# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/81 "2005-11-07T23:49:38Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > I don’t think it was injected intraveinously (sp?) but as a suppository. No, because Mystique was shown pulling out a big syringe after the guard passed out in the toilet cubicle. Besides, wouldn’t he _notice_ if someone jammed a big metal bar where the sun don’t shine? “Gee, Bob, you’re sure walking funny today.” “Yeah, you’re right, Frank. Maybe I sat on a lightbulb or something last night. Oh well, off to guard Magneto.” ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/82 "2005-11-08T00:39:08Z")
I think the idea was that the metal would spread throughout his body so that the sensors they went through prior to going to Magneto’s cell wouldn’t trigger the presence of metal. The fact is this guy would basically have a metallic mass in his rear end from the injection. It wouldn’t go anywhere. Then again, see **smiling bandit** ’s comicular caveat. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/83 "2005-11-08T01:38:24Z")
It almost seems too easy to mention\* The Day after Tomorrow,\* which includes such wonders as cold that freezes wolves in their tracks, yet miraculously doesn’t affect the teenagers standing around by the gigantic windows. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/84 "2005-11-08T01:45:50Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > Umm…yeah, I am…the further the drop, the larger the arc needed to lessen the G force. Large arcs := large G forces…quite the opposite. SHORT arcs, with small, abrupt changes = large G forces. Spidey would be just fine. It’s not that simple. “large arcs /= large G forces” is not necessarily a true statement. You have to take the speed into account. The ratio _speed:arc_ is what counts. The speed at which Spidey takes those arcing swings makes it very clear to me that he should be experiencing some serious centrifugal force. Magic spider bites aside, if a normal human took those swings, at the very least it would be hard as hell to hang on to that rope. At a certain speed:arc ratio we’re talking arm ripped out of the socket. At some point, with enough speed to arc, you’re talking internal injuries. When I wash a sweater, to remove the water I put it in a net bag and swing it over my head. You can get it nearly dry that way. Increased arc would require increased speed to achieve the same result, but it wouldn’t be impossible. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/85 "2005-11-08T03:00:14Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > First, the point is made throughout the movie that the Red October is an aggressive, first-strike weapon; but ballistic-missile submarines serve the exact opposite function. They are designed to be hidden so they can’t be destroyed in a first strike and guarantee retaliation. During the Cold War, there was a legitimate concern about the Soviet Union using a ballistic-missile submarine off the east coast to execute a decapitation attack against Washington, D.C. The time between launch warning and warhead detonation would have been very short. A submarine capable of reaching such a launch point, undetected, would have been viewed as a serious threat to the United States. That was one of the reasons for the Looking Glass program, to ensure the capability to retaliate against a surprise attack. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/86 "2005-11-08T03:38:29Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > I can’t defend the radiation thing, but I thought it was only pulling in magnetic objects. So their fillings would be ripped out of their teeth (ouch) but not them so much. Good thing there wasn’t a cowboy with one of those huge belt buckles. It really bugs me that Indy thought the bag of sand needed to weigh less to equal the gold monkey head. That thing would be heavy! ID4 besides the completly stupid virus upload, I think the aliens still should have won. There is no way we could have pull victory out that. Sense and Sensibility Come on, bleeding someone with a fever? How stupid are you people? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/87 "2005-11-08T03:54:38Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > … but I thought it was only pulling in magnetic objects. So their fillings would be ripped out of their teeth (ouch) but not them so much. They could only afford iron fillings? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/88 "2005-11-08T05:11:54Z")
> [@rhettbutler](#): > > I remember reading a question about the forces Spider-Man would experience during his swinging here on the SDMB a while ago, and one of the experts mentioned that in a previous thread it had been calculated that he would experience about three gees max. Which I don’t think is enough to splurt the intestines out of even a normal anus (though I’d like to know if I’m wrong about that). Fighter pilots experience up to 9 Gs. If they didn’t wear pressurized pants they would pass out due to loss of blood flow to the head, but I’m pretty sure their innards would stay inside. Except, you know, if the passing out causes a crash. > [@Zebra](#): > > Sense and Sensibility Come on, bleeding someone with a fever? How stupid are you people? On the chance you’re not joking, I feel compelled to point out that “letting out the bad blood” was once considered a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/89 "2005-11-08T06:20:36Z")
SuperMan (Movie, TV shows) Whenver Superman gets shot at, he catches bullets. But whenever Superman has a gun thrown at him, he dodges it. He can’t catch the gun?? (More of a logic problem) ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/90 "2005-11-08T10:10:11Z")
I can’t remember which show (it might be Advent Children or some other miscellanous action movie). The premise is : gun falls out from window. Good guy and bad guy falls out momentarily afterwards. Good guys and bad guys drop faster than gun. Good guy grabs the gun and shoots bad guy. I think there’s something fundemental violated in this scenario. Something to do with all matter, when dropped from a high distance, will have the same speed…? ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/91 "2005-11-08T11:11:18Z")
You might want to think about that again, since they only fall at the same speed in a vacuum. Air resistance plays a significant part of how fast someone will accelerate to while falling. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/92 "2005-11-08T11:23:36Z")
> [@ExtraKun](#): > > I can’t remember which show (it might be Advent Children or some other miscellanous action movie). The premise is : gun falls out from window. Good guy and bad guy falls out momentarily afterwards. Good guys and bad guys drop faster than gun. Good guy grabs the gun and shoots bad guy. > > I think there’s something fundemental violated in this scenario. Something to do with all matter, when dropped from a high distance, will have the same speed…? I would expect the gun to fall faster than the good guy and bad guy. While the gravitational force is proportional to the mass of the object, a hunk of metal (the gun) is going to be much more dense, reducing drag. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/93 "2005-11-08T11:57:39Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > I would expect the gun to fall faster than the good guy and bad guy. While the gravitational force is proportional to the mass of the object, a hunk of metal (the gun) is going to be much more dense, reducing drag. And on the other hand, the gun, being far smaller than the men, has much more surface area per unit volume. The gravitational force being proportional to the mass of the object is a complete _non sequitur_, btw: the heavier object experiences more force, but requires more force to accelerate it, and the two are exactly proportional. That’s why acceleration due to gravity is expressed in metres per second squared, without reference to mass. Anyway, an iron filing is proportionately denser than an elephant, but falls much more slowly. Where the dividing line falls… well, I’ll leave the math as an exercise for the student. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/94 "2005-11-08T12:08:25Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > You might want to think about that again, since they only fall at the same speed in a vacuum. > > Air resistance plays a significant part of how fast someone will accelerate to while falling. True, but didn’t Galileo conduct an experiment on the top of the Tower of Pisa. Or is that merely a legend? ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/95 "2005-11-08T12:31:28Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > The gravitational force being proportional to the mass of the object is a complete _non sequitur_, btw: the heavier object experiences more force, but requires more force to accelerate it, and the two are exactly proportional. That’s why acceleration due to gravity is expressed in metres per second squared, without reference to mass. The point I was trying to make, although poorly, was that objects of differing masses, in free-fall through the atmosphere, are subjected to several forces, gravity and drag. The acceleration produced by gravity is independent of mass, but drag is dependent on shape and surface area (see [drag equation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation)). Other things being equal, a denser object has less surface area and less drag. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/96 "2005-11-08T12:54:55Z")
> [@ExtraKun](#): > > True, but didn’t Galileo conduct an experiment on the top of the Tower of Pisa. Or is that merely a legend? He didn’t, it was actually someone trying to prove him wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/97 "2005-11-08T13:03:49Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > The point I was trying to make, although poorly, was that objects of differing masses, in free-fall through the atmosphere, are subjected to several forces, gravity and drag. The acceleration produced by gravity is independent of mass, but drag is dependent on shape and surface area (see [drag equation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation)). Other things being equal, a denser object has less surface area and less drag. Of course, but the point in this case was that other things _aren’t_ equal. My WAG would still be that the gun will fall faster, but it isn’t self-evident and I’d be only slightly surprised to learn that a human body has a higher terminal velocity that a smallish handgun. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/98 "2005-11-08T13:11:06Z")
How about Category 7? Of course you can’t say that the science mistakes ruined the film, it blew big time anyway. ---
**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 8, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/99 "2005-11-08T14:40:41Z")
> [@Surbey](#): > > SuperMan (Movie, TV shows) > Whenver Superman gets shot at, he catches bullets. But whenever Superman has a gun thrown at him, he dodges it. > > He can’t catch the gun?? Hey, man, catching bullets **smarts**! You dodge things if you can. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771/100 "2005-11-08T15:39:08Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > the G-forces Spiderman would experience, swinging that wide an arc at those speeds, would make his intenstines come spraying out his ass I would honestly pay to see that film 😃 > [@Zebra](#): > > It really bugs me that Indy thought the bag of sand needed to weigh less to equal the gold monkey head. That thing would be heavy! Isn’t that why the big ball came rolling down after him though. I mean, the script agreed with you at least, so it can’t be that much of a bug. Indy just seemed like a chancer at times, the look on his face said “gosh, I hope this will work” more than “yes, this will definately work.” > [@Zebra](#): > > ID4 besides the completly stupid virus upload, I think the aliens still should have won. There is no way we could have pull victory out that. I hated that more than any other part of the film (which I still managed to enjoy) Dave Bowman’s escape from the pod in “2001” bugged me. After going to such lengths to make space seem like space actually is (no sound in a vacuum etc) the pod remains strangely still even after Dave blows the hatch off with explosive bolts and the atmosphere inside blows out. That and the “Space 1999” effect. When you’re on the moon, but _inside_ a building or space craft, you can walk about like you’re on the Earth. _But_, as soon as you step outside, everything becomes quite different and you must walk around as if you’re on tip toes 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-mistakes-that-ruin-films-for-you-open-spoilers/329771.md?page=6)