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Structural Engineer On the Fallacies of Movie Bridge Destruction (hackaday.com)

szczys writes: Suspension bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge are favorite victims for movie makers but are almost always shown to perform in violation of the laws of physics. Structural Engineer Alex Weinberg couldn't stay silent any longer. He covers how bridge collapses in several major films should have looked. The biggest offender? Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.

111 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Parade of the Pedants! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Next they will be telling us that X-Wing fights can't really bank in space and don't make that "rrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaararrarrr" noise.

    1. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Deadstick · · Score: 1

      Fiction is about suspending disbelief, and the presenter should help you do that. Show something that's physically absurd and the bubble bursts. Even in fantasy, you shouldn't expect the audience to accept unreality that the premise doesn't need.

    2. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 2

      Batman is not real, so why not just have every character fly around with 8 arms and become invisible on a whim? Because all good fiction is tied to the fact that there is some real elements, and the more consistent those elements are with the world you already know, the more engaged you become in the story.

    3. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Show something that's physically absurd and the bubble bursts. Even in fantasy, you shouldn't expect the audience to accept unreality that the premise doesn't need.

      I would say that this is true in sci-fi, but anything goes in fantasy :-)

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    4. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by hawguy · · Score: 2

      Next they will be telling us that X-Wing fights can't really bank in space and don't make that "rrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaararrarrr" noise.

      There's no reason why an X-Wing can't bank in space, it just needs to use attitude control rockets and it can bank in any direction it wants to. Since X-Wings can fly in the atmosphere (where banking would be useful), maybe the R2 units automatically bank the fighter in the vacuum of space to give the pilots a more consistent feeling.

      There are a number of explanations for the sound that you hear when a fighter flies near the camera in the documentaries you're watching. It could be that the fighters are mic'ed for a more dramatic effect. Or maybe whatever the engine uses for thrust is making an audible sound on the cameras, like maybe electomagnetic interference is inducing noise in the microphone. Or maybe the filmmaker wants to provide audio feedback to viewers, so he uses a laser to remotely record vibrations off the fighter's hull and turns them into audible sound.

    5. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny

      Fiction is about suspending disbelief, ...

      Or, in this case, "suspensioning" disbelief.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    6. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by lgw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      ere are a number of explanations for the sound that you hear when a fighter flies near the camera in the documentaries you're watching

      The explanation in Babylon 5 was that the fighters are actually making noises in the cockpit when other fighters fly nearby, as an audible cue to the pilot about where in the sphere to look for that other fighter. Real world fighters use all sorts of audible cues, so that the pilot can keep his eyes on the target.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    7. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by dbIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even fantasy has a wizard stand up and wave things around to give a clue that there is some sort of cause to the unrealistic effect.

    8. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Because the flaws are so egregious that they've gone beyond merely funny and into face palming territory. Just because it's a movie doesn't mean you can just be stupid about it. Now if the entire premise is bizarre and the world setting is alien, then maybe stretching things is ok (otherwise Anime would fall on its face). But if the entire premise is that the world is just like our own except for a few military combat situations, then having a bridge floating in mid air is just plain dumb.

      Believe me, even in something like X-Men, if Wolverine had picked up that Golden Gate bridge instead of Magneto, the fans would have come out of the wood work to say how stupid it was, how it broke all the lore, and what were the writers smoking. But when a bridge is cut in half and manages to defy gravity by not falling down we're supposed to just look the other way instead of noticing that the writers are stupid?

      Even the massive cables on the Golden Gate bridge aren't strong enough for that kind is suspension of disbelief.

    9. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Not true. Most fantasy stories come with rules, unspoken or otherwise. Batman is the good guy. Bilbo can't do magic. Harry Potter needs a wand to cast spells. Glorfindel does not use a rocket launcher.

    10. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Informative

      well.. in case of star trek and star wars.. there was explanations before for why tie fighters did not fight in atmosphere(they would break up) and why xwings had closing wings(closing or opening them while in space serves little purpose). also once upon a time star trek writers bothered to come up with plot lines where they didn't place the huge saucer space ship in atmosphere/gravity as well.

      then came this one director who apparently was too stupid to understand backstories OR physics, so he made movies of both which seem just silly poorly informed fan flics. never mind the space phone.

      the point is, that such things can destroy a plot. if there is a teleporter and flying to klingon home planet takes 1 hour and there is a space phone that can operate anywhere then everything else done in the movie is totally pointless.

      with the batman, it doesn't really affect the plot how it looks when the bridge breaks - what matters for the plot is just that the bridge breaks. there's big plot holes around that sure about human behavior but that is hardly the point.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    11. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      They have to make a noise. So why not "rrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaararrarrr"?

    12. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by ultranova · · Score: 1

      Because all good fiction is tied to the fact that there is some real elements, and the more consistent those elements are with the world you already know, the more engaged you become in the story.

      No, not really. The problem with fantastic elements is that authors tend to forget about them, or invent ridiculous excuses for why they can't be used. If you make a fantasy world where resurrection magic exists, you can't then use death for dramatic suspension, since undoing it has become a mere logistial problem.

      --

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

    13. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Then why bother to have all the characters walk in fantasy? Why have the moth go get the eagles, rather than have the moth fly everyone out? Because there's "realism" in the fantasy. Violating what realism there is in fantasy is as bad as violating the realism in realism.

    14. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      Actually, Harry Potter only sometimes needs a wand to cast spells. http://harrypotter.wikia.com/w...

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    15. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 1

      I like to think of the wands as a bit like a resonant megaphone. The magic comes from the wizard, and the wands just amplify and focus what comes out.

      Swish and flick the wrong way and you screw up the frequency with a magical Doppler effect.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    16. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 2

      Exactly. Number 1 rule for any science fiction or fantasy story: Stick to the rules for your universe. Anyone can accept that magic works a certain way, what they can't accept is when your characters or your story forgets to behave within your rules.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    17. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      So did Babylon 5 have sound during in-cockpit scenes and silence (or background music, but nothing else) during exterior scenes? (One of these days I need to get around to watching Babylon 5...)

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    18. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      also once upon a time star trek writers bothered to come up with plot lines where they didn't place the huge saucer space ship in atmosphere/gravity as well.

      Are you speaking of this scene?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      I thought it was pretty believable, the way the saucer section kind of flies down. Now, Into Darkness was entirely unbelievable, a ship in orbit doesn't just fall straight down when power is removed...

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    19. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      The banking would also provide consistent acceleration on maneuvers, as if you bank when turning, you are pushed down in your seat, if you just turn you are thrown sideways into the cockpit side panel. The banking would allow turning maneuvers to act like gravity at times and would make it easier for the pilot to deal with.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    20. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Triklyn · · Score: 1

      fire is still hot in fantasy. make a fireball, and you're not going to freeze your target... unless it's a blue flame, then anything goes really. your central conceit may be that thermodynamics doesn't apply, and a blue fireball is a cold flame... because magic.

      but that's part of the fantasy, and gots to be explicit in a way. if it's a standard orange flame, it's hot hot hot. in keeping with any color flame in our world.

    21. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Triklyn · · Score: 1

      die in a fire.

    22. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Admiral_Grinder · · Score: 1

      Well, sure, but did they have to use the same noise as the critter under my kitchen sink?

    23. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      So we're making more rules here. That's the point I was making. Fantasy is not a system where anything goes, because there are rules being applied all the time.
      It's an annoying fight in the online game I play, Lord of the Rings Online, where some new player wishes for something ridiculous to happen ("the other game I played had floating castles!l") and then they defend it by saying "but it's just a fantasy, so anything can happen").

    24. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Agripa · · Score: 1

      Next? It has already been done:

      http://www.projectrho.com/publ...

    25. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Agripa · · Score: 1

      Or you could put pilot's seat or environment on gimbles so that the main engines can be used for maximum efficiency rather than being wasted for comfort of the pilot like the Rangers do in Interstellar.

    26. Re:Parade of the Pedants! by Agripa · · Score: 1

      I had to resist jumping up and cheering when the Reaver ship in Firefly flipped 180 degrees and did a burn facing backwards to lower its orbit to enter the atmosphere.

      "Forward takes you out, out takes you back, back takes you in, and in takes you forward."

  2. Suspend your disbelief by grimmjeeper · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Pretty much everything in every movie is not realistic. Why should blowing up bridges be any different.

    Go see movie. Suspend your disbelief. Enjoy it. Go home. Get on with the rest of your life instead of sitting around with nerds over analyzing everything.

    1. Re:Suspend your disbelief by gnupun · · Score: 1

      You don't get it... he wants to be hired by Chris Nolan to produce more realistic bridge explosions. Movies have become more realistic over the years. Why not consult engineers for these destruction scenes?

    2. Re:Suspend your disbelief by grimmjeeper · · Score: 2

      Oh, and I forgot to comment on the fact that I absolutely do not believe you that movies have become more realistic over the years. At all. Because they haven't.

    3. Re:Suspend your disbelief by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      You probably didn't go see that last Godzilla movie then. What a pile of crap.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    4. Re:Suspend your disbelief by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      > Umm, what HASN'T Neil DeGrasse Tyson whinged about?

      systemd ?

    5. Re:Suspend your disbelief by grimmjeeper · · Score: 1

      Making that pile of crap "realistic" wouldn't have helped. But really, how realistic can you make a movie about a gigantic lizard?

    6. Re:Suspend your disbelief by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      Anne McCaffrey made a whole book series that had believable gigantic lizards. They even flew and breathed fire.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    7. Re:Suspend your disbelief by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Making that pile of crap "realistic" wouldn't have helped. But really, how realistic can you make a movie about a gigantic lizard?

      Realistic isn't even the point of the Godzilla movies. They are camp they are more comedy than scifi.

      Godzilla should never be other than a guy in a rubber suit.

      It's funny, one of my son's vivid memories is sitting with me watching Son of Godzilla, perhaps the funniest one of all. Gojira as a doting dad - doesn't get much better than that.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    8. Re:Suspend your disbelief by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      Oh, and I forgot to comment on the fact that I absolutely do not believe you that movies have become more realistic over the years. At all. Because they haven't.

      Don't you miss the car going off a cliff and always bursting into flames? A staple of 70's movies and TV.

      I remember for a while, the Simpson's would spoof that - the best one was when a baby carriage rolled down some steps, fell over, and blew up.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    9. Re:Suspend your disbelief by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      And Michael Bay still believes in this today.

    10. Re:Suspend your disbelief by dinfinity · · Score: 1

      Fuck your nerd-hate. You don't belong on Slashdot.

      Also: Don't tell me what to do. You want to enjoy crap: fine. I don't have to.

    11. Re:Suspend your disbelief by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Did you miss the attempt at realism of
      The Martian
      Interstellar
      Gravity
      ?

      They may not be perfect, but at least Hollywood is trying to get it right.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    12. Re:Suspend your disbelief by grimmjeeper · · Score: 1

      I would argue that those movies aren't exactly realistic either. Maybe better than some but they still have a long way to go. And they're the exception rather than the rule.

    13. Re:Suspend your disbelief by grimmjeeper · · Score: 1

      I don't hate nerds. I pity them.

    14. Re:Suspend your disbelief by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      That is pretty much what I said. Gravity tried to get it right, but they had her doing some crazy orbit changes that just wouldn't happen. There are some things you just can't get completely right and have a story.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    15. Re:Suspend your disbelief by grimmjeeper · · Score: 2

      Which takes us back to my original statement. It's just a movie. Suspend your disbelief. Enjoy it. Be entertained. Go home and get on with your life.

    16. Re:Suspend your disbelief by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Did you see how badly designed and made cars were in the 1970s? ;-)

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    17. Re:Suspend your disbelief by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      Anne McCaffrey made a whole book series that had believable gigantic lizards. They even flew and breathed fire.

      Well, to be fair, they only breathed fire when fed special rocks. And you left out the part about how they could [redacted to avoid spoilers], both forwards and backwards.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    18. Re:Suspend your disbelief by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      You make it realistic by having it fit into the world and act consistently. Of course S.H.I.E.L.D. has a helicarrier and the Avengers have assorted superpowers. That's how that particular world works. However, the helicarrier can be crashed by sufficient rotor destruction, and Captain America is never going to fly without assistance. The Millennium Falcon can do that jump into hyperspace, but it takes time, and can't be done if the component that makes it possible is sabotaged.

      If the world starts working one way one time and another way another time, it bothers me. My understanding of the characters is slightly affected, since their environment is uncertain. If something is unrealistic within its context, it can leave me wondering what's going on. (In an episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Mrs. King was knocked out and a scarlet snake was thrown into the room. I was left wondering whether this was a warning and nothing more, or if the snake on screen was just the coral snake's stunt double.) If things simply don't make sense (*cough*Avatar*cough*), I lose it and just watch the pretty pictures (rewarding in that movie) and snicker at things (like the human attack plans for the last battle).

      However, something momentary doesn't bother me all that much. If a car falls down a cliff and explodes, what's the difference between that and crashing into unusability and killing all aboard? If a bridge is going to collapse, sure I'd like it to look realistic (in a world where that makes sense), but it got hit somewhere, it collapsed somehow or another, let's get on with the plot.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    19. Re:Suspend your disbelief by dinfinity · · Score: 1

      No sane man derides the ones he pities.
      Don't run from the truth. It is weak.

  3. Well written and funny article by Radical+Moderate · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you have a few minutes to waste, or are passionate about suspension bridge structural integrity, well worth a read.

    --
    Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
    1. Re:Well written and funny article by Zaelath · · Score: 1, Informative

      I stopped reading when he described a catenary as a parabola
      http://mathyear2013.blogspot.c...

    2. Re:Well written and funny article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      You should have read further and into the comments as well. Catenary is indeed not a parabola, but the suspension cables are. The cables are not free-hanging, they carry a considerable mass, which makes them parabola-shaped. As soon as the bridge fails, the cables turn into catenary shape, which makes his usage of the words accurate.

    3. Re:Well written and funny article by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      He never said it was, and the comments on that page already highlight that false assumption.
      How does it feel to be that guy?

    4. Re:Well written and funny article by nukenerd · · Score: 1

      I stopped reading when he described a catenary as a parabola

      Why is that? Did the line drop?

      The cable would be a catenary only if there were no load on it other than its self weight, which is uniform along the cable - which is not horizontal except right at the centre. However, when supporting a road deck, the deck imposes a weight load that is uniform along the horizontal length, not uniform along the length of the cable. The road deck weight is far greater than the cable self-weight, so it is (more or less) a parabola.

      That is to the first order anyway. In fact the cable tends to go in straight lines between each point where a vertical suspender is, but those points lying on a parabola. And of course the roadway is not exactly horizontal in most modern suspension bridges.

    5. Re:Well written and funny article by msauve · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I read to the end, where his explanation for the "worst" one is just plain wrong. He explains "Imagine stringing a clothesline between two buildings and putting some shirts out to dry. Now, cut the line in the middle. In our world, the line loses all its capacity and the shirts all fall to the ground."

      But, what he describes is quite different than a suspension bridge. The bridge deck (the equivalent of which is missing in his analogy) will take some compressive force and has some stiffness. If sufficiently robust, the remaining parts of the bridge could remain standing, as two single tower self anchored suspension bridges (or bridle-chord). A real world suspension bridge design would most certainly not be strong enough, but his analogy is flawed.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    6. Re:Well written and funny article by Firethorn · · Score: 2

      A real world suspension bridge design would most certainly not be strong enough, but his analogy is flawed.

      First, any analogy is flawed if you look into it deep enough. That's why they're analogies.
      Then, you mention something that would make it 'flawed', but that no real world bridge would be strong enough, so they'd still fail, making the clothesline analogy 'good enough', at least in my opinion, because the net effect would be the same(bridge/clothes fall down).

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    7. Re:Well written and funny article by dbIII · · Score: 2

      If sufficiently robust

      It isn't, otherwise the remainder of the bridge would not be necessary.

    8. Re:Well written and funny article by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Funny

      I stopped reading when he described a catenary as a parabola

      Yeah, what a dumbass.

      Everyone knows a catenary is a little yellow bird.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    9. Re:Well written and funny article by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      A cable hanging freely from two fixed points will form a catenary –like the wires between telephone poles.

      This is not the case with a suspension bridge, where additional, vertical cables are strung every 20 or 40 meters, in order to support the road deck. The resultant shape is not a catenary. Probably closer to a parabola, as the cable is supporting not only its own weight along its length, but also the decking in periodic increments.

      Each suspension bridge differs slightly, depending upon the weight factors of the various components. Finite element analysis is probably the only reliable way to determine the mathematical shape of the arc. (Or just take a photo.)

      Catenaries: They work for arches, too.

    10. Re:Well written and funny article by dbIII · · Score: 2

      Now you are attempting to put words in my mouth. Comparing what I wrote to a single rivet is an act of bastardry and you should be ashamed of yourself.

    11. Re:Well written and funny article by msauve · · Score: 1

      Denying what you said is no way to win an argument.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    12. Re:Well written and funny article by dbIII · · Score: 1

      I'm denying that I said the words YOU wrote and you know it.
      Of course the thing is going to fall down when the majority of the structure no longer works. What's going to hold it up? That thing that is not there any more. The majority of the structure is a little bit different to a single rivet.
      How about we discuss reality instead of having a stupid fucking debate where one person decides they need to argue on the side of fantasy and has no scruples about how they so it.

    13. Re:Well written and funny article by msauve · · Score: 1

      You don't know what "majority" means, do you?

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    14. Re:Well written and funny article by dbIII · · Score: 1

      You don't know what "majority" means, do you?

      Everything apart from the deck in this case.
      Why are you bothering to pick a fight while unarmed?

    15. Re:Well written and funny article by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      The main cable will not be in tension any more. The sum of vertical suspenders was equal to the weight of the road. After the break, rather than pulling up, they'll pull to the tower mounting point of the main cable. This will increase the load on all the vertical suspenders, as well as change the loading on the road surface. Whether it will stand will depend on the engineering. If it was wastefully over-engineered, it may stand, but if properly engineered, it should fall with that much unexpected damage.

    16. Re:Well written and funny article by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      It appears to be a double decker bridge like the George Washington bridge (end of the Jersey Turnpike into NY). I doubt that the box truss is there for structural support, but to support the upper roadway.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    17. Re:Well written and funny article by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      Everyone knows a catenary is a little yellow bird.

      Only after it's been eaten by your household pet.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    18. Re:Well written and funny article by BadgerRush · · Score: 1

      You should have continued reading, because the author used parabola correctly.

      A hanging cable of constant weight by itself would assume the shape of a catenary, but a suspension bridge is not just a hanging cable. The main suspension cable of a suspension bridge is also holding the (much greater) weight of the actual bridge trough a set of cables, so it assumes the shape of a parabola.

      http://whistleralley.com/hangi...

  4. Subject Matter Experts Vs. Movies by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    Can physics professors enjoy Road Runner cartoons, or do the blatant violations of physics drive them nuts?

    I know one who attempted to codify the cartoons rules, such as "a being doesn't actually fall until they realize they are (inadvertently) suspended in the air." She said, "If you are going to make a fake world, at least be consistent in it."

    Maybe one expects cartoons to be goofy, whereas action and drama movies attempt to look real, and that's what sets subject experts off.

    I know some real crime analysts, and CSI drives them crazy.

    1. Re:Subject Matter Experts Vs. Movies by antdude · · Score: 1

      Don't forget computers like hacking!

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    2. Re:Subject Matter Experts Vs. Movies by jratcliffe · · Score: 1

      My wife, while in grad school for her History PhD, once went to see A Knight's Tale with a bunch of Medievalists. It did not go well.

    3. Re:Subject Matter Experts Vs. Movies by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Cartoons aren't trying to look real. I think that's the problem, and the problem with "Aw, it's a movie, who cares?" attitudes from directors and SFX people is that it immediately pulls people out of the suspension of disbelief when in-your-face violations of reality occur in movies. You can get away with it in a cartoon because a cartoon is literally designed to look like nothing you've ever seen. If it starts looking real, it's a problem.

      The concerns about breaking the suspension of disbelief happens at every level. It's why poorly written characters are also grating. Nobody speaks like that! And that person's obviously a fantasy! (etc)

      But for some reason we care about it when it's a Manic Pixie Dream Girl and treat that as a legitimate criticism, but we don't - and get bashed as nerds - when it's a computer whose windows fly open and then closed when you insert a USB key and start mashing on a keyboard, or a silenced gun that whispers "hmmmph" rather makes a loud "PING" (which the shooter holds sideways with one hand...), or a bomb countdown timer which mysteriously remains turned on but not counting down any more after the hero snips the power to it, or a suspension bridge that lets small 10 yard sections fall without impacting the overall integrity of the structure.

      All of those things, however, kill the suspension of disbelief for a significant segment of the audience. And it's all the more stupid because 90% of the time, the directory and SFX people have gone out their way to say "Wow, look at this, it's awesome, it's so real! Look at all the effort we made into ensuring the cars would look like they're falling through the hole in the bridge realistically!"

      Why did they bother?

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  5. The Cartoon Laws Of Physics by sconeu · · Score: 5, Funny
    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  6. It's a catenary curve by P1h3r1e3d13 · · Score: 1, Informative

    These main cables form a parabola

    A cable hanging under its own weight forms a catenary, not a parabola. I presume that still applies when you hang a roadway from it.

    1. Re:It's a catenary curve by hondo77 · · Score: 5, Informative
      From your own citation:

      However, in a suspension bridge with a suspended roadway, the chains or cables support the weight of the bridge, and so do not hang freely. In most cases the roadway is flat, so when the weight of the cable is negligible compared with the weight being supported, the force exerted is uniform with respect to horizontal distance, and the result is a parabola...

      --
      I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
    2. Re:It's a catenary curve by nukenerd · · Score: 1

      No it does not still apply. See my response to Zealath's comment above.

    3. Re:It's a catenary curve by doug141 · · Score: 1

      A cable hanging under its own weight forms a catenary, not a parabola. I presume that still applies when you hang a roadway from it.

      It doesn't, since the roadway hangs from discrete points.

    4. Re:It's a catenary curve by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      From your own citation:

      However, in a suspension bridge with a suspended roadway, the chains or cables support the weight of the bridge, and so do not hang freely. In most cases the roadway is flat, so when the weight of the cable is negligible compared with the weight being supported, the force exerted is uniform with respect to horizontal distance, and the result is a parabola...

      Correct. Ideally, it will be a parabola.

      I could have saved some time by reading comments before my wordier posting, above...

    5. Re:It's a catenary curve by P1h3r1e3d13 · · Score: 1

      Oops, news to me.

  7. James Bond physics by swm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Heh. My brother and I grew up watching James Bond movies. And obviously, these movies are entertainment and fantasy, not documentary and physics lectures. We all knew that. We all accepted that. But one day my bother went to see a James Bond movie, and he came home positively spitting nails.

    It was the the movie where there is a chase scene on skis, so Bond skis down a mountain, and the bottom of the mountain delivers him to the roof of a chalet, and he skis down the roof, and off the edge, and lands on a picnic table, and skis across the table and then keeps on going. And when I say "picnic table", I don't mean a deserted, snow-covered table. The table was laid with a table-cloth and a picnic and people sitting all around. (I don't recall if Bond came off of it with a dinner roll stuffed in his mouth, like a Loony-Toons character).

    Anyway. The problem was that my bother skied. And he knew, from painful, first-hand experience, that if you are skiing down a mountain, and you hit just the tiniest bare spot--just the tiniest patch of dirt or rock--it feels like your ski has been grabbed by a bear trap, and you're lucky if you don't tumble right there. Skiing across a picnic table isn't a skill, or a stunt--it's just flat impossible.

    Bond movies are unrealistic, yes, but this one was unrealistic in a way that he couldn't accept. And it killed the movie for him.

    1. Re:James Bond physics by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      The problem was that my bother skied. And he knew, from painful, first-hand experience, that if you are skiing down a mountain, and you hit just the tiniest bare spot--just the tiniest patch of dirt or rock--it feels like your ski has been grabbed by a bear trap..

      Bullshit. Youtube ski stunts, and you'll see all sorts of tricks on all sorts of surfaces other than snow...

    2. Re:James Bond physics by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      And you found that out right after saying, "Hey y'all, watch this." Amiright?

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    3. Re:James Bond physics by jabuzz · · Score: 1

      Yes a change of snow conditions, hitting a bare patch etc. does feel like your ski has been grabbed by a bear trap. However if you do fall over that is because your position on the skies, was bad in the first place and you where too slow to correct it.

      Here is a YouTube video on how to box slide which is probably the closest freestyle trick to the James Bond ski over a table stunt you are referring too.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      The stunt in James Bond is perfectly possible for a good freestyle skier, clearly something your brother was not at the time.

    4. Re:James Bond physics by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      On top of that, it was a polished wooden table, no tablecloth. It likely would have been pretty slippery from the water/snow the ski brought with it. But the deck railing snapping like that with the bikes hitting them, that is utterly unbelievable. :)

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    5. Re:James Bond physics by Cederic · · Score: 1

      ..and yet: the stuntman successfully did actually do it. That was real, so clearly it can happen.

      The article is referring to CGI bridge failures. If they built a scale model and wrecked it the behaviour could well match reality - even though in reality Godzilla just isn't going to walk through the Golden Gate.

      This is why films which still use physical stunts are inherently superior to those that rely on CGI. The Blues Brothers wouldn't be a classic if they hadn't set a world record.

  8. OMG Pacific Rim by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

    Very fun movie to watch, but wow the bad physics. TFA mentions the Golden Gate Bridge standing in the background with the center span broken. Compared to all the other physics goofs, I didn't even notice that one.

    - Oil tanker swung like a baseball bat (it would buckle and snap in half just lifting it by one end).
    - Helicopters carrying gigantic armored robots (a C-5 Galaxy can carry a single M1A2 Abrams tank).
    - EMP-type event not affecting one robot because it's nuclear powered.
    - Nuclear reactor causing a nuclear explosion (they can't do that, their fuel isn't even the right type to attain uncontrolled criticality).
    - Giant monsters with exoskeletons (they would collapse under own weight). I let this one pass because of the Godzilla tradition, including the streets and buildings.

    1. Re:OMG Pacific Rim by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Nuclear reactor causing a nuclear explosion (they can't do that, their fuel isn't even the right type to attain uncontrolled criticality)

      There was a Russian fast breeder RTG thing that could have been like that if it was scaled up and a similar US design - but yes, unlikely to the point of near impossibility even then. See also exploding cars and a vast list of Hollywood getting silly for no good reason. Compare the scary scene but realistic scene of a drop of nitro going off with a bang and small dust cloud in "wages of fear" to the utterly stupid escalation of a drop of nitro on a thrown boot in another movie going off like a truckload of ANFO.

    2. Re:OMG Pacific Rim by LongearedBat · · Score: 2

      Ah, yes...I enjoyed Pacific Rim because it was so bad in so many ways. =)

    3. Re:OMG Pacific Rim by werepants · · Score: 1

      - EMP-type event not affecting one robot because it's nuclear powered.

      Actually, this wasn't the reason given in the film. It was even better. Gypsy Danger was ANALOG, not digital, so that's why it survived the blast.

      I would love to see the schematics for that thing's control boards, since they apparently don't have a single microcontroller in there, no memory, nothing. For some reason they decided to build the entire robot with 1930's technology. Not to mention, how are they modulating the power to all the insane motors they must have all over the place? The world's largest potentiometers?

      Myself and a few other robotics/physics nerds watched this one in the theater and the hilarity of that scene alone was well worth the ticket price.

    4. Re:OMG Pacific Rim by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      If they're AC motors, a variable autotransformer (Variac®) would suffice. For electronic control, thyratrons have been around since the 1920s. Air motors and hydraulic motors with appropriate control technology are other possibilities.

      --
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    5. Re:OMG Pacific Rim by werepants · · Score: 1

      I guess the question is what was meant to be implied by "Analog" in the context of the movie (and the real answer is they just needed some technobabble to explain why one robot was EMP immune and another one wasn't).

      The thyratons are interesting - how would they be used for analog control? It looks like enough current can be sourced, but they can't be operated in a linear region so you're talking about switching still, which smells digital to me.

      And, I don't doubt that analog components could be up to certain aspects of the job... a lot of controls problems can be solved quite elegantly with analog circuits, and what is a giant robot if not an incredibly complex series of controls problems?

      The thing that really caught me as absurd was that this robot, built some time in our near future, would have been built *exclusively* with analog components, and that all the other existing mechs, built years or decades later, wouldn't have been. It's just preposterous. Not to mention, aside from all of the robotics hardware, you've got a fancy neural interface and a whole lot of display hardware - basically a whole lot of stuff where you would have to spend many orders of magnitude more to implement via analog design assuming it were even possible.

  9. Destruction method by StuffMaster · · Score: 1

    I also take issue when they use unrealistic methods of destruction. Like in I am Legend, they use fighter jets to shoot missiles edge-on. Makes no sense when you could much more easily drop a bomb from above.

  10. Perhaps ... by PPH · · Score: 3, Informative

    ... Washington State can offer its consulting services for authentic bridge collapses.

    Always happy to share our vast quantity of experiences.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  11. What, no animations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Poo. I was hoping that as a structural engineer qualified to do the simulations, he would have shown us an animation or three depicting the effect various kinds of damage would have on the real bridges!

  12. Yep, Pacific Rim was bad physics by Firethorn · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm with you on all of those.

    For those that might be wondering about the oil tanker(and such). Consider how strong, proportionally, insects are compared to humans. This scaling continues. It's relatively easy to make a toy helicopter that can fall from several times it's height, ram it's blades into objects, and such and still come out without damage. A helicopter big enough for people? No way.

    Things like oil tankers are carefully balanced and strong where they need to be strong for their designed purpose. A tanker is designed to carry it's weight while supported on all sides by water.

    It's also why Superman's hands should tear through vehicles like paper instead of lifting them, much of the time. You don't jack up so much as 1/4 of a car without using specific points that are capable of holding the structure.

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
    1. Re:Yep, Pacific Rim was bad physics by edittard · · Score: 2

      Indeed. When I read something like "if an ant was as big as a dog it could lift a bus" it makes me spit blood.

      No it couldn't. If its legs didn't collapse under its own weight it would suffocate.

      --
      At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
    2. Re:Yep, Pacific Rim was bad physics by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      If you're talking about a movie about an alien from a faraway world that blew up, who looks just like a human male and is romantically interested in human females, and has all sorts of weird abilities when the star he's near is yellow instead of red, the only way to accept it is in its own world. In that world, Superman can indeed carry an ocean liner around on one hand, and buildings can indeed fall like dominoes.

      You could just as well complain about Lord of the Rings for having elves, orcs, trolls, and wizards.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    3. Re:Yep, Pacific Rim was bad physics by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      It was only one example, sheesh...

      The point is that, much like the uncanny valley, it's often the little things that break our suspension of disbelief, not the big things. We can take superman just fine, but we go 'wait a moment!' when he picks up a car by the bumper.

      Elves, orcs, trolls, and such are easy to take - alternate evolution. *shrug*. Wizards operate by unknown/unknowable rules. So we accept that they can TK lift a car.

      Superman, though, is presumably trying to do it by sheer physical force. We don't know how superman's physiology works, but we know that an industrial machine putting the same pressures in the same spots would tear through the car, not lift it.

      Summary: it's the little things, not the big things that break suspension of disbelief. As such, it's better to avoid breaking the laws of physics(and behavior) where possible in your story, no matter how fantastic it is. When you do break them, either 'go big' or explain the breaking.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    4. Re:Yep, Pacific Rim was bad physics by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I may be coming from a different viewpoint. I read a lot of Superman comics as a child, and I assure you that, in the comics, Superman can hold up an ocean liner, pick up a sheet of ice by the edge, and catch someone in his (presumably unyielding) arms just before they're going to hit the concrete and they'll be fine. A Superman movie that tried to be realistic about this would jar me out of accepting what was going on.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    5. Re:Yep, Pacific Rim was bad physics by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

      An excellent fan theory that covers all of Superman's abilities with a single physics-defying concept is that he can alter the kinetic energy of himself or anything that touches him, and can extend that effect around fairly solid objects.

      It's still silly, but at least it's only *one* bit of silly to have to overlook.

      Well, that and the yellow Sun thing, and how shards of his home planet seem to have inexplicably crossed the void at FTL speeds *and* magically found their way to Earth. And nobody ever mentions the likelihood of Kryptonite dust contaminating the pod he arrived in, and all those data crystals.

  13. Japanese disaster movies by dbIII · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's been a bit of a shock to see that buildings in real disasters tend to fall apart just like some of the cheap and nasty models in some old low budget Japanese disaster movies. Something that initially looked very fake turned out to look just like real footage of earthquake and tsunami destruction.

    1. Re:Japanese disaster movies by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 1

      They are building a large apt building near Conshohocken. The thing must be 5 stories tall but the whole damned thing went up with wood framing (at least it looked like it from I-76). I'd imagine that there are quite a few buildings like that which would have model like collapses if subjected to typical movie building trauma.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
  14. Re:Coren22's "greatest hits" fails #5/5... apk by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Does it feel good to scratch that OCD and NPD itch?

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  15. Re:Coren22 can't keep his word... apk by Painted · · Score: 2

    I wish both of you would just fuck off and stop shitting up Slashdot.

    --
    http://marsandmore.com - Posters of space, spacecraft, and astronomy.
  16. Re:Coren22 can't keep his word... apk by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    He's beyond your ken in networking and in programming, clearly. He's done things you never will and did them when he was younger than yourself by far.

    So you worked with these things before they were invented?

    I was 5 years old when programming on a Commodore, you did it younger?
    I was in middle school when I was administering the family computer, you did it younger?
    I was in high school when I was working on networking, you did it younger?

    Funny how you claim to not be APK, but you know exactly how old he was when he started on these things. Funny how these things weren't even invented when you were the same age as I was when I started.

    Everything else in your post has been refuted so many times, it would be a waste of my time to type them up yet again. It is so obvious that you are posting in the third person to defend yourself that I don't know why you continue bothering to act like you are an independent person. Maybe it is that need to be accepted.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  17. Re:I was coding before you were ALIVE fool! by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    That wasn't the claim made. The claim made was that you were coding at a younger age. Were you younger than 5 when you started coding?

    Somehow I doubt it, as you quote 1981, which would put it a mere 4 years before me.

    Here is the claim in case you have problems with your page up key:

    He's done things you never will and did them when he was younger than yourself by far.

    You were obviously not younger than I, as if you are in your 50s now, you started in your teens or early 20s.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  18. Re:Coren22 can't keep his word... apk by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Yes, I validly refuted every one of your points. That is why you feel the need to post them over and over again in order to bury the responses. You can always link to a place you posted it where I didn't respond, because you posted the same damn thing thirty times. Perhaps if you would have a civil discussion, you could save yourself a bunch of time shitposting.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  19. Re:Coren22 = "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!"... apk by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    DNS: You have stated that you use a DNS. But that hosts files are so much better because they use less resources. If you are already using those resources by running a DNS server, why not just put the entries there? You have repeatedly stated this, and the lack of logic in the statement is part of the AD DNS comment. The other part was that you told me that you believe distributing hosts files through group policy is better than loading them in DNS because DNS uses more resources. Following that logically, you must think the DNS server in AD (only way group policy applies) does not exist since you are considering the resources it uses as anything other than a sunk cost of running AD. You also bizarrely think that loading 10,000 hosts files scattered over a domain is better than loading the same entries into the AD DNS server one time, and somehow uses less resources. On top of all of this, your hosts file causes name resolution problems so bad, that if you don't hard code all of your favorite sites, your computer would be practically unusable. Because of the way DNS name resolution works, it is considerably faster to enter your 2 million (or whatever) entries into DNS and letting it handle the resolution than to have Windows try and run through a hosts file repeatedly, as Windows hosts file name resolution is absolutely abysmal.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  20. Re:Coren22 = "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!"... apk by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Privilege escalation: This comes down to a combination of our software being marked as malware, and your refusal to submit to a security evaluation/source code review of your software. Your software could frankly be doing anything, and since there are so many ways to get around program tracing, there is no way to trust what your software is doing. The risks of man in the middle attacks utilizing entries buried inside the hosts files or incorrectly updated from your upstream providers, to malware loading and root kit installation. Your software could be doing anything with those privileges, and as they are needed on every host file update, why risk it when there are so many better ways to block this malware instead?

    Marked as malware: You can have as many people defending your product as you like, as long as you refuse to submit to a code review and security evaluation, it is all theoretical anyways. One person claiming your product is malware is enough to turn millions off of your product, and it is still out there.

    Anything else you would like me to address?

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  21. Crikey. When I used the phrase "passionate.... by Radical+Moderate · · Score: 1

    ...about suspension bridge structural integrity", I thought I was joking.

    --
    Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
  22. Mathematicians do the exact same thing by surd1618 · · Score: 1

    In stories, we're happy to accept totally absurd giant robots, but unhappy about magical bridges that don't snap back and fall. It's the same in math. If you don't like the backdrop, then you go down a couple dimensions or switch to a simpler manifold or consider the simpler homomorphic structure that preserves the property you want. But make a conclusion about the wrong side of a quadrilateral and your colleagues might throw pencils at you. We are preserving the things that are important to achieve a correct model.

  23. Addendum (/. limits ac post size):FPFilters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "His post is trying to refute MiTM attack opportunity his software provides" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday November 18, 2015

    I DISPROVED your bs below & in the post before this-> http://slashdot.org/comments.p... + only hardcoded favorites are ones users provide themselves knowingly & they are REVERSE DNS verified.

    In my program I internally filter 5,500++ false positives:

    1.) Search engines
    2.) Antivirus/antispyware pages (e.g. updaters)
    3.) Security community sites
    4.) Ebay/Amazon + banking sites (for shoppers online)

    & more.

    (Security community folks I note work on false positives filters in data you take in + removal lists easily done via notepad also, & in my program as well per the above + beyond it so that other sources don't send fp's too).

    ---

    "won't demonstrate security of his product be exposing the source (someone might steal it!)" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday November 18, 2015

    I don't allow my work to be stolen OR so it's misused like GOOGLE CHROME http://it.slashdot.org/story/1...

    "the secretary at MalwareBytes took a look at his source code and said it looked all good to them" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday November 18, 2015

    My ware had code verification by Mr. Steven Burn of Malwarebytes' hpHosts & you said my ware hasn't - He's a competent coder & probably BEST security researcher I know of from THE BEST ANTIMALWARE THERE IS http://www.av-test.org/en/news...

    ---

    YOU BLEW IT ON ADMIN PRIV TOO: My program doesn't require it hosts itself does (WFP/SFP) & my program protects hosts beyond that http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

    AND

    Users set it THEMSELF for autoupdate (current data only vs. threats) + ability to summon services.msc (vs. Windows faults in a slow usermode dnscache service).

    APK

    P.S.=> You also LIED putting words in my mouth I never said on AD+DNS -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

    ... apk

  24. Re:Coren22, no AD/DNS? Evasion! apk by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Mr. Steven Burn of Malwarebytes' hpHosts has REVIEWED MY CODE & HAS A COPY (he wouldn't host it otherwise)!

    http://forum.hosts-file.net/vi...

    I see nothing to indicate that he has done any code review, he even says that Malware Bytes has no affiliation with your software, and he is hosting it himself. Why would I believe the rest of your claim when there is no evidence for it?

    As I said in my post, you can't claim that your software is safe just because you say it is. Point to somewhere with Steve Burn of Malwarebytes saying he has done a code review of your software.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?