Artistic License Physics: Difference between revisions
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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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* 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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=== 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
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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