# Science mistakes that ruin films for you (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2005, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771 "2005-11-06T07:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/41 "2005-11-06T22:37:42Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > And it would be _extremely_ difficult to change the orbit of such an asteroid to set it on a course toward Earth. Not necessarily; it’s not as if you have to stop it in its path; you just have to make certain the path clears the Earth. Start pushing far enough away and it takes (relatively) little energy; more than chemical rockets are going to provide, but a high-impulse, low thrust electrical propulsion engine could conceviably push it into a nonintersecting course. Of course, you’d first have to figure out how to mount such an engine and control its attitude; alternatively, a few large bombs detonated in a crater to direct the resultant thrust normal to the direction of travel could also effect a course change sufficient to miss the Earth. But _Armageddon_ was a dumb, dumb, dumb movie from beginning to end. [Deep Impact](http://imdb.com/title/tt0120647/) wasn’t much more intelligent. But really, when you have the likes of [Volcano](http://imdb.com/title/tt0120461/) and [Dante’s Peak](http://imdb.com/title/tt0118928/) to compete with, how intelligent do you have to be? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/42 "2005-11-06T23:54:49Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Left Hand has already pointed out Bill Bryson’s observation (actually, it’s the observation of the astronomers Bryson interviewed for his book) that a killer asteroid probably would not be noticed until it actually struck the Earth, at which point you’d have just enough time to shit your pants, assuming you weren’t underneath it, in which case you’d be vaporized before it even hit the ground. The asteroid in Armageddon, of course, was much larger than the sort of killer asteroids Bryson speaks of - it was, of course, “the size of Texas,” whereas Bryson’s theoretical doomsdat rocks are the more customary three-to-five kilometres across. But even a Texas-sized asteroid would probably sneak up on us. In the film they saw it WEEKS in advance, in fact; they had very early warning. The likelihood that we would have more notice than that is approximately one in a squillion. > > Truth is, they’re hard to see because they reflect very little light, and one coming straight at us would have no apparent lateral motion, and there’s no systematic program to look for them. There could be one heading for the Earth right this moment, getting ready to slam into the Pacific Ocean at 5:28 PM tomorrow, and you wouldn’t know a damn thing about it. The annihilation of you and everything you know could be 24 hours away. > > Sweet dreams! I liked it better when I was self righteous. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/43 "2005-11-06T23:54:50Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I’m not so sure this is completely wrong. [SD Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mblackcool.html) Hmm… totally off-topic here, but as a resident of Florida (“The Sunshine State\*”–really! Practically no hurricanes this year, honest!\*), I strongly suspect that Staff Report is in fact almost completely wrong. At any rate, my many years of admittedly anecdotal experience with different-colored clothing says otherwise; I’m not sure what qualifies as “loose-fitting clothing,” but I generally wear my T-shirts pretty baggy, and black hots up a lot more than white, breeze or no. Regardless of whether black, fluffed plumage cools birds better or not, I think scaling up the data to apply to humans might well result in one of those “bumblebees can’t fly”-type situations I’d also take issue with the contention that arctic animals’ insulation is white for more than just camouflage, although this is no doubt a beneficial side effect in winter. The arctic fox and hare shed off their white fur during the summer months, whereas the Emperor penguin retains its mostly black plumage despite living in the coldest environment on earth, probably because it does not have to fear predation when away from water. It’s true that the polar bear keeps its white color year-round, but my understanding is that their hair structure has quite different insulating properties from other Arctic animals. Conversely, if black is really better at cooling, one would expect to find a large number of dark- or black-colored desert animals, when in fact the opposite seems to be true. The addax antelope of the Sahara desert, for example, has a brown coat during the winter months, but turns pure white in summer-- with the exception of a patch on the head and around the eyes, which probably helps to prevent desert blindness by reducing the glare from the sand. I’ve never had the opportunity to ask any of the Tuareg people about their sartorial choices; however, they seem to be more famous for wearing blue clothing rather than black. The only consistently black-colored item of dress appears to be the veil, which again makes some sense if you wish to avoid desert blindness. I suppose it’s possible that black clothing can be more comfortable than white if there’s a breeze \*and \* you’re sitting in the shade to begin with, but I wonder if they spend a lot of their day in direct desert sunlight with dark clothes on. At any rate, I’ve never noticed the effect personally. I also note that the Tuareg are widely known as “the blue people” on account of their attire, which leads me to think that other tribes in the area may consider them a little weird. Anyway. Sorry for the interruption. Back to the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/44 "2005-11-07T00:37:24Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Not necessarily; it’s not as if you have to stop it in its path; you just have to make certain the path clears the Earth. Start pushing far enough away and it takes (relatively) little energy; more than chemical rockets are going to provide, but a high-impulse, low thrust electrical propulsion engine could conceviably push it into a nonintersecting course. Of course, you’d first have to figure out how to mount such an engine and control its attitude; alternatively, a few large bombs detonated in a crater to direct the resultant thrust normal to the direction of travel could also effect a course change sufficient to miss the Earth. I was referring to the asteroid in Armageddon, which was supposed to have suffered some kind of impact that took it out of its safe orbit and put it on a course with Earth. Hard to follow exactly what they were thinking about that one, since they obviously aren’t clear about how big asteroids are, where they are in the Solar System, etc. . . . Everything you say is of course correct if you want to deflect an asteroid on the order of a few tens of kilometers from a route toward Earth. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/45 "2005-11-07T00:57:12Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > the G-forces Spiderman would experience, swinging that wide an arc at those speeds, would make his intenstines come spraying out his ass. Not to mention the effect it would have on any passengers he might be carrying along. > > Similar reaction to Superman: Lois Lane falls off a tall building, and Supermant flies up from the ground to catch her. Their combined speed should have made her go splat when they collided. Have you ever read Larry Niven’s postulations on Superman and Lois Lane? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/46 "2005-11-07T01:32:52Z")
Heh. I never minded Jurassic Park because I’m very ignorant in bioscience. I guess I should be careful what I ask for. But since you mentioned Crichton as an author, I have to say he is orders of magnitude above anything written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I’m tempted to sue them for the pain they caused me with [The Ice Limit.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446610232/qid=1131327032/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-5406452-9309641?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) I was in the hospital at the time and I had nothing else to read. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/47 "2005-11-07T01:35:24Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Have you ever read Larry Niven’s postulations on Superman and Lois Lane? 😃 [Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex](http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html). Suffice it to say that Niven definitely has too much time on his hands. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/48 "2005-11-07T01:56:30Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > In the opening narration, Charlton Heston says that the K-T impactor (a 10-km sized object) hit Earth with the energy of a ten thousand nuclear bombs. Uh, try a _million_ nuclear bombs, Charlton. To be fair, a “nuclear bomb” is not a fixed unit of measure, so it’s possible the reference was to a larger bomb, even one that’s 100 times larger than you’re assuming. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/49 "2005-11-07T02:07:52Z")
The largest nuclear bomb ever constructed (and never detonated at full capacity) was the Tsar Bomba, with a yeild of 100 Megatons. The K-T impact was something like 75,000,000-100,000,000 megatons. The voiceover is wrong, wrong, wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/50 "2005-11-07T02:29:13Z")
> [@Lazlo](#): > > But since you mentioned Crichton as an author, I have to say he is orders of magnitude above anything written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I’m tempted to sue them for the pain they caused me with [The Ice Limit.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446610232/qid=1131327032/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-5406452-9309641?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) I was in the hospital at the time and I had nothing else to read. ☹ Yeah, Preston and Child’s science does come across as somewhat hinkier than Crichton’s-- although I’m not sure whether that’s just because they try to explain it more, or what. It seems to be a constant in their books that there will always be at least one massively thick character in a position of authority who has to have the situation spelled out to them, and who then goes ahead and does exactly the wrong thing anyway. (Personally, I find this scenario to be disturbingly true to my own work experiences…) However, I tend to prefer Preston and Child anyway, because their books contain characters that, sooner or later, actually \*do \* something. That said, I found the movie adaptation of their book **The Relic** to be intensely disappointing for a number of reasons. The book itself is pretty far out, not something to be read by anyone who objects to the notion of a computer program that can accurately predict the characteristics of a creature by examining its DNA. Even so, I was willing to suspend my disbelief for the purposes of an entertaining horror flick. Alas, I would have had to permanently expel my belief to even have a hope of enjoying \*The Relic \* One scene that comes to mind, very early in the film, clued me in on the level of thought that I could expect from the movie: The plot revolves loosely around a lost anthropological expedition, the last surviving artifacts of which have been recovered for a museum’s collection. Before shipping, these artifacts were packed in local plant material, there being something of a shortage of Styrofoam peanuts in the Amazon basin. When the boxes of artifacts are finally opened, having been sent by cargo ship from South America and kept in storage for months-- the leaves they remove from the box are green, fresh and healthy. "_Folks… they just didn’t care."_ (Although having glanced at the reviews your link provides, I’m now strongly considering checking \*The Ice Limit \* out of the library, if only to find out more about the glamorous lifestyle of a “world-class meteorite hunter.” The phrase reminds me of the time when Snoopy from Peanuts pretended to be a “world-famous grocery clerk.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MackoUr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MackoUr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MackoUr)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/51 "2005-11-07T03:11:33Z")
I’m suprised _Armaggedon_’s movie grandfather, _Meteor_, hasn’t been mentioned yet. This was the disaster film with Sean Connery and a bunch of others I can’t remember. Somewhere near the beginning of the film, they speak of diverting the first manned mission to Mars to the asteroid belt. My brain shut down there and I didn’t pay attention to the rest of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/52 "2005-11-07T03:22:54Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > (Although having glanced at the reviews your link provides, I’m now strongly considering checking \*The Ice Limit \* out of the library, if only to find out more about the glamorous lifestyle of a “world-class meteorite hunter.” The phrase reminds me of the time when Snoopy from Peanuts pretended to be a “world-famous grocery clerk.” 😃 I’ll submit that they are good storytellers. I just wish they would accept that they don’t know engineering and hire a consultant. Ice Limit was entertaining until I read such a glaring error that I threw it against the wall and had to page a nurse to pick it up for me. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/53 "2005-11-07T05:09:38Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Something else bothered me too. Doc Ock exerts phenomenal force on things with those mech arms, and they are anchored to his human body. Wouldn’t that much force tear him apart? And as has already been pointed out, it’s well established in the series of films that Spider-Man is superhumanly strong, right? So when he punches Doc Ock in the face, which he does several times, that should have simply killed him outright. Doc Ock’s HEAD wasn’t mechanical. Spider-Man has many, many times the strength of an adult human; a punch from him should cave a skull in like an eggshell. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/54 "2005-11-07T05:31:09Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Doc Cok That was a different movie that wasn’t shown in theaters. And those weren’t extra arms. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/55 "2005-11-07T06:45:32Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > And as has already been pointed out, it’s well established in the series of films that Spider-Man is superhumanly strong, right? > > So when he punches Doc Ock in the face, which he does several times, that should have simply killed him outright. Doc Ock’s HEAD wasn’t mechanical. Spider-Man has many, many times the strength of an adult human; a punch from him should cave a skull in like an eggshell. Sure, but I thought Spidey doesn’t like to kill people. I assume he knows how to pull a punch. As for things striking the Earth, I think Niven and Pournelle address this fairly well in _Lucifer’s Hammer_.Scientists discover a comet over a year out, and initial reports say that the odds of it striking are millions or billions to one. Six months later, the odds are adjusted to some tens or hundreds of thousands to one. It’s only known for certain that the comet will hit a few days in advance, by which time the majority of people are completely panic stricken because they didn’t take the threat seriously enough to make any sort of preparations. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/56 "2005-11-07T10:25:43Z")
> [@EnderWay](#): > > On June 17, 2002 it was discovered that an asteriod had just missed earth, > passing by ar 120 kilmeters, 1/3 the distance between the Earth an the Moon. It just missed Earth in June 14, 2002. It wasn’t noticed till threed days later! > [Earth Near Miss](http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2444) Nitpick – its not 120 km, its 120,000 km. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/57 "2005-11-07T11:02:51Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > That’s alright. That was a good miss, what about the largish meteor that _bounced_ off the atmosphere in the late 1970’s? (Sorry, can’t Google it now, have to get offline before the lightning fries me and my 'puter.) 1972, the “Grand Tetons” fireball. It was about…1000 tons, I think? [Picture—biggest I could find.](http://homepages.wmich.edu/~korista/ss-images/teton-fireball.gif) I once saw a movie somesome managed to shoot of it, but I’m damned if I can find it online. > [@Podkayne](#): > > The largest nuclear bomb ever constructed (and never detonated at full capacity) was the Tsar Bomba, with a yeild of 100 Megatons. Nitpick: the Tsar was 57 megatons. (Although it was a 100 MT design, they scaled back the yield for the test.) Not that an extra couple dozen megatons really matters for what we’re talking about… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/58 "2005-11-07T12:40:15Z")
Y’all are criticizing Spiderman, the movie in which you study science to learn to become the world’s best computer programmer, robotics expert, neurophysician, and astrophysicist? At some point, don’t you just recognize that their science is better than ours? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/59 "2005-11-07T12:51:26Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > (Although having glanced at the reviews your link provides, I’m now strongly considering checking \*The Ice Limit \* out of the library, if only to find out more about the glamorous lifestyle of a “world-class meteorite hunter.” The phrase reminds me of the time when Snoopy from Peanuts pretended to be a “world-famous grocery clerk.” 😃 I dunno. AIUI, there are two places where the hunting for meteorites is good: the Austrailian Outback, and Antarctica. Both those areas are supposed to be pretty “adventuresome”\* at least, which might be close to “glamorous.” \*With Adventures being defined as something nasty, dangerous and uncomfortable _happening to someone else_. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/60 "2005-11-07T14:55:51Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I once saw a movie somesome managed to shoot of it, but I’m damned if I can find it online. Behold my mad google skillz: [linky!](http://fireball.meteorite.free.fr/1972_08_11/Video/video_g-t.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771.md?page=4)