Artistic License Physics: Difference between revisions
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[[File:waterfall-Detail-escher.jpg|link=M. C. Escher|frame|[[M. C. Escher]] made a living out of breaking physics...[[Mind Screw|and brains]].]]
{{quote|"''To some extent, it's understandable that space adventures play fast and loose with physics. After all, who wants to watch [[Star Wars|Han Solo]] spend years on the journey to Alderaan, only to find that the planet has twice Earth gravity and he can barely stand up, much less swagger?''"
|''[http://io9.com/367792/bad-movie-physics-a-report-card Movie Physics Report Card.]''}}
Physics. It involves [[Writers Cannot Do Math|mathematics]] and [[E=MC Hammer|esoteric-looking equations]] to memorize, which is paradise to some but one level of hell for others.
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* [[Tremor Trampoline]]
* [[Universal Universe Time]]
* [[
* [[Wire Fu]]
* [[Variable Terminal Velocity]]
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===
* [[The Mighty Hercules|Hercules]], of all people, feels the need to point out everything wrong about Ego compared to how planets are supposed to be structured.
* A 1950s comic by [[Jack Kirby]] has a [[Mad Scientist]] who hates humanity planning to fly into space to drop a bomb that would destroy Earth. He does so, but when he launches the bomb it doesn't fall as he expected, it merely floats where he dropped it off. Then he realizes ''he forgot there's no gravity in space!'' The bomb explodes, destroying the spacheship and killing the scientist, but leaving Earth unharmed. [[Too Dumb to Live|Some]] [[Stupid Scientist|scientist]].
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* ''[[Spiral]]'' has an excruciating moment where Ayumu's [[Sidekick]] tosses {{spoiler|a key}} down to him from a moving train. Needless to say, it falls [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Inertia straight down] in ''slow motion''.
* In ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'', one arc has the protagonists and their allies playing [[Serious Business|dodgeball]] against an enemy. The game is won by one character making the ball stick to the enemy's wrists, while the enemy was trying to deflect the ball thrown by the protagonists back towards them, volleyball-style. According to the story, doing so made the antagonist be pushed back by the force of the ball until he was out of bounds, while deflecting the ball and changing the velocity of the ball to the opposite direction would have allowed him to hold his ground. {{spoiler|The Law of Conservation of Momentum weeps.}}
* More or less ''every'' [[
** ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' is however one of the few that did actually use the beams to create momentum in the shooter, albeit rarely.
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==== [[Film]] - Live-Action ====
* In the [[B-Movie|low-budget]] 1990 movie ''[[Captain America (
==== [[Live Action TV]] ====
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==== [[Live Action TV]] ====
* In an episode of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Daleks are fought (in space!) with WWII front-engine prop planes, [[Hand Wave|"modified" according to unspecified Dalek technological blueprints]], that apparently still use the propellers for thrust, and which are able to perform complex maneuvers with no air.
==== [[Literature]] ====
* Zigzagged in ''[[Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator]]'', Wonka tells Charlie that the Vernicious Knids have never successfully invaded Earth because the Knids cannot survive reentry, that they burn up and die whenever they try it. However, Wonka also says this is due to an "invisible shield" around the Earth, and that the Knids wiped out the populations of both Venus and Mars, as both planets do not have such a shield. In truth, the only "shield" that causes this is the atmosphere itself, and while the composition is different, both Venus and Mars do have atmospheres. In fact, Venus' atmosphere would likely cause even ''worse'' friction to anything that tried to land there.
=== Ignoring Mass/Momentum/Etc ===
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=== The Wedge Principle (no, not about underwear) ===
==== Films - Live-Action ====
* ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]]'''s arch-enemy isn't Luthor or Brainiac, but the laws of physics. Due to the wedge principle, picking up anything substantially larger than himself would also trouble Superman, because he is exerting all force on one tight spot. The object would collapse under its own weight. Finally, refer to this for [https://web.archive.org/web/20130924112244/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/6094-top11superman everything that is wrong with the climax of the first film.]
** Same in the movie ''[[Superman Returns]]'', when he puts a Boeing gently down by holding its nose, and when he lifts a ship too.
** The physical complications listed above have caused some fans to speculate that Superman's power is not actually physical strength and invulnerability, but rather a form of telekinesis. For a while [[Post-Crisis]], that ''was'' the canon explanation of his powers in the comics. It still is the explanation of the powers of Superman's blatant [[Marvel Universe]] [[Expy]] Gladiator.
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* In Jules Verne's ''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]'', the astronauts get to the moon by being shot out of a 900 foot long cannon. In order to reach sufficient velocity to reach the Moon while traveling the length of the cannon, the ship would have to accelerate at 22,000 gravities, which would squash the astronauts inside it flat no matter what precautions were taken.
====
* In ''[[8-
=== Under Pressure (and not just the writers) ===
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=== Plate Tectonics is Not About Dinnerware ===
==== Films - Live-Action ====
* ''[[2012]]'' attempts to justify its scientifically predictable doomsday with an obscure geological theory of crustal displacement formulated in the '50s. The film even throws in an appeal to authority by claiming that Einstein agreed with the theory. The latter is true, and the film depicts at least vaguely accurately what crustal displacement in action might look like. What it fails to address though, is the fact that the theory was formulated before plate tectonics theory was developed, something that didn't happen until the '60s. What does this mean for the movie? Oh, only the fact that the two theories are mutually exclusive, and since plate tectonics is now proven true, the other can't be.
** Furthermore, Einstein, while brilliant, was ''not'' an expert on geology. You wouldn't trust his opinion on plate tectonics any more than you would trust him with open-heart surgery.
=== Gravity Blunders ===
==== Literature ====
* In George R.R. Martin's ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', the Wall is stated to be 700 feet high, yet people on the ground can fire arrows from ''wooden bows'' at defenders on top of the Wall and hit with enough force to kill. Not even modern compound bows could accomplish this feat. For reference, the average skyscraper is between 500 and 900 feet. This might be a good time to mention that the difficulty of accurately firing a bow 700 feet is nothing compared to the issue of not possibly having the strength to propel an arrow 700 feet ''upwards'' (think back to elementary school
** Though it is mentioned that, of the thousands of arrows fired at the Wall over the course of one battle, only ''one'' actually managed to hit anybody, and that guy only died because he fell off the edge.
* In [[Iain M Banks]]' ''[[Consider Phlebas]]'', a crew are about to land on a ringworld, and the Captain tells them not to use their antigravity units: "Anti-gravity works against mass, not spin." Never mind what new physics they have to
* Averted in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]''. Soldiers brought from Earth to repress the rebellion on the Luna penal colony resent being there because it is nearly impossible for anyone to return to the Earth after more than a few months on the Moon because their body has acclimatised to 1/6 Earth gravity. The soldiers are also disadvantaged because their normal walking gait learned on Earth causes them to fly into the air. Also, a delegation sent from Luna to Earth must take long and very inconvenient acclimatisation measures just to ''not die'' when they arrive Earthside, and every step is an enormous strain.
==== Theatre ====
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==== Video Games ====
* ''[[Master of Orion]] II'' got "Graviton Beam" and Black Holes ''at once''. It gives a weapon with a special effect and something to navigate around, but theories of gravity do not work this way.
=== Not Enough or Too Much Energy Shown ===
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* Only every shonen fight, ever. Look at any big super powered fight from your favorite long running shonen anime ([[Bleach]] is a huge offender {{spoiler|Ichigo vs Aizen comes to mind}}) and take note of home many times somebody uses an attack that could break mountains. Then take note of how there isn't a deafening sound, a bone breaking, or insane knockback from the attack. Also, there shouldn't be any light produced by an attack, no matter how strong it is, nor should the energy from the attack be rooted to where it actually should go (a body, an arm, the mountain, or simply the ground itself. Lastly, note how despite thousands upon thousands of cracks appearing from these moves, no deafening, ear-splitting earth-cracking is heard!
* ''Project Blue: Earth S.O.S'' has a glaring example of not knowing their sciences. In the third episode, they launch an old fashioned space shuttle using oxygen and solid fuel. However, the observers are watching this craft take off from a few hundred meters away and are out in the open. Even ignoring the fact that the heat from the engine would likely fry everyone at that range, there is the rather large problem of sound. Space shuttle engines when taking off are loud, really really loud. Literally they are loud enough to stop liquid from being able to flow - NASA discovered they when one of their electrical generators stopped working during takeoff. The sheer volume of the engine stopped the fuel from flowing. That level of noise would kill a human being for various reasons - including all their blood not being able to flow anymore.
* In ''[[
** Bear in mind that there is also angular kinetic energy (rotational energy) to consider, since a coin flicked at Mach speeds likely tends to spin like mad. But however much angular kinetic energy Misaka's railgun can realistically possesses, the destruction caused by it does still exceed any attainable limits.
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=== Fire Doesn't Work That Way ===
====
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'': Somewhere A Physicist Is Crying. That would be Panel 3 of [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-10-04 this strip]. And he cries some more in [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-10-11 this strip].
** Turns out this one is simple: A summoner wanted a fire monster, but there's no such thing as "living fire," so he ended up creating a monster that looks like fire but isn't actually hot and can be "extinguished."
** The comic's 'New Readers Guide' immediately warns us thusly: "WARNING: Often ignores the laws of physics." found [http://www.egscomics.com/new_reader.page here]
=== Steam Does Not Puff That Way ===
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[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]
[[Category:Hollywood Science]]
[[Category:Artistic License
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