagree with someone, you don't call them names. You engage them in a debate of critical reasoning.

      Calling them names just makes you look childish.

      --
      You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.
    4. Re:it's all politics by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Let me ponder what you've said. I must admit, it's very insightful. ...no, sorry. He's still a nutcase in my book. Seriously, have you heard his little soapbox rants at the film awards? Jesus, he's just a nutty as Steve Balmer on that "microsoft developers" talk.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    5. Re:it's all politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyone with the guts to denounce an impending war on live TV in the midst of a wave of hystical patriotism seems a lot more sane than all the dittoheads with flags on their SUVs who think this latest neocolonial adventure is a good idea.

    6. Re:it's all politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, lets just leave Saddam in power. What a briliant fucking idea!!! We should have capped his ass in the first gulf war. But the UN wanted us to pull our troops out before we had the chance.

    7. Re:it's all politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dumb fucking dipshit US red-necks. Your own CIA refused an offer to take out Saddam during the first Gulf War... by none other than bin Laden.

    8. Re:it's all politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You get the offical coo-coo award. Smile, your on monkeyshit island. :)

    9. Re:it's all politics by EvanED · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Now wait, was this before or after bin Laden changed from the "good" list to the "bad" list?

    10. Re:it's all politics by JonKatzIsAnIdiot · · Score: 1

      The problem is the he has been discredited, and his works have been showed to be complete and utter fabrications (I refuse to use the word 'facts' in conjuction with him). The problem is that he still won't shut up. He continues to spread his brand of bullshit.

      I think that he is a very intelligent person. He has proven his ability to mix half-truths together to create total lies that are emotionally very convincing. He is smart enough to exploit today's political climate (and make millions off it). And he knows very well that you won't go broke telling people what they want to hear.

      What do you call a person who constantly and deliberately spreads deceit? You are right - 'mental case' is inaccurate. Propagandist perhaps. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a 'psychopath' is characterised by "aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse". Let's see:
      aggressive - check. Look at how he goes after people he doesn't like.
      criminal - his treatment of Charleton Heston in 'Bowling for Columbine' was definitely slander, so this is another check
      amoral - check
      without empathy or remorse - check
      perverted - we'll give him the benefit of doubt on this one.
      4 out of 5 isn't bad. Looks like 'psychopath' describes Micheal Moore much better then 'mental case'.

    11. Re:it's all politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is that it's you who has been discredited, JonKatxIsAnIdiot. Your posts are simply far less accurate than any propoganda Moore could hope to produce. Whenever science or religion, come up, you just can't help but embarass yourself.

      Consider this post, in which you claim that the global warming theory has been debunked. Tell me, was it debunked before or after evolution and the Holocaust?

      Or let's look a bit further to this post in which you project your own selfish desires onto aethiests (sic), agnostics and liberals. Note the moderation score.

      But here's the most pathetic part. In short, you make all sorts of erronous, flamebait claims, yet instead of being moderated appropriately, your troll friends mod you up! To add insult to injury, you then actually whine about how slashdot is just soooo biased against you.

      Well, let's use your own standards for judging you. That should be fair, right?

      • Aggressive? Check.
      • Criminal? Check.
      • Amoral? Check.
      • Without empathy or remorse? Check.
      • Perverted? No evidence for this yet. Just keep in mind that your posts here are preserved.

      Hmm. Four out of five. Looks like your no better than you claim Moore to be. Of course, it's also obvious that you're suffering from the standard fundamentalist psychoses of projection and persecution complex, so I guess you've lost, even granting that your evaluation of Moore is correct.

    12. Re:it's all politics by JonKatzIsAnIdiot · · Score: 1

      Oh dear. Criticism from an AC. You went to all the bother of looking up my posting history and everything. Looks like I got under someone's skin. Makes you wish for a -1 (Not Of The Slashdot Hive Mind), doesn't it?

      1. Embarassed? Nah. Proud more like. You see, I've got the balls to put my name next to my words and stick by them. Unlike some other people I could mention.

      2. Criticism I don't mind, but is it too much to ask for a little consistency? First of all, you call me a fundamentalist, roundly castigated here on Slashdot for forcing their moral code on other people, and then you call me amoral (not admitting of moral distinctions -look it up). Two mutally exclusive terms. Please pick one.

      3. Is the irony of attacking someone's character, then accusing them of having a "persecution complex" lost on you?

      4. I am very aware that my posts are preserved. In fact, I count on it.

  5. how convienient by lamery · · Score: 0
    The Institute of Physics Web site you tried to reach is currently unavailable.

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  6. Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Action movies are notorious for not respecting basic laws of physics. For example:

    - A guy gets shot by a bullet, gets thrown backward 10 feet.

    - A car jumps over something without a launching pad

    - A car jumps over something and flies straight into the air, and lands flat (real cars tip forward when they do that)

    - A computer hacker does something real quick on a computer because someone's coming, downloads or save something in half a second

    - A woman drinks a tainted glass of wine, drops immediately after the first sip

    - A red-caped, blue spandexed lunatic hoists busses, entire bridges into the air ...etc...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by acehole · · Score: 4, Funny

      A woman drinks a tainted glass of wine, drops immediately after the first sip

      rophynil: "When patience just isnt enough"

      Now in spray form, for the discreet gentleman.

      --
      Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
    2. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by motiv8x · · Score: 1, Insightful

      and what the hell does the Matrix have to do with real world physics anyway?

    3. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those scenes can be found in many movies that don't position themselves in the SF or fantasy realm, like Matrix. The bullet-that-can-push-a-man-backward-like-a-chargin g-elephant thing is very common in many movies of any type, and very very wrong.

    4. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by sidb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You forgot the best one of all, present in so many SF movies I can't even count them: the aft-thrusters-at-full-power, ship-swerving-like-it's-an-airplane, powered crash landing, complete with audible explosion and (more recently) an annulus of shockwave through the vacuum.

      True, anyone with a decent high school education should detect that as total BS, but I know many people who never even notice anything odd when spaceships routinely fly around with their engines at full power no matter what they're doing at the moment. Is it so hard to reinforce correct physics in people's minds, instead of this hogwash? Such a simple public service to perform.

    5. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by MartinG · · Score: 3, Informative

      - A car jumps over something and flies straight into the air, and lands flat (real cars tip forward when they do that)

      I agree with the main point that it tips forward while in the air, but that doesn't guarantee how it will land.

      That depends on how it was launched.

      There are many ways it could land as long as angular momentum is conserved.

      When using a ramp, gravity will have spent longer accelerating the front of the car towards the ground than the back simply because the front is unsupported by the ramp for longer. This means the cars front will tip forward as you suggest, but depending on the launch angle and speed (and other factors such as car length and mass) it could land flat if it touched the ground before it had tipped enough. Conversely if might not tip enough and could hit the ground with the back first.

      Another example could be a car jumping from a great height. If calculated properly it could complete one or more full "somersaults" in the air before landing flat (of course any normal car would be smashed to pieces in doing so because it would be in the air for so long and reach such a high downward speed)

      --
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    6. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Yorrike · · Score: 5, Interesting
      If you want a movie with more betrayals of science per frame than any other, watch "The Core". The concept is utterly shameful.

      A ship made of Unobtainium (granted, they joke about this in the film), drills to the center of the Earth so it can let off nuclear explosions to restart the outer core spinning, thus restoring the Earth's magnetosphere.

      On the way to the outer core, the ship encounters a geode the size of a small moon and giant diamonds, all while ignoring the fact that the upper mantle in effectively solid, and at the pressures and temperature encountered at the depth they're at, a nuclear explosion isn't going to do squat.

      The mere fact they send a manned probe down is laughable.

      Now I know it's just a movie, and having some geology knowledge, I must admit it was a laugh a minute, but it took it's self far too seriously to be given credit, never mind a character being employed to "hack the internet" and stop all documents with certain keywords moving about.

      If it were done in the style of Starship troopers, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it, but as is, bleh.

      --

      Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

    7. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What few know is that Superman was a communist serices, fighting for for the union workers. He was just barely being able to lift a SMALL car.
      It wasen't until a hostile takeover of the union magazine that he became a "freedom loving all-American facist" with "super duper strength beyond belief".

    8. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Hungry+Admin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      One of my fondest memories of a final exam is a physics problem dealing with the acceleration needed for Superman to catch a baby that fell off of a skyscraper, and what acceleration was needed to slow to 0 velocity as they both reached the ground.

      --
      Be who you are and say what you feel, because the people who mind don't matter, and the people who matter don't mind.
    9. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When using a ramp, gravity will have spent longer accelerating the front of the car towards the ground than the back simply because the front is unsupported by the ramp for longer.

      Oh, so they extend the ramp real quick between when the front passes and the read?? The front of the car and the rear pass at different times, but they spend the same amount of time on the ground.

      This means the cars front will tip forward as you suggest

      That, or the fact that most cars have 2/3rd of their weight at the front... Special effect folks and stunt drivers usually stick around 500 lbs of sandbags in the trunk to achieve that fly-flat (crash)-land-flat effect.

    10. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by AndrewHowe · · Score: 3, Funny

      That, or the fact that most cars have 2/3rd of their weight at the front... Special effect folks and stunt drivers usually stick around 500 lbs of sandbags in the trunk to achieve that fly-flat (crash)-land-flat effect.

      The angular momentum of Galileo's rest mass just increased...

    11. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by ultranova · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You forgot the best one of all, present in so many SF movies I can't even count them: the aft-thrusters-at-full-power, ship-swerving-like-it's-an-airplane, powered crash landing, complete with audible explosion and (more recently) an annulus of shockwave through the vacuum.

      Execpt that shockwaves and sounds do travel through space.

      An explosion simply means that matter moves very fast outwards from the centre of the explosion. In an atmosphere, the moving particles hit the particles of the atmosphere and transfer their kinetic energy to them, and those particles hit other particles, and so forth. When they hit you, they transfers their kinetic energy into your outer particles, which transfer it onward, making the shockwave propagate through you, throwing you backwards (if you are light/unsecured) and causing damage as if you were hit by a blunt object (which you were - air). You sense the changing pressure as sound.

      On the other hand, in space, nothing stops the original particles from the explosion. They travel through space until they hit something. When they do, they transfer their kinetic energy into its outher layer (which will transfer it onward and so on, causing an internal compression/decompression wave), throwing it backwards and causing damage as if it was hit by a blunt object (which it was - a blunt wall of particles). If it has audio sensors, it will sense the pressure change (compression/decompression) as sound.

      Of course, a TIE Fighter should still glide silently...

      It should also be noted that, according to the theory of realitivy, when mass is accelerated, a gravity wave is created. So if you blow up a planet, it will cause a shockwave in the fabric of spacetime itself. However, due to the weakness of gravity as a force, such shockwaves are usually below notice.

      I recall reading that if Alpha Centauri would go supernova, the resulting shockwave would tear off Earth's atmosphere. But hey, that could make the ultimate sci-fi movie - Alpha Centauri is going to supernova, and the only way to stop it is freezing a group of old astronauts and sending them there in a shuttle to dig into it's core to deliver a bunch of nuclear bombs to restart fusion reaction there, all the while a black monolith ruling an evil space empire sends its space orc minions flying in space fighters that make a "swhooshing" sound as they fly by and turn on a dime, because the monolith needs the energy from an exploding star to recharge its power systems to continue its 5 million year mission to explore new worlds and civilizations and to conquer them, but fortunately the princess of the aliens (which just happen to look completely human) in the planet the space shuttle falls into after being shot down by the fighters has hots for the hero and helps him develop his magical powers, so he can help his friends when the Monolith kidnaps them and reveals it's actually his father and that the aliens really look like giant spiders and are just using their awesome telepathic abilities to make an illusion of appearing humanlike, and were actually the ones who lured the astronauts there to breed with them because they, like many spiders, eat their males after coupling, and have none left anymore, and how he, the monolith, has send his armadas to attack and conquer Earth, but fortunately the hero manages to resolve the problem with his spider lover with an clever use of a gag, causing the spiders to alliy themselves with Earth and drive off the invaders, which is fortunate because the monolith has destroyed their home planet in a fit of rage, bt fortunately the power of love between the hero and the spider allows them to defeat it, marking the beginning a new age of enlightenment and really kinky interspecies relationships in Earth (literally in, because everone forgot about the supernova, but fortunately Earth turned out to be hollow, with a new, primordial world inside, and primordial savages turned out to be no match for the enlightened army of surface humans armed with flame throwers and assault rifles, not to mention missiles and nukes, helped by giant kinky cannibalistic telepathic space spider chicks).

      Oscar gala, here I come :) !

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    12. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by skribe · · Score: 1
      A guy gets shot by a bullet, gets thrown backward 10 feet.

      IIRC George Stevens started this 'technique' (or at least popularised it). Having returned from WW2 where he had seen the effect that real bullets have upon the human body he wanted to re-enact that on the screen.

      skribe

      --
      Blog
    13. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 2, Informative
      A woman drinks a tainted glass of wine, drops immediately after the first sip

      Actually, if you use the right chemicals under good circumstances, along with a few careful preprations , this will actually work. The effect will last about 6 hours after which the woman will wake up, not recalling anything at all. Even better, the body will remain warm, supple and won't discolour.

      Or so I heard... Ahem.

    14. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by jamesh · · Score: 1

      There's a funny scene in 'Road Trip' (think that's what it's called) where our heroes come across a bridge that has all but fallen to pieces. The brain amongst them decides that based on the angle of this and the weight of that they'd need to be doing such and such a speed to clear the river/ditch/whatever it was.

      They take the runup, clear the ditch and land on the other side whereupon the car falls to bits, and explodes shortly after they get out.

      Aside from the explosion, it looks a lot better than a bus jumping 10x the gap and landing in one piece.

    15. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Jonathan · · Score: 1

      If you want a movie with more betrayals of science per frame than any other, watch "The Core". The concept is utterly shameful.

      Perhaps betrayals of scientific *fact*, but I thought it was actually fairly accurate in how it portrayed scientific *culture* -- in particular the uneasy relationship between "media-scientists", who spend their time talking to the press, hosting TV shows, etc. and the scientists that actually do research.

    16. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      - A car jumps over something without a launching pad

      - guy on skateboard falls into gorge, gets rescued by helicopter stretcher hoist, gets placed in ambulance, ambulance crashes into tree (opening back doors), guy wheels out and back down the gorge

    17. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by leon.gandalf · · Score: 0

      How about falling off of a hellicopter and then being propelled onto the back of a train when the chopper explodes. (unharmed) Never mind the helecoptor flying in the damn tunnel in the first place.

    18. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by AndroidCat · · Score: 1
      - A guy gets shot by a bullet, gets thrown backward 10 feet.

      That would be fine if the person who fired the shot was also thrown back 10 feet. Or really braced, heavy as a tank, etc, and certainly not holding the gun wrist-breaking gansta style.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    19. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      Cool! Momentum, weight transfer and fluid dynamics all wrapped up in one post!

    20. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by roman_mir · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, you missed the best parts then:
      The scene with the shuttle. The whole thing - the radars not working for some reason, the GPS failing and no-one noticing (it must be the pilot's fault.) Maneuvring the shuttle as if it was not a brick but an F16.

      Noone in the entire science community outside of the small group of the primary participants noticing the disappearence of the magnetic field and of the secondary data - Aurora Borealis, or the fact the compases don't work any more :) The ionosphere that must now be not at only 70 to 400 km but surrounding the entire planet at 0-400 km.

      Partial failure of the Earth's magnetic field. Not a full failure, but partial, where some of the magnetic field is breached above some places but the rest is still holding around the globe. Solar radiation powerfull enough to burn people's skin BBQ style in 3 seconds. Crazy local weather changes (this is grey area.)

      A nuclear reactor small enough to fit in a few cubic meters and powerfull enough to push that 'earth-ship' forward, to power those 'ultra-sonic' lasers. Unexplained propelling system that works under water, under ground and in a pressurized ionized metal cloud. The 'Unobtanium' and the lasers etc. invented by some lonely geek in a desert within only 30 years with minimal funding. An apparatus that allows to see through meters of lead, the machine that displays something like an X-Ray without having sensitive film on the other side of the material that is being looked at. Fully working prototypes, everything necessary for just the occasion.

      Constant real-time radio contact with the surface of the earth and stupid communication problems within the ship itself from compartment to compartment (those wires are a bitch to make work well without failing most of the time.)

      Building only one manned ship for 50 Billion, not 100 of unmanned ones for 5000 Billion (shouldn't this be the entire world's problem, wouldn't everyone chip in? Only a year left to live for all of us.) The meere notion that any problem can be solved by throwing enough money at it within a very limited time constraint (yeah, this is an IT personnel site, is this the standart way of solving problems at work or what?)

      A pressure and heat suit that is definetly under-designed for the intended usage, a suit that looks like it's made of polyester and tin-foil but that can take 5000 atm. (or smth like that) and not even slightly compress. A suite that is designed for half of the temperature that it was used in but still protecting a human inside it just long enough for him to heroically finish the job. This human still able to use his eyes while the lenses in his eye-glasses have cracked under pressure. (what kind of pressure would that be - really tight eye-glasses frames?)

      Glyding in the core of the planet at huge speeds allowing to cover the entire core in about half an hour. Magically using 'rods from the reactor' that looked more like heavy water containers, to increase a nuclear bomb's blast from 100Megatonn to 150-200Megatonn.

      Coming up with a magical solution to the energy problem by using 'unobtainium' under pressure to power the ship. Getting all of this to work in under an hour. Glyding from inside the planet to the outer mantel without navigation systems and without those magical sonic-lasers.

      A hacker who looks and acts like a cartoon character. A hacker who has control over the entire world with just a telephone by beeping into the mic. A hacker who finds a secret gov't project on the internet, hacks into it and stops the music (wouldn't it be much easier for him to stop most of the electrical power-plants that supplied the energy for that gigantic 'laser'). Oh well, maybe I am just jealous :)

    21. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah, almost forgot - using nukes to restart rotation of the core. We all know that if you want to spin something you should blow it up. (I don't have a problem with using nukes for everything, why, I even boil water with nuclear power, it's the best.)

    22. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      - A computer hacker does something real quick on a computer because someone's coming, downloads or save something in half a second

      Surely this one's just an implausibility, not an actual law of physics (recent articles on speed limits on data transfer aside)?

    23. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by trashme · · Score: 1

      You can't forget the favortie physics snafu from 70's TV shows:

      - Car drives off cliff and explodes before hitting the ground.

    24. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by cagle_.25 · · Score: 1

      I almost agree with you ... my brain is about to press the 'outrage' trigger about the shoddy physics in movies ... until I remember that the relationships between characters are also outrageously flawed. And, the portrayals of political issues are utterly skewed. And, the portrayals of religious issues are hilariously wrong. So then I just toss it all and reach for "OFF".

      --
      Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.
    25. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by infinite9 · · Score: 1

      A computer hacker does something real quick on a computer because someone's coming, downloads or save something in half a second

      My favorite movie for computer mistakes is Blown Away. It's about the bomb squad or something. The opening scene is the best. There's this girl who had a wacked out geek boyfriend. He rigged her computer so that she would have to keep typing "i love you" so that it wouldn't explode. The boyfriend was dead for some reason so they called the hero of the film to come over and fix it. Let's just say there were a few problems with the scene:

      The computer was a sun workstation pizza box. The monitor was a color monitor from an apple 2e. The keyboard was an old 83 ibm keyboard.

      They tried to fake out the computer and have a robot hand type for the girl... on a second keyboard. They attached a second keyboard to the computer with out disconnecting the power. Where did they plug it in?

      When the hero showed up, he saved the day by climbing under the desk and sawing a hole in the top under the computer. The computer had no bottom cover. The guts of the computer were removed to make room for the bomb.

      I'm also amused whenever they show hard drives with their covers removed. And for realism, they slowly move the drive head back and forth. This is attached to a voice coil, people. Think speaker movement.

      --
      Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
    26. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My coworker loved this movie. Granted, he believes that evolution is a sham, creationism is where its at, and the church state thing is not real, but imagined (I think). Anyways, he loved this movie. He said 'it could happen, science proves it'. I shrugged, left the office, and wanted to know if he'd get his head examined before or after someone shot him dead for stupidity.

    27. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by operagost · · Score: 1

      That's brilliant. You really should sell that.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    28. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by cms108 · · Score: 1

      good point.. we whine about the physics being wrong in films... but when you think about it... almost everything is wrong in films.
      you watch CSI... old gus just gets his green torch out and shines it on something... "ahh.. blood" ... great.
      and then we have stuff with witches and vampires in... you don't hear people complaining when they turn into a bat.. "but.. but.. what about the laws of thermodynamics? you can't do that..."
      and then there's the way people talk to each other in films.... who talks like that?
      the mojarity of people making films only really know about how to make films. and nothing else. any issues or concepts portrayed in films are almost automatically always wrong.
      never mind, eh? you could always read a book.

    29. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that's not half as laughable as the bit in Mission Impossible 2 where they discuss obtaining the latest Intel x86 technology, as if it was something cutting edge with the new experimental AI extensions no less. When I heard that, I almost did a spit take I was laughing so hard.

      The only thing more accidentally ludicrious in the theater was the Batman IV movie preview starring "Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl", where the entire theater started laughing at the atrocious casting.

      I swear Hollywood does get it, but they enjoy fucking with the audience.

    30. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by shadowbearer · · Score: 1


      Hee! Well done. That's the best takeoff on grave spinning I've ever seen!

      I have to go clean the snorted beer off my monitor now...

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    31. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by Raunch · · Score: 1

      Best one ever, happens all the time (last one I saw was firefly):
      Ship has some sort of artifical gravity, people are in a docking bay and the bay loses pressue. As soon as the air is gone, the gravity stops working.

      --
      George II -- Spreading Freedom and American values, one bomb at a time.
    32. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by ErroneousBee · · Score: 1
      That, or the fact that most cars have 2/3rd of their weight at the front... Special effect folks and stunt drivers usually stick around 500 lbs of sandbags in the trunk to achieve that fly-flat (crash)-land-flat effect.

      Except in The Dukes of Hazzard. Oh the joys of watching them snap The General in half on landing, only to see them driving off in a perfectly restored car in the next shot with nary a bumper out of place.

      Mmmmmmmmmm! Daisy Duke.

      --
      **TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
    33. Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably by RedHat+Rocky · · Score: 1

      Having spent many an afternoon on the offroad R/C track, you're neglecting things that involve the driver, such as accelerating at the top of the ramp and such.

      Part of landing flat is car setup but a major factor is also how the driver takes the jump.

      Granted, 1/10th scale cards behave differently than the massive full scale, but not that much.

      --
      Anything is possible given time and money.
  7. Sounds awfully familiar by heironymouscoward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Can't quite find the previous Slashdot story though this one is close.

    But Tango and Cash dangling from electric cables as part of a physics course? This is kinda old news.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
    1. Re:Sounds awfully familiar by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      That article is about the same guy holding the course.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  8. Physics Goes to Hollywood by boltoflightning · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I thought your post was very interesting.

    I say WHATEVER WORKS. People (not just kids) don't always learn what is taught by traditional means. I know --i-- didn't. Seeing something visually or in new ways can sometimes more easily or quickly create understanding.

  9. Useful Links.... by Scrab · · Score: 5, Informative

    Movie physics site

    BBC Link

    And would they cover things like the cranking the van up the sand dune in Ice Cold In Alex

    --
    RoseColor red={0, 0xffff, 0x0000, 0x0000};VioletColour blue={0, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0xffff};find / -name *mybase*|chown you
    1. Re:Useful Links.... by amembleton · · Score: 2, Informative
      And would they cover things like the cranking the van up the sand dune in Ice Cold In Alex

      The BBC with Open University did a series called Hollywood Science. They covered Ice Cold in Alex. Click here for more info.

  10. Re:This is what happens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when you give tax dollars that should be going to a decent cause like liberating the people of Iraq

    I hate to tell you that Johnny, but you guys have been in Iraq for month, and somebody told me Iraqis are still fighting.

    Almost like if they were resisting a foreign invader..

    Just like if they were in the process of liberating themselves from you in fact...

  11. What better way.... by fostware · · Score: 1

    What better to get people to learn reality, than to teach it in the context of movies? I'm sure the young'uns of today wouldn't touch a book if there was a movie version. Heh, I'm sure people believe American cars explode in a ball of flame when all four tyres no longer touch the ground....

    --
    "We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
  12. BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by alanw · · Score: 4, Informative
    The BBC and the Open University have produced a series Hollywood Science in which Robert Llewellyn (Kryten in Red Dwarf, Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars) examines the science behind Hollywood movies.
    Can Jackie Chan really bend iron bars? Is Paul Newman's stomach capable of holding 50 eggs? Does that bus really have enough Speed to jump the gap?
    1. Re:BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by robbyjo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Summary:

      • Can Jackie Chan really bend iron bars? (Shanghai Noons)
        Yes, because cotton is stronger when wet.
      • Is Paul Newman's stomach capable of holding 50 eggs? (Cool Hand Luke)
        No. His mouth would've run out of saliva or wouldn't be able to hold the water if he decided to drink.
      • Does that bus really have enough Speed to jump the gap? (Speed)
        No. It's too far, not to mention wind resistance and the angle.
      • Can aluminium dingy in Dante's Peak really melts?
        No. Aluminium would take a whole lot of stronger acid.
      • Can crank shaft of the 1930's truck to winch it backwards up the sand dune really set it free from the gulch? (Ice Cold Alex)
        Possible, although the cranker needs quite a lot of water.
      • Can John McClane just wrap a hose and leaps to the side of the building when it explodes? (Die Hard)
        Impossible. The hose wouldn't be able to hold the acceleration due to gravity
      --

      --
      Error 500: Internal sig error
    2. Re:BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by NonSequor · · Score: 1

      I would have never guessed Shanghai Noon to be the one with valid physics in it.

      --
      My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
    3. Re:BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by Bobartig · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If competative eaters can polish off 50 hotdogs in under 12 minutes, I'm sure our protagonist can do fifty eggs... unless they were OSTRICH eggs.

      --
      This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
    4. Re:BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can aluminium dingy in Dante's Peak really melts?
      No. Aluminium would take a whole lot of stronger acid.


      Firstly, the water WAS stongly acidic. It burned flesh in only a few seconds.

      Secondly, who said it was the actual alluminium that was being eaten away? The water was filling the boat slowly, so maybe it was a previouslyy patche dholes or a seam that was eaten away and leaking.

    5. Re:BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by benson+hedges · · Score: 1

      nobody can eat 50 eggs.

      --
      Karma : Soylent Green (Mostly due to eating junk food and mocking religion)
    6. Re:BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by alanw · · Score: 1
      nobody can eat 50 eggs.
      The BBC reports that at a competition in Indiana, an astonished crowd of more than 22,000 people cheered Sonya Thomas on as she ate a whopping 65 hard-boiled eggs in only six minutes and 40 seconds.
      The International Federation of Competitive Eating has many other records.
    7. Re:BBC/OU "Hollywood Science" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speed 2: A cruise ship was appreciately slowed down by colliding with tiny sailing boats.

      Armageddon: They could really predict the way the meteor broke up and the time limit to do so.

      I also love it when movies compute things down to the nth digit precision without factor of safety.

  13. Movies can't depict real physics by Stuwee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since they're currently experiencing a "server failure", I can't comment on the course content as such, but there are vital pieces of physics that simply cannot be taught from watching a movie. You can talk about conservation of energy in a car crash, sure. You can laugh at the physical impossibility of that bit in Hollow Man where the chick opens a door with an electromagnet. You could even try to talk about "time folding over" in Event Horizon.

    The fact of the matter is however that physics is made interesting when you actually think about it yourself and realise why it is interesting. If someone makes a movie that makes relativity or quantum physics interesting enough to justify the cost of the movie, then I take my hat off to them.

    This just sounds like another course to fill credits.

    1. Re:Movies can't depict real physics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact of the matter is however that physics is made interesting when you actually think about it yourself and realise why it is interesting.

      Why's someone going to think about it, though? Maybe because of a discussion following a class pointing out some of the physical errors in movies?

  14. Re:This is what happens by motiv8x · · Score: 1, Funny

    nevermind my last statement. that guy is dead wrong. I thought he was calling Bush a "crackpot academic".

  15. It is silly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm always open for new teaching and learning methods but this is plain silly.

  16. Re:haha by motiv8x · · Score: 0

    and it's 4am here!

  17. Great ... by foobsr · · Score: 1

    ... the only animation I recall we had in Physics was the teacher throwing chalk at dedicated pupils in order to demonstrate ballistics :)

    CC.

    --
    TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
  18. The problem... by toesate · · Score: 3, Insightful

    is essentially due to traditional classroom coaching method which leave little room for imagination.

    On the other hand, Physics(or Science) illustrated in movies, could in a few subtle scenes, tickle the itch to followup, run imagination wild, to validate or invalidate flaws or ideas, just for the sake of geekiness.

    I only wished that factual subjects can be written like novels, with a page turner storyline...

    --
    Hey, that's my password you are typing
    1. Re:The problem... by SpaceWeasel13 · · Score: 1

      Is not enough inquiry-based classrooms. Students are not given real-life scenarios in which to apply their physics knowledge to. Studnets think science happens in a textbook and that science is all about facts. Students typically do not have an understanding of the processes of science. They do not know how science works. A short 3-minute film clip can be a powerful engaging tool. Most students watch movies in their spare time. Using something familiar to them to teach them about something less familiar is very powerful. Teachers are strapped for funding and often cannot do engaging experiments in the classroom. Why not turn to Hollywood? A teacher may take advantage of the scenarios presented in a film and have the students discuss it. I have tried this in both field experiences in a middle school gen. science classroom and an AP high school classroom. It works phenomenally well. The effects of feature films on students' attitudes, interest towards, and understanding of science is actually the topic for my Master's research. Just in closing, films should never be used as a baby-sitter. They should only be used in a structured lesson and students should be encouraged to think about the scenarios presented.

  19. Matrix by dj245 · · Score: 3, Funny
    The Matrix: Revolutions, unfortunately, did not make the list of top 3 movies that were physics accurate, due to the complete disregard for the rules of physics.

    I guess the machines forgot what theories Newton came up with, so thats why all the theories taste like chicken.

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    1. Re:Matrix by weston · · Score: 1

      I guess the machines forgot what theories Newton came up with

      Well, that's how flight works, right? You fall and conveniently are distracted and forget to hit the earth.

  20. Independence day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The sites down so I can't see what it has but I hope it doesn't try to say Independence Day has correct physic. when the gigantic spaceships hovered over the Whitehouse and the cities it should have created enough gravity of its own for things to start levitating or at least aapear like some of the earths gravity was being negated.

    MMKalinga

  21. History too by cvd6262 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of my best professors used to say that history is only there to help us understand movies.

    No different?

    --

    I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.

  22. Why? It's fiction anyway by October_30th · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Is it so hard to reinforce correct physics in people's minds, instead of this hogwash?

    And why should we want to? As a physicist I am more annoyed by the people who insist on having correct physics in movies (or books) than the incorrect physics itself.

    Hello? It's a movie! Not a documentary or part of a curriculum. At least to me hard sci-fi like R.L. Forward's Dragon's Egg is immensely boring.

    --
    The owls are not what they seem
    1. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should read more interesting hard sf then. I like the ones I read. And I think it's correct to complain over bad physics, you really arn't helping kids learn good physics models in there head.

      Quickshot

    2. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but most of the time it's so obvious. I don't mind if some small details aren't correct but .. sound in space? come on. A good movie makes you forget you're watching a movie. At the instant you see something that's clearly impossible you know you are watching some boring movie filled with crap effects.

    3. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by gilroy · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Blockquoth the poster:

      And why should we want to?

      Because in a democracy it is the general citizenry who make the ultimate decisions, and because in this democracy much of the citizenry's information comes from the media such as movies. (That BTW itself is a scandal.)

      I don't care if the physics is wrong, if it's wrong for a reason. It's the casually-wrong things -- the things clearly wrong because the even the writer doesn't understand -- that really ticks me off.

      Remember that people will be making decisions on what to fund and what to prohibit. Do you want them making those decisions based on poor science they've picked up in the movies? How are they supposed to know it's bad scince? Well, one way (simply enough) is to tell them -- which is what these sites and courses do.
    4. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by Fweeky · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, it depends how bad the physics is and how much it runs against your common sense, doesn't it? There's nothing wrong with a little poetic license, especially if you're not skilled enough to pull off something realistic, but when you constantly use it as a crutch to your pathetic talants it gets pretty silly.

      Star Trek's a perfect example, from the cartoony CGI (who needs shadows?) to disgustingly badly portrayed.. well, I could say just about anything; AI, weaponry, people, aliens.. there's no moody shadows out in deep space, no spooky red/blueshift at relativistic velocities (which suddenly don't seem so fast anymore anyway), no feel the battles are performed using city-busting+ weapons, not even a sense of the sheer scales involved in space. The less realistic stuff is just so much less interesting/spectacular/fun.

      Sure, it's harder to stick to realism because it gives you boundries you need to work in/around, but those boundries are what're interesting; not your latest dubious workaround for avoiding them.

    5. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by Aquafort · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and then there's all that music in space. I mean, Hello??? Do people actually believe there are orchestras on every asteroid or something!? Jeesh!

      I keep trying to educate people at the movie theater about this issue but Hollywood has the ignorant masses so well trained that they'd rather beat me up, dump nachos on my head, and leave me for dead in the parking lot than listen to reason. You have to be really brave to challenge people's ignorance.

    6. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by October_30th · · Score: 1
      People go to the movies to be entertained not educated. It would be fantastic if you could combine those two but I don't think you can.

      Kubrick's 2001 was a good try, but do you think it did appeal to the general population back then? No. How do you think the current generation would react to the slow docking imagery, moon landing and unfolding of the events on the Discovery (not to mention the 40+ min ape sequence in the beginning)?

      I believe it's misplaced to lay the blame for public's ignorance on movies or fiction. As far as I can see, the problem is simple: a crumbling public education system. Teaching as a profession is underrated both financially (thanks to the "what are you? a communist? don't you waste my tax-money on public programs!"-crowd) and as a career. The cure is also simple. Hike the tax-rate or redirect funds into basic education.

      --
      The owls are not what they seem
    7. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by portis · · Score: 1

      The problem with physics as they're portrayed in films has absolutely nothing to do with the correctness of it. It has to do with the spreading of misconceptions. If you look through studies by the NSF, you see startling facts about the [American] public.
      Personally, I don't think the UCF physics department is trying to "shut down those evil filmmakers for making an asteroid impact unrealistic" or what-have-you. I think the idea is to:

      1) Educate the general public, which include senators and other politicians, businessmen, et al., about science (physics in particular).

      while

      2) Attempt to dispel common non-scientific beliefs.

    8. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did a pretty good job in 2001 making it as realistic as possible. The one scene that bothers me most in that film is the way they were walking around on the moon, especially when they were in that low ceilinged meeting room and nobody was smashing his head into the ceiling with each step..and they didn't seem to be wearing those velcro slippers that might have kept them more firmly on the floor. Walking in lunar gravity without a suit would be even trickier than with one since you're so much lighter. The walking around outside was also very poorly done. Oh well.

    9. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by October_30th · · Score: 1
      I think the idea is to

      Commendable goals, but still I don't think that it's up to the Hollywood to try to achieve them. Instead, we should have a public education system that leaves the students with at least some concepts of modern science.

      Movies can, however, play an important role in getting the public interested in science in general. Witness the interest in dinosaurs sparked by the scientifically-very-unkosher Jurassic Park movies.

      --
      The owls are not what they seem
    10. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      not even a sense of the sheer scales involved in space

      Well, they do try to do this when they say some alien ship is 100,000 kilometers away and act like it's right on top of them. Of course, then they always cut to an outside shot showing the ships maybe half a km apart...

    11. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by c4ffeine · · Score: 1

      I've noticed that people seem to believe that most scientific stuff they see in movies or TV shows is true. I don't really want people to learn junk science from movies... among other reasons, that means that I have to deal with decisions based off poor assu,ptions and correct people's mistaken beliefs. I don't mean to overly criticise most people, but... good movie physics is a good thing

      --
      "73% of quotes on the Internet are made up" -Ben Franklin
    12. Re:Why? It's fiction anyway by tsg · · Score: 1

      The other side to this is that if people understood more physics, they might find the bad physics less entertaining.

      --
      People's desire to believe they are right is much stronger than their desire to be right.
  23. Bad examples by canavan · · Score: 5, Informative

    I always thought teaching of phsics with movie would be most efficient by showing the bad examples, so people won't start to think that reality is governed by the same mad-up laws of physics as seen in most action flicks. Lots of bad examples are listed at INSULTINGLY STUPID MOVIE PHYSICS

    1. Re:Bad examples by michael_cain · · Score: 1
      Indeed, an excellent set of bad examples. The site also illustrates one of the difficulties of trying to teach physics to the masses: as soon as you want to know how it really works, you have to use math. Granted, working out that the victim of a shotgun shooting flying ten feet through the air violates conservation of momentum is a more interesting exercise than what you find in most physics texts, but you still have to work it out. Just an opinion, but too many students these days have had everything made simple, to the point that they are not willing to persever through the hard things. Up to a certain point you can wave your hands and get away with it; but at some point in physics you have to deal with calculus, differential equations, and so on.

      The ads for the new movie "Van Helsing" have one of my favorite physics errors. The hero swings down on the rope, snatches up the girl as he passes her, and continues on without any change in speed.

  24. BS in BS by Trurl's+Machine · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since most of the Hollywood movies physics is nothing but pure bullshit, this course could give you the one and only degree of double BS - Bachelor Of Science In Bullshiting!

    1. Re:BS in BS by Rob+Simpson · · Score: 1

      Isn't that called a BA?

  25. My Favorite Movie Physics Site by ChrisLeif · · Score: 2, Informative

    Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics

    http://intuitor.com/moviephysics/index.html

  26. music in movies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    music in movies sucks!! Especially load music. It irritates the hell out of me. In real life I never hear a sudden burst of music out of nowhere when something was about to happen or just did happen.

    1. Re:music in movies by SmackCrackandPot · · Score: 1

      You never had an ice-cream van in your neighborhood?

  27. Weep!!! by mritunjai · · Score: 2, Funny

    So you guys are now learning physics by watching movies!!!

    So, don't cry when your physics reasearch gets outsourced.

    Make learning fun... but NOT a JOKE !!

    --
    - mritunjai
  28. Other examples? by StateOfTheUnion · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So should the military teach combat by showing Rambo movies? Perhaps convicts can learn to be nice people by watching episodes of Family Matters. I'm thinking about opening a Salvage Yard, I'm gonna do some market research by watching Sanford and Son.

    1. Re:Other examples? by Nebu · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So should the military teach combat by showing Rambo movies?

      Actually, this might not be a bad idea. Most army recruits are young males, and as such, most of them have probably seen a couple of action movies. Pointing out irrealistic sequences in those movies would probably be a good way to correct misconceptions the general public might have about tactics.

      One example that immediately comes to mind is showing them a clip of someone ducking behind a table during a gun fight and telling the recruits that wood will not stop bullets from killing you, and so they should NOT do what the protagonist in this film is doing.

  29. And Star Trek... by dawg+ball · · Score: 1

    ... teaches that it is actually possible to accelerate from 0 to warp 8 in 25 milliseconds. OK, so you look like a 300 mile long piece of spaghetti afterwards but this is true physics.

    1. Re:And Star Trek... by crimson30 · · Score: 1

      The superluminal travel used in Star Trek is based on the manipulation of spacetime.

      So the occupants of a vessel in Star Trek would not necessarily be reduced to a fine pulp as you might think.

      If only I'd been born a bit earlier, I'd have beaten Miguel Alcubierre to the punch on his theory... I came up with the exact same thing sometime in 1998 trying to come up with an explanation for a method of superluminal travel for a short story I was writing.

  30. No wait, it's gotta be your text book... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The site is far from a tome of truth.

    Lead does not glow in the visible spectrum and so even a blob of molten lead would not produce visible light.

    They even obliquely recognize that whether something glows or not is related to it's temperature. The boiling point of lead is significantly higher than its melting point and should pretty close to yellow.

    If you're looking for science, it's best to be very careful where the internet is involved.

  31. Ob Die Hard stuff by gilroy · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Blockquoth the poster:

    Can John McClane just wrap a hose and leaps to the side of the building when it explodes? (Die Hard)
    Impossible. The hose wouldn't be able to hold the acceleration due to gravity

    Blockquoth the BBC site:

    By looking at the film shot by shot, we estimate that he falls about 35 floors,

    Very impressive, since it the building is only 32 or 33 floors high (indicated several times in the movie). It also implies 105 m of fire hose, which is itself ludicrous. However, the fall is "really" only a few floors (say, 4, if you take the building to be 34 floors and he ends up back on floor 30), his final speed would have been 16 m/s rather than the 46 m/s the BBC got.

    Does it matter? Well, it turns out that the BBC thinks "head shear" would have killed McClane, because his "severity index" was 3018, way above the fatal number (about 1000). But their speed is high by a factor of about 3, and the speed appears in that equation raised to the 2.5 power. So his "real" idex would be about 16 times lower, or 190.

    But interestingly, this is only about half of the index required to knock you out. So actually, using numbers more consistent with the film, you find that not only does McClane survive the fall, he is not knocked out!

    All of the stress arguments also depend on this bad speed, but since they concluded he'd survive the overly-strong stop, he's OK at the lower speed too.

    BTW, I don't know how elastic firehose is, but they neglected its retarding effect as he fell, too.
    1. Re:Ob Die Hard stuff by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      105 m of fire hose, which is itself ludicrous

      Getting enough head?

      See also Fluide Design.

    2. Re:Ob Die Hard stuff by ACPosterChild · · Score: 1

      he falls about 35 floors,

      Maybe the person reporting meant 3-5 floors and the person calculating interperated it as 35. "So, how many floors did he fall?" "threeto five."

  32. I was watching X men... by dawg+ball · · Score: 0

    ... and suddenly it came to me!

    e=mc^2

    But of course this is only relative

  33. hold on there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'conservation of momentum in Tango and Cash' ...

    There is nothing that needs to be conserved about a movie that shows both Kurt Russel AND Sylvester Stallone's bare ass.

    (note: the capital AND does not make my statement SQL compliant)

  34. WHO FUCKING CARES by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    Geez, I remember being a kid seeing star wars for the first time in the theather and being completly blown away. You probably went, "you can hear a ships engines in space, laser is invisible in a vacuum, etc".

    For some reason I think I have a lot more fun in live.

    Get a life some of us see movies to be entertained, not to see applied physics.

    Your kind was making movies and boring audiences when a guy called George Lucas stepped in and changed movies. He made them fun again. (and then ruined it with episode 1 but that is another story)

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:WHO FUCKING CARES by operagost · · Score: 1

      Well, only the death star's weapon was called a "laser". Everything else was called "blasters", and the way they worked indicated that they were not energy weapons, but particle weapons. So if they'd just called the super laser something else, they could have ducked the Physics Nazis.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    2. Re:WHO FUCKING CARES by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      Get a life some of us see movies to be entertained, not to see applied physics.

      There's a place for fantasy, but science fiction, or even sci-fi, should show some respect for science. And though you take it as a given that it's impossible to be both entertaining and not stupid at the same time, I don't see why. What is offensive is things that are wrong when here is no need for them to be; for instance would silent explosions in space really be so tedious? I think things like that are surprising from common experience but understandable actually intensify the experience. The problem is that most of those who make movies are simply rearranging elements from other movies, maybe with a bigger budget or more sparkly effects. Even the writers have no knowledge or apparent interest in the subject that they're supposedly creating a story around. It's rare for real SF novel to be made into a movie, when for say historical movies, it's the norm -- and historical novels share a lot of the methodology of SF as to researching the background and creating a narrative that makes it interesting and intelligible to a modern audience.

  35. Wow, you Indians are geniuses. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because classes like this are how all us american engineers learned physics. The serious physics students started with the complete first season of Mr. Wizard on DVD.

  36. Corollary by Walkiry · · Score: 1

    Based on what you've pointed out. In hollywood movies there's nothing a good nuke can't solve. Nothing.

    --
    ---- Take the Space Quiz!
  37. George Stevens by skribe · · Score: 1

    Fubared the imdb link to George Stevens.

    --
    Blog
  38. Another chance for Hollywood to redeem itself by chrism238 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It looks like Hollywood will soon have another chance to redeem its portrayal of science in movies.

    The trailer for The Day After Tomorrow looks great, and certainly has a strong message about global warming in the film (just don't try to visit their website over a modem!) Starts May 28th.

    1. Re:Another chance for Hollywood to redeem itself by brian728s · · Score: 0

      The day after tomorrow looked good until the very end of the trailer. "From the director of Independence Day"

    2. Re:Another chance for Hollywood to redeem itself by JonKatzIsAnIdiot · · Score: 1

      Considering that the 'global warming' theory has been dubunked, we'll have to wait for Hollywood to redeem itself some other time.

    3. Re:Another chance for Hollywood to redeem itself by chrism238 · · Score: 1
      Considering that the 'global warming' theory has been dubunked.....

      Ummm, well, actually, no it hasn't, but unfortunately I can't mod you down as a troll.

  39. BBC Hollywood Science by amembleton · · Score: 1

    The BBC with Open University did a really good science series called Hollywood Science. Link.

    Originally it was aired late at night but got moved to a more prime slot, I can't remember what time. Anyway it was very good and accessible because one of the presentors is Robert Llewellyn, the actor who played Kryton in Red Dwarf.

    Its definetelly worth seeing if you ever get the chance.

  40. Given the current state of their servers... by L0stb0Y · · Score: 1

    ...I'd say posting their story on /. was a practical real life lesson in entropy. (Or at the very least Chaos Theory: "Some where across the ocean a fly's wing beats- eventually causing a server halfway around the world to crash"

    Along these lines: There are great books on "The Physics of", like "The Physics of Startrek," "The Physics of the X-Files," and "The Physics of Starwars" (although the Starwars book should probably be an economics book >:)

    --
    "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
  41. My favorite sci-fi movie calculation... by cr0z01d · · Score: 5, Informative

    I only saw previews for The Core, but I gathered that the core of the Earth had stopped spinning, and the good guys had to restart it with nukes.

    Recall moment of inertia for a sphere, I = 2/5 mr^2. The mass of the Earth's core is 1.932e+24 kg, the radius, 3.488e+6 m. This gives a moment of 9.402e+36 kg m^2. The period of the core's rotation (one sidereal day) is 8.616e+3 s, giving [E= 1/2 Iw^2] rotational kinetic energy of 2.500e+28 J. Note that SI prefixes only go up to 10^24 (unless I'm mistaken).

    Now, how many nukes would have to be used to supply this energy? One kiloton TNT is 4.184e+12 J, giving the Earth's core kinetic energy of 5.975e+15 kilotons TNT. Were we to actually use TNT, the diameter of the dynamite required would be 953 kilometers and surface gravity would be 4.5% that of Earth. But I digress.

    So, back to nukes, the highest yield nuclear weapon that the US has ever produced (I think) is the triple-stage Mk-41, with up to 25 megatons TNT of explosive yield. 2.4e+11 of these would be required to provide sufficient energy to start the core's motion. To put this in perspective, each Mk-41 being 3.4 m long, the nuclear bombs required would span the average distance between the Earth and the sun five and a half times. (Hey, a lever! Never mind that the outside edge of this ridiculous construction would be moving at .3c.)

    For the Star Trek crowd, the amount of antimatter required is half of [E=mc^2] 2.781e+11 kg. The amount of energy is the same amount that the sun releases [our nice big 4e+26 W bulb] in about an hour. Enough energy to boil all the oceans almost thirty million times over. I knew that the movie premise was absurd, but I had no idea how many orders of magnitude the absurdity was.

    I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out such trivia as "Where the hell did the law of conservation of angular momentum go?"

    Sources: http://www.strategic-air-command.com/weapons/nucle ar_bomb_chart.htm, CRC books, Wikipedia, and sites on the internet I forgot about =).

    1. Re:My favorite sci-fi movie calculation... by Artifakt · · Score: 1

      But if you used European Nukes, the Soviets had at least a 54 Megaton test device, and the package size works out to produce a lever of them not much more than 25 light minutes long. Without knowing what the proposed 71 Mt design they never really tested looked like, that's about the best we can do. African Nukes are limited to a relatively modest 0.5 to 2 Mt for the ones allegedly tested off the South African coast, so in this area, the European version clearly beats the African (vis-a-vis Swallows)

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
    2. Re:My favorite sci-fi movie calculation... by baywulf · · Score: 1

      Perhaps it is a good thing we don't have enough nukes to change to rotation of the earth.

    3. Re:My favorite sci-fi movie calculation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      For an electromagnetic generator, the rotation has to be relative to something else. I've not seen the movie either, but could the core's rotation not be relative to the crust? (or the difference in rotation between the inner and outer mantle?)

      If it was one of the above (parts of the earth relative to others and not the whole earth that needs to be spun) - the relative rotation could die out through friction between the layers of the earth causing them to slowly start to move at the same speed. When they're all at the same speed - there's no magnetic field left.

      To restart a single layer of the earth would require an order of magnitude less energy and some of the movie physics (ie: conservation of angular momentum) would be a little saner. Although yes, it still be an unfeasably large quantity of energy. Just, you know, slightly less. :)

  42. Coastas = BAD! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i go to UCF, and coastas is a tough sucker when it comes to regular physics. this class will start off a dream, and turn into a nightmare.

    -Chase

  43. Um, no..... by sopuli · · Score: 1

    .... you'll actually look more like a schnitzel.

  44. It's true! by pjt33 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I'm never changing the tyres on my Ford again.

  45. In Hollywood: by Molina+the+Bofh · · Score: 3, Funny

    - All car bumpers are extremely explosive

    - Regular people will get knocked out by a simple punch while a hero will only get mildly scratched after running away from 10 terrorists with machine guns

    - Time is relative. You can jump into an airplane or helicopter in free and still be able to not only reach the controls, but also turn it on and recover it

    - The most l33t hackers crack other computers using nice and friendly GUIs. So getting into a file really looks like entering a building.

    --

    -
    Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
  46. Costas Efthimiou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ah, he subbed for my TA a few times in physics in college. Unfortunately, he was hard to understand....

  47. In related news... by PancakeMan · · Score: 1

    ...people are teaching Art History using the movies too.

  48. Euphemism by Rick.C · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "The Institute of Physics Web site you tried to reach is currently unavailable.

    Due to vital maintenance work, some Institute of Physics Web sites are temporarily unavailable."

    In physics, the Slashdot Effect is called "vital maintenance work".

    How quaint.

    --
    You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
    "Math in a song is good."-Linford
  49. Can't wait to do the quantum part of the course by Netsnipe · · Score: 1

    Which series presents a more probable model of time travel:
    Back to the Future or Terminator?

    --
    -- "I can't tell the future, I just work there." -- The Doctor
    1. Re:Can't wait to do the quantum part of the course by JohnQPublic · · Score: 1

      Maybe not time travel, but "Mr. Nuclear" isn't as far out as it looked in 1985. Bubble fusion experiments are being reproduced.

    2. Re:Can't wait to do the quantum part of the course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      THere's something screwy in 'The Terminator'. When Reese is being interogated by the shrink, he asks him why he didn't bring a futuristic weapon, and he replies that only living matter can be transported back in time:

      Dr. Silberman: Why didn't you bring any weapons, something more advanced? Don't you have, uh, ray guns? Show me a piece of future technology.
      Kyle Reese: You go naked. Something about the field generated by a living organism. Nothing dead will go.
      Dr. Silberman: Why?
      Kyle Reese: I didn't build the fucking thing.
      Dr. Silberman: Okay, okay. But this cyborg, if it's metal...
      Kyle Reese: Surrounded by living tissue.


      So, why not slice open a cow, shove a BFG-10000 into it's guts, sew it back up, and send it back? (And if all the cows and other animals are dead, why not a human being- volunteer, of course.)
    3. Re:Can't wait to do the quantum part of the course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, and if the time machine was built by MACHINES, why did they make it so "nothing dead would go"? IF I were them, I'd make it so nothing ALIVE could go, ensuring the pesky humans can't use it.

    4. Re:Can't wait to do the quantum part of the course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My vote would be neither. IANAPhysicist, but I tend to think that the theory of hyperspace and superstring has merits. It is suggested that when you time-travel, you actually time-travel to a universe similar to ours and there can be no paradox since whatever you do there can't affect you here when you return. Both Terminator and BTtF allowed changes in the past affect the future.

    5. Re:Can't wait to do the quantum part of the course by Dyolf+Knip · · Score: 1
      Actually a very good question. Each had a big gaping hole in it. Terminator had a couple of nicely resolved paradoxes in it (the origins of John Connor and Skynet), implying that attempts to change history were really only part of it (my personal favorite means of resolving the immutability of the past), but then blew that all to hell along with Cyberdyne and thus "postponing Judgement Day". Back to the Future avoided the paradoxes, but in one part left Doc & Marty in a future that no longer existed; i.e., after Biff changed the past while the heroes were in the future sans Delorian, they should have been snuffed out like a candle flame.

      Overall best time travel physics of any movie ever? I'd have to think about it. Most of the time you only get the good stuff in books.

      --
      Dyolf Knip
  50. Re:same school, different course by platypussrex · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can't get to the site to rtfa, but I had a similar course from the same University (different prof) over 25 years ago. It was called "The Physics of Science Fiction" and the premise was that we would read various works of popular science fiction (and watch some movies) and consider how the "laws of physics" were either the same or different in their universes.

    Wasn't a bad class really. We read Fred Hoyle, Larry Niven, Hal Clement, and some others that I don't remember. It gave a decent introduction to basic phsyics and was fairly popular on campus amongst the nonscience majors. (I took it because the prof was a friend of mine and said I would enjoy it.)

    Courses like this are certainly not going to replace traditional lab physics for science majors, but they can do a fine job of making science more interesting to some students who normally don't enjoy it.

  51. One of the worst offender: Stargate (the movie). by renoX · · Score: 1

    1) They send through a gate some kind of probe and seconds after they activate it, they receive a signal that the probe sent through the space and they say the probe is at XXX light years.

    2) An Egyptian expert learns to speak old Egyptian in an afternoon..

  52. Supposed to be an earth-shattering "Ka-Boom" by lildogie · · Score: 1

    Biggest gaffe for physics in Sci-Fi Films:

    Celestial explosions that go "Ka-Boom."

    License always trumps accuracy, starting with this ubiquitous device.

  53. UCF's course.. by Planetes · · Score: 2, Informative

    This course started a couple years ago.. It's a 1000 level course which is freshman level. I've met a few people that took it although most of them are film types. Most engineering majors and physics majors at UCF don't bother because it's virtually useless for our degree requirements.

    Here's an article from our student newspaper from the fall 2002 semester.

    Strangely, the course number listed in the article is for physical science. I don't know off hand what the real number is. Here's the O-P page from the latest online course catalog.

    Well, finals ended for me yesterday (with my orbital mechanics final) so I'm going to die for 2 weeks until summer semester starts.

    Daniel Davis

    Aerospace Engineering major

    University of Central Florida - Orlando

    --
    Planetes
    "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promo Ad
    "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" - Adolf Hitl
  54. Democracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can perhaps take comfort in the fact that no government in the world is a democracy. Plenty of republics though.

  55. Mention the stupid Space Station in Armageddon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I thought Armageddon was a pretty good movie up to the point where they took off from earth.

    And then it turned to crap.

    But of everything that happened after that, the worst, in my opinion, was when they docked with the Space Station to refuel.

    Apparently, the director had been told that if you spin the Station, it will create a psuedo-gravity, so you can save money on weightlessness effects.

    Unfortunately, that's all the director knew, because everything else about the Space Station scene displays a total ignorance of physics.

    First, does the Shuttle dock with the center of the Station, where it is standing still?

    No -- the Shuttle latches on to the outside of the spinning ring!

    And does the sudden shift in center-of-gravity throw the Space Station off balance?

    No, because, fortunately for them, they have two Shuttles that can latch on to opposite sides of the Space Station at exactly the same instant!

    So we have two Shuttles approaching the spinning Space Station from opposite directions, on exactly the right trajectory, at exactly the right speed, so they can both latch on in the same fraction of a second, and start spinning around with the Station.

    And does the fact that the full mass of the Shuttle, as it spins around the Station, is now being suspended against gravity (in effect), by just its door and a docking clamp, cause the Shuttle to snap in two?

    No!

    And does the Shuttle attach by its roof, so that the "gravity" will be down to the floor?

    No, it attaches by a side door -- but the "gravity" is still down to the floor!!!

    And do they have to climb ladders to move toward the center of the Station?

    No, walking along straight corriders, sideways to the spinning motion, seems to work just fine.

    If you ask me, that scene is a low point in all of sci-fi movie history. Even the old el-cheapo 50s space movies showed more respect for science.

    1. Re:Mention the stupid Space Station in Armageddon by br0ck · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are a few more bad science moments in Armageddon if you browse through the whole list at MovieMistakes.com.

    2. Re:Mention the stupid Space Station in Armageddon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The main reason why the Shuttles docked with the Space Station (MIR?) was (ahem) to refuel. Since when did MIR become an orbiting fuel dump?

    3. Re:Mention the stupid Space Station in Armageddon by Johnathon_Dough · · Score: 1
      So the rest of the movie was ok then?

      The glowing gaseous jagged "comet"?

      The leap across the vast distance of this texas sized comet?

      Walking around on the surface of the asteroid like it was an earthlike gravity with some "air powered system"

      drilling 800 feet in a few hours, with some ad-hoc machine?

      The splitting of it in half with one tiny nuke?

      Ben Asslick being the hero of, well, anything?

      Yeah, I guess the docking of the shuttle to the space station and it's instant acceleration to gravity inducing speeds is the worst part

      --
      If you are one in a million, then there are six thousand people who are just like you.
    4. Re:Mention the stupid Space Station in Armageddon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > So the rest of the movie was ok then?

      Oh, I didn't say _that_. :-)

      > The glowing gaseous jagged "comet"?

      I knew it was wrong, but I was prepared to overlook that one, on the basis of artistic license.

      > The leap across the vast distance of this texas sized comet?

      Yep. And what's especially annoying about that scene is that it would have taken only five minutes of thinking (assuming they were capable) to fix it. In such a low gravity, the idea of leaping a huge distance is not impossible -- if they had done the necessary math, and given themselves a way to control their flight.

      > Walking around on the surface of the asteroid like it was an earthlike gravity with some "air powered system"

      I certainly noticed that one. They said the asteroid was "the size of Texas," which would have given it a very low gravity. Thus, every step should have sent them flying into the air, such that it would have taken several minutes to come back down.

      What's also interesting (in the watching-a-train-wreck sort of way) is that they changed the gravity from one scene to the next (e.g. the chasm-leaping scene).

      > Drilling 800 feet in a few hours, with some ad-hoc machine?

      It's NASA. They can do anything. :-)

      > The splitting of it in half with one tiny nuke?

      I choose to overlook that, but you're right. They said it was the size of Texas, and you are not going to split that much land mass with just one bomb.

      And what's really annoying, again, is how little effort it would have taken to make it at least possible, if still implausible. They could have explained that the asteroid was actually two masses held together loosely by gravity; they could have done some reasonable calculations on how many nukes it would take to impart some momentum and send the two rocks on different trajectories, not to mention how far away from Earth they had to be for it to work; they could have spent weeks on the asteroid planting multiple bombs, which would have given them, and the audience, some down time in the second half of the movie; and, oh, never mind.

      > Ben Asslick being the hero of, well, anything?

      I see your Ben Asslick, and I raise you one "I'm going to die; No, I'm going to die; You tricked me!" scene.

      And just for fun, here are a couple more...

      First, there's those amazing military Space Shuttles, that are so armored (why?) that they can smash through rocks without damage, yet are light enough to fly around the moon and accelerate to high speed, using conventional rockets, without running out of fuel!

      And then there's the Moon's gravity, which is only one-sixth of Earth's, yet it can slingshot the Shuttle at an amazing 12Gs!

    5. Re:Mention the stupid Space Station in Armageddon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice link, but they have a damn annoying pop-over ad that hides the text. I found that if you press the back button then forward to return to it that the ad goes away. What kind of idiot webmaster would add ads to their web pages that keep people from seeing the content?

  56. Armageddon made me physically ill by ArmorFiend · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Were there any physics in that were even kinda correct? I seem to recall the space shuttles bobing and weaving like airplanes through a meteor shower. Uh, there's no AIR in outer space, guys, thus flying with your big engines pointed back makes you go faster and faster and FasterAndFASTER until you die, and you can't use your wings as control surfaces to turn.

    Ah, and when they were stressfully docking with the spinning(!) "mir", there's this shot where you see the docking hatch extend, and its like the shuttle is "orbiting" mir, even before they make contact.

    I'm pretty sure most big meteors aren't shaped like they're designed by an evil asteroid designing picasso. Yep, I'm pretty sure they're usually just oblong balls.

    I'm pretty sure that meteor swarms that have travelled cosmic distances aren't constantly having sub meteors bang into eachother like bumpercars. They got all that out of their system 10,000 years ago.

    The people that made this movie should be hunted down and shot by their highschool physics instructor.

  57. Hollywood Physics by BitwizeGHC · · Score: 2, Funny

    People learning physics better from movies is exactly who most people think they can leap through a plate glass window from an exploding car, submachineguns blazing with no apparent need to reload, ever.

    Physics lessons from Hollywood is like, the exact opposite of what we need.

    --
    N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
    1. Re:Hollywood Physics by Dyolf+Knip · · Score: 1

      Honestly, if someone is willing to try that, I say let em. Evolution in action.

      --
      Dyolf Knip
    2. Re:Hollywood Physics by stinkyelf · · Score: 1

      I get the feeling that you forgot to read the article.

      "For example, he discusses the law of gravitation as used - or misused -- in Independence Day"

  58. Re:One of the worst offender: Stargate (the movie) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    2) An Egyptian expert learns to speak old Egyptian in an afternoon..

    If watch the movie, Daniel Jackson already knew how to speak ancient Egyptian, but since the planet's language evolved seperate from Earth's, it had a different dialect. Essentially, he learned a new dialect of a language he already knew, which is probably simple for a linguist.

  59. the obvious answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do films like Independence Day, Armageddon and X-Men have in common?

    they all suck??

    1. Re:the obvious answer by Ploum · · Score: 1

      it's indeed the first statement that comes to mind when reading this story...

  60. Armageddon, ID and X-men ????????? by Ploum · · Score: 1

    Unbelievebale !

    So, students teach that in space the space shuttle make a loudly noise and run with his main engine on ?

    They learn that ET follow RFC for networking and that our software (virus) run perfectly on their hardware with their OS. But their screens are VGA compatible !

    So they learn physic with movies ?

    But why those movies ? The only space movie physically true is 2001 as far as I know...

    1. Re:Armageddon, ID and X-men ????????? by Christosterone · · Score: 1

      I agree.
      3 bad examples of movies from which to teach or apply physics.

      I think it is just an attempt to take what's typically a boring subject to most people and try to apply it to something they might find interesting.

      The most ridiculous scene was in ID when they uploaded the virus. maybe not really physics related, but I really felt like they were insulting my intelligence, as opposed to Armageddon which i found completely believable. :-)

      --
      Go Canucks!!
  61. Hollywood Physics by danrudolph · · Score: 1

    At my school my Physics 211 (Mechanics) professor adds a semgent to almost every leture called "Hollywood Physics." It similar to the idea of the article. His aim is to bascially prove, and show why a particular stunt or action scene would work, or disprove the ones that would not work. He formulates some assumptions and then solves the problem with formulas we are using during that chapter. It's one of the more interesting parts of the physics lectures, that is, the ones I can crawl out of bed for. It sure beats massless pigs on a frictionless inclined plane.

  62. Not a service by the_twisted_pair · · Score: 1
    The problem is quite simply that Hollywood is about selling escapism; it's not a public service.

    Presenting dogfights in space, even whole planets exploding, in complete silence would be very dull. In most films, the soundtrack is where the drama is, and sets the context for the action (or lack of) on the screen. It's audience direction, pure and simple.

    The only sci-fi film I can think of that successfully elides this issue is Kubrick's 2001, where classical music is used instead to stunning effect - if only because it credits the audience with some intelligence and gives sufficient pause to wonder.

    1. Re:Not a service by Jeeza · · Score: 1

      Presenting dogfights in space, even whole planets exploding, in complete silence would be very dull.

      It would be - and I suppose it is - very dull for audiences craving excitement and the feeling of adrenaline pumping in their veins. Sadly this is a major part of today's audiences, but it could be said that the sight of planets exploding in complete silence might offer a much more awesome experience to some using their mental capabilities rather than needing the jostling around provided by strong emotions, even if founded on unreality.

    2. Re:Not a service by br0ck · · Score: 1

      Space without any sounds of explosions or rocket engines can be more exciting that you think. In Firefly, the absolute silence of all outer space shots really make the eeriness and emptiness of space stand out.. even more so if you just you hear one of the crew breathing. (SPOILER?) In pilot episode there's an extremely creepy scene where the flesh-eating Reavers pass directly by them with no sound (ZOE: If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing and if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order.) but then later they chase them into the atmosphere of a nearby planet and the sound is deafening. Perhaps I'm not describing it that well, but I thought the technique was very effective.

  63. No, no, and thrice *NO*! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's not necessarily wrong! If there's any low-frequency electromagnetic emissions from the Ka-Boom, they will cause any ferromagnetic materials in whatever vessel you happen to be watching from to vibrate. Hell, you might even get *non*-ferromagnetic conductors shaking about from the interactions between eddy currents and the magnetic fields. Because the EM fields travel at the same speed as the light from the explosion, you don't even need to take account of any speed-of-sound delays.

    Anyone know the typical low-frequency emission spectrum of a detonating Death Star/Warbird/Cylon mothership?

  64. No air = no sound by Easy2RememberNick · · Score: 1

    Why then is there always sound in space movies?
    Why is there no delay for sounds that are far away,
    Distant explosions screwed up, i.e an explosion far away and the light and sound alway arrive at the same time!

    [ Sig mantra: Always perviwe befroe postng ]

    1. Re:No air = no sound by Dyolf+Knip · · Score: 1

      And oddly enough, they usually get ground-level nuclear explosions right. A blinding flash, followed by earth-borne shockwave, then thunderclap, and then high-velocity winds. Wierd.

      --
      Dyolf Knip
    2. Re:No air = no sound by tukkayoot · · Score: 1

      Not so weird... a ground-level nuclear explosion is pretty dramatic. A blinding flash, a shockwave, a thunderclap, high velocity winds and a mushroom cloud... produces a pretty big "wow" factor. Much more interesting than a silent, invisible space explosion.

  65. Michael Moore and facts do not go together by bonch · · Score: 1

    You say attack him for his facts, well:

    Here you go. Here's more.

    There's a reason he gave back his award for Best Documentary...it wasn't a documentary.

    That's why he's called a nutcase. He will distort facts, then justify it as "comedy." If some right-wing nut twisted facts to make Kerry look bad, then justified it by saying "there aren't falsehoods in comedy," lefties would be all over it in a heartbeat.

    There's a reason Michael Moore's fanbase has dwindled so.

    1. Re:Michael Moore and facts do not go together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Carefull Bonch. This IS Slashdot after all. The majority is liberal around here. Your anti-Moore posts will get modded as TROLL just like DigiShamans.

  66. Fixed second link by bonch · · Score: 1

    Corrected link. Sorry.

    I guess I just find it amusing when someone will jump up to defend Moore and say "you shouldn't insult people, you should argue with facts," and yet Moore loves to call everyone under the sun "liars" and "greedy" and actually invents facts and splices together speeches for his own agendas.

  67. The Italian Job (spoiler) by menscher · · Score: 2, Informative
    In the opening scenes, they have a safe drop through several floors and land in a boat. Now, I have an interest in security, and I know that safes weigh a lot. Falling several stories down, even if slowed by an impact with each floor, would give that thing enough penetrating power to punch right through any boat. So when I saw the boat speeding off with the safe in the back, I started laughing and telling the person next to me how stupid that was.

    Oh, and yes, IAAP (I Am A Physicist), so really obvious physics stupidities jump out at me. Like sound effects in space....

    1. Re:The Italian Job (spoiler) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm going to risk a guess that the person next to you wasn't a girl, and if the was, you didn't get any. Pointing out physics inaccuracies isn't cool anywhere but here.

    2. Re:The Italian Job (spoiler) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They fooled you too... it didn't land on the boat. They made it look like they ran away with it on the boat. Misdirection if you will. It fell to the water and they used scuba gear to open the safe....

    3. Re:The Italian Job (spoiler) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course, the splash of the safe hitting the water would have soaked everything on the 'ground floor', and splashed water up to the next floor, too.

      And isn't it lucky that the safe landed upright, and the fall didn't warp it so much the door stuck....

    4. Re:The Italian Job (spoiler) by menscher · · Score: 1
      Just a note for all the idiots responding to this post: yes, I did watch the next scene. I was giving this as an example of how physics actually played into a storyline, and how if the average grunt sitting around guarding a safe knew more physics, the movie would have ended in the first scene.

      I will admit that when watching it I was indeed "fooled". While I didn't believe for an instant that a safe could realistically fall and not crash through a boat, I was honestly fooled into believing that the director didn't know basic physics.

    5. Re:The Italian Job (spoiler) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I started laughing and telling the person next to me how stupid that was.

      Oh, so you were that obnoxious jerk. I paid good money to see the movie, not to hear you show off your ignorance, so shut the fuck up.

    6. Re:The Italian Job (spoiler) by ACPosterChild · · Score: 1

      The new Battlestar Galactica movie actually did this well. There were explosions shown from the view of people in space fighters. There was no explosion sound, but there was the *ping* of lots of small debris hitting the canopy.

  68. F=ma by scubacuda · · Score: 3, Funny
    Everything I currently know about F=ma I learned from watching Roadrunner cartoons.

    1. Re:F=ma by Dyolf+Knip · · Score: 1
      What, you mean this one?

      (length of time it takes to start Falling after having run off a cliff) = (Matter particulate density in the surrounding air) * (Amount of preparation put into the latest trap)

      --
      Dyolf Knip
  69. No thats what u r by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Calling them names just makes you look childish.

    Nuh-Uhh !! YOU are Childish !!

  70. Isn't this like a blind man teaching painting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dear god, most current movie producers grasp of physics and science ranks as below that of the average 16 year old. And their products are being used to teach the next generation of producers physics. Riiiiiiighhht.

  71. Re:One of the worst offender: Stargate (the movie) by renoX · · Score: 1

    If I remember well, he knows how to speak modern Egyptian, and he is able to read ancient Egyptian.

    I doubt very much that anybody on Earth knows how to speak ancient Egyptian: modern Egyptian is likely to be quite different from ancient Egyptian, a few thousands years tends to change quite a lot a language as evidenced by the fact that until the 'pierre de rosette' was found nobody was able to read ancient Egyptian anymore.

  72. Firefly by SnappingTurtle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of the things that impressed me about the TV show "Firefly" was that when something in space blew up it didn't go "boom".

    --
    I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
    1. Re:Firefly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those space interstitials were done silently partly because the special effects were getting a bit expensive, and not much money was left over. Rather than do a cheesy and poor job with a little money, they left out sound effects altogether, which had the effect of making those scenes more 'realistic'. It's all there in the DVDs.

  73. Uncultured Director by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 1

    The director has obviously never played Elite!

  74. You forgot: by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 1
    My favourite pet peeves:

    American kids are at high-school until their late 20s. (unlike Grange Hill for example). This is explained by them never having anything to learn in class or having homework (or school uniforms come to that). I know there is at least one guy in his late 40s at high school in India who is still trying to pass his exams, but statistically I would have thought the majority of americans should have graduated from high school at least by the age of 21.

    The speed of sound == the speed of light. Explosions are heard instantly even if they are kilometres away.

    And deleting a file on a hard disk, a simple matter of changing a directory entry, takes many seconds instead of a few milliseconds seek time. Oh wait, Windows XP has implemented that feature as a tribute to Hollywood.

  75. Three kinds of physics classes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Introductory physics courses are taught at three levels: physics with calculus, physics without calculus, and physics without physics. Prof. Anon

    This class seems to be the third kind. Didn't some other professor do something like this with a Harry Potter theme? I'm so sick of physics professors teaching these BS classes to try and get the average student interested in physics. Physics is hard, that's why there were only three advanced physics degrees awarded last year at my university, versus about 150 MBAs. Not too many people can handle physics. Classes like these that try to make physics fun are just BS classes so that people that can't handle real science classes can complete their general ed requirements. These classes may teach people a few dumbed down theories, but they don't teach people how to do physics.

    I may be a bit biased of course, since I am a physics major, but there are already enough people out there who don't appreaciate the effort it takes to get a degree in physics. There were some semesters when I practically lived in the labs doing research. Physics is hard work. We don't need classes that delude people into thinking that we physicists just sit around and watch movies all day.

  76. Errrrr... what about the next scene? by ll1234 · · Score: 1

    In which it's shown that the boat is hauling away a phony safe? The real one did what you predicted, it went straight into the water for a safecracker to work on, underwater. Which is fairly amazing in its own right come to think of it.

  77. Why is this news? by Jondo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is just like "Math in art", or "History of calculus" courses that fulfil math requirements.

    They're still bloody arts courses.

  78. Re:same school, different course by BigBlackDog · · Score: 1
    May I suggest a new nLA: ihnrtfa - I have not read the fscking...

    Back to topic...

    If you you don't go 'Wow' at everything you see around you, there is something wrong with you. The world is full of mystery

    Anything that makes people say 'Oh! So that's how it works!', or 'Wow! Thats a lot of stuff!' is a Good Thing (tm).

    But it is sad that people need to be reminded.

    --

    BBD

    --
    /* This comment may not be thread-safe */
  79. Suggestions by Zareste · · Score: 1

    Anyone else think Akira should be on this list? I mean it observed nearly every law of physics even while it screwed around with them so much. The way the lasers shot in a stream instead foot-long jolts (much like real plasma would), you couldn't hear anything when Tetsuo was in space, the use of air-displacement on solid objects.

    Plus you'd get to severely traumatize everyone in the class. What more could you want?

    --
    I am NOT a number! I am a - oh wait, I'm number 761710. Look! 761710!
  80. Cotton-Candy Classes... Put this concept to WORK by AndyChrist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm sure this sort of class isn't WORTHLESS, especially for people who wouldn't learn anything from a more technical science class, or a physics student just looking for a few laughs. I just hope it doesn't satisfy the baccalaureate core requirements at that school.

    Film students should be required to take classes like this. THAT would make it really meaningful.

  81. Deep impact is a much better movie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't remember if it is any more respectful of physics than the Bruce and Ben testosteronefest, but Deep Impact is a much better movie, with some moving performances.

    However, Armageddon does have some nice humor, particularly the Steve Buschemi stuff, so it's not totally worthless.

  82. Re:One of the worst offender: Stargate (the movie) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought on Stargate they imply that the probe is communicating via the gate. The stargate transmits both energy and matter so radio waves should be able to go through ok.

    Mark

  83. Tried that for Babylon 5 by Zathras26 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Straczynski wanted to be true (well, mostly true, anyway) to the laws of physics in Babylon 5. When he originally created the show, all scenes taking place in outer space took place in silence. When they did a test showing to interested audiences, there was too much negative reaction -- most notably, a lot of people thought that there had been a problem with the sound production, so Straczynski decided to put the sound back in.

    It's still really cool, though, that his design for the Starfuries is now being adapted by NASA for use in the future.

  84. Re:Ob Die Hard stuff, ObSimpsons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Dear Die Hard,

    You rock. Especially that scene with the guy on the roof.

    signed, Homer Simpson

    p.s. do you know Mad Max?"

  85. X-men by Raunch · · Score: 1

    My favorite part was when magnito manipulated copper from the statue of liberty to form a holding pen.

    --
    George II -- Spreading Freedom and American values, one bomb at a time.
  86. Re:One of the worst offender: Stargate (the movie) by Teancum · · Score: 1

    While I would have to agree that it may be difficult to get the stress and accent correct, the tones of ancient Egyptian can be identified fairly easily from the hyroglyphics, which are phonemic in nature (i.e. represent specific sounds... roughly anaogous to what you are more familiar with in terms of the letters you are reading right now.)

    Chinese ideographs are much harder to identify what sounds or even words were used it pronounce the glyph, because there are no tonal indicators with that writing system. It expresses ideas rather than sounds.

    Still, even if you were extreamly fluent in ancient egyptian and had even come up with your own interpretation of the sounds of the words, not all of your guesses would be correct and it does vary even from one period of time to the next (just look at what English has done in the past 300 years).

  87. Hats off to Apollo XIII (the movie) by Teancum · · Score: 1

    This is one instance where you do indeed get sound in space... and why if you hear anything in space like an explosion or grinding metal that your bowels should suddenly start to loosen: It is the ship you are in that is falling apart!

    There were some sound effects in that movie that weren't 100% accurate, but for the most part it was from the perspective of the astronauts, including in some cases the music being played.

    I would agree that for some reason seeing a huge explosion and not hearing anything until several minutes later you start hearing a ping, ping, ping (from debris hitting the ship you are in) just wouldn't be satisfying to the typical Hollywood-style movie.