Convection, Schmonvection: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"Fire--as long as you're not directly touching it, it can't hurt you."''|'''Mike Nelson''', ''[[The Last Airbender]]'' [[Riff Trax]]}}

[[Lava Adds Awesome|As awesome as lava is,]] most TV writers and video game developers forget that "really hot" part. The hero is making his way through the [[Lethal Lava Land]], but wait! There are floating rocks, he can make it across in a really dramatic way! Except in the real world, the rising heat would have fried him already, [[Artistic License Physics|and rocks do not float in lava]] anyway. Put your hand above an open flame and you have an idea of how hot that room, cave, or [[Eternal Engine]] ''should'' be. While it's possible for the outer layer of lava to cool, forming an insulating shell where the inner layer flows but people can get close to it relatively safely as long as they don't touch it, this is never seen in fiction where red-hot lava flows [[Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid|as free and exposed as river water]].

 

 

Although lava is the primary offender, this also applies to any time convection is ignored for the sake of [[Rule of Cool]], such as when a character is standing above or near a large fire or any other extreme heat source. If you don't touch the raging inferno, boiling lake, or white-hot walls, you'll be fine.

* Averted in the [[Filler]] Arc "Asgard" of ''[[Saint Seiya]]''. God Warrior [[Playing with Fire|Hagen]] of [[Stellar Name|Merak Beta]] lures the [[An Ice Person|ice-and-cold-wielding]] Saint Cygnus Hyoga into the depths of a volcano. While Hagen's Cloth and his own supernatural [[Battle Aura|Cosmo]] explicitly protect him from the heat (and, indeed, the lava enhances his attacks,) Hyoga has to spend such a ''considerable'' amount of his cooling Cosmo just to ''survive'' in the volcano, let alone ''attack'' his enemy, that he completely exhausts himself doing so.

* Also averted in ''[[Ranma ½]]''. No volcanoes, but the final enemy is a [[The Phoenix|phoenix]]-[[Half-Human Hybrid]] who can generate as much flame and heat as he wants. With one swipe of his wings, or a wave of his hands, he can toss a gout of flame that, aside from ''[[Captain Obvious|burning]]'', it heats up the air around it and the resulting pressure actually punches through solid rock. Later in the fight, when this enemy's [[Battle Aura]] causes the rock to melt into magma, Ranma tries to shield himself from it with a frozen boulder. The boulder (which took the brunt of the hit) is disintegrated and Ranma himself is scorched despite never coming into contact with the magma. In the end, even when the foe ''isn't'' emitting any flame, the extreme heat in the air around him is what makes Ranma's final attack possible.

 

 

** Cold air (very poor heat conductor, anyway) and even touch of ice or snow on skin are nearly harmless ''for very short time''. People who take a bath in hot springs can exit and spend from a few seconds to a few minutes in sub-zero air while dressing up, or even rub themselves with snow and afterwards dress up quickly, with no ill effects. Prolonged exposure over many hours is the culprit for frostbite and death.

* Despite breaking almost as many scientific rules as ''[[The Day After Tomorrow]]'', ''[[The Core]]'' actually averted this nicely. One crewman had to step outside safe area of the ship, never touched lava, and still burned to death. He '''was''' wearing a protective suit - which is the only reason he could even open the door without immediately bursting into flame while simultaneously imploding from the intense heat and pressure. Previously they had to use liquid nitrogen, the ship's coolant, to exit the ship without bursting into flames. The crew is notably sweating through the rest of the movie, even while in the ship.

* Since we brought up ''[[Terminator]] 2'', it should be mentioned that this trope was lightly averted during the final chase scene when Sarah Connor declares that it is "too hot" to approach [[No OSHA Compliance|the open pit of molten metal]].

* A similar event in the [[Sylvester Stallone]] movie ''[[Demolition Man]]'' in which the villain holds a blowtorch mere inches away from a floor which is covered in gasoline. Never mind that the fumes coming from it would have surely caught fire instantly, as long as the naked flame doesn't touch the liquid itself it's fine.

*** That was cold fusion, which doesn't actually 'work' but that's how you're supposed to do it in real life: Electrodes in a glass jar.

* The infamous Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie ''Raptor Island'' features a scene where the female lead runs across a tree over a river of lava.

* The climactic battle in ''[[Dr. No]]'' takes place in a room being flooded with coolant from a nuclear reactor. {{spoiler|Dr. No survives long enough in the superheated coolant to desperately claw for a way out even when submerged above his head, and [[James Bond]], of course, is unharmed despite being mere inches away from the coolant.}}

** Had the liquid coolant been water (from a Boiling Water Reactor or Pressurized Water Reactor) or heavy water, it would have turned to steam immediately after being exposed to open air. [[Fridge Brilliance|As long as it stood liquid, it was below 100°C]], still enough to kill you, [[Squick|but not so quickly]].

* The title character of ''[[Shrek]]'' and his donkey sidekick walk across a rickety bridge over a boiling lake of lave without seeming to feel any heat.

* ''[[Toy Story 3]]''. [[Tear Jerker|Not that we're complaining.]]

* The entire ending of ''[[Congo]]''.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' novel ''Q&A'', the away team find themselves maneuvering through a lava field by jumping from rock to rock. Science officer Kadohata [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] that the heat should be affecting them even if they don't touch the lava, but stops once security officer Leybenzon asks her is she's complaining that things should be more difficult. (The planet was created by [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]], and works however they want it to.)

* In [[Aaron Allston]]'s ''[[Galatea in 2-D]]'', Roger is not burned by nearby lava. Justified because [[Art Initiates Life|it's his imaginary world]], and he hadn't thought of whether it would kill.

* Averted in ''Low Red Moon'' by [[Caitlin R Kiernan]], where a character magically creates [[Light the Way|an orb of light]] above his palm. The main character notices that his companion's hand is blistering and burning as he continues to maintain the light. Yes, children, light creates heat.

 

* An episode of ''[[Eureka]]'' deals with a miniature sun springing into being over the title city, creating an unending, superhot day. It keeps growing and getting hotter until it collapses a silo, melts the tires on a Jeep and fries the circuitry on a rocket. No people suffer any ill effects worse than sweating, and the idea that a small sun might cause a fire in the forest it's hovering over is never even mentioned.

** Another episode features a giant artificially created pocket of magma somewhere under the city, which could pop up anywhere unless Carter diverts it into the nearby lake. Having done so, the lava spurts out of the tunnel he made and into the lake... while Carter stands right next to it, making his usual pithy comment.

* In the ''[[Sanctuary]]'' episode "Pax Romana", two characters in insulation suits (which leave much of the head and hands exposed) leisurely execute a medical procedure surrounded by molten rock a few meters below. There's a dramatic close call where one of them falls extremely close to the lava. Sadly, her hair fails to start smoking.

 

*** Anyone level 6 or up in D&D 3.5 is literally superhuman. (Anyone level 11 or up is literally legendary enough that magic itself takes note of them.) How is surviving a swim in lava at an appropriately high level an issue? D&D is not meant to simulate real world human abilities at all, except at very low levels. Sufficiently high skill checks are explicitly stated to allow you to rape physics out of sheer skill.

*** The latest edition's rules for falling into lava are simpler. [[Chunky Salsa Rule|You die]]. Well, except when they're not: in several published adventures, lava simply deals 10-20 points of damage per round, which is survivably even for a first-level character.

* Played painfully straight with the [[Hero Clix]] Muspelheim map. It includes special rules for squares containing lava, which basically allow a character to walk over it in complete safety, just so long as they don't end up standing in a lava square at the end of a turn, which will deal a pittance of damage. Admittedly, it is based on the superhero genre, so it's not like accurate physics was its top priority.

 

** [[ROM Hack]] ''[[Rock Man 4 Minus Infinity]]'' plays this straight in Pharaoh Man's level and averts it in part of Dust Man's: you get a temperature gauge, and you take damage when it fills up completely.

* ''[[Devil Survivor]]'' has the boss fight against Jezebel: in order to fight or even approach her, the heroes have to cross a scorching lava pit...while it's understandable that demons and heroes who [[Power Copying|cracked]] the proper skills to [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|resist or absorb]] the Fire element don't get damaged or get healed, it still fails common sense that they can ''walk on the lava'' by merely getting some damage each turn. And without sinking to boot!

** And it was a [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]] so it was completely justified.

* In ''[[Digital Devil Saga]] 2'', the final dungeon is ''the sun''. Admittedly you're dead already, after a fashion, but still... It doesn't help that the sun is apparently a purple labyrinth populated by scores of monsters, the souls of the dead, and God.

** On a related note, the ice cape even works if you lack the [[Power-Up]] necessary to swim in water without [[Super Drowning Skills|taking damage]]. This may be considered [[Sequence Breaking]], but it gives you something to [[Fridge Logic|think about]].

* ''[[Lemmings]]'' one-upped this trope: the fiery levels in the original not only had lava that was no danger to the little green-haired [[Too Dumb to Live]] critters as long as they didn't actually touch it, it also had a trap that continually sprayed fire and fried them - if they landed in the middle of it. The edges (especially the forward edge) were perfectly safe. And the masonry levels had something greenish as the liquid that looked suspiciously like the cliché depiction of acid - but without dangerous vapors. Then again, [[Everything Trying to Kill You|it's not exactly as if the lemmings were ''safe'' because of these omissions...]]

* ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' follows this trope. Particularly in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Going Commando]]'' where:

** If Ratchet grabs an edge just above lava, he'll hang there in lava ''up to his knees'' and take no damage.

{{quote|...Valoria, where even the greatest coward doesn’t mind living in a volcano, and its corresponding dungeon Destard in Ultima IX. What can you say about it? On the positive side, you are finally presented with a quest that requires you to travel around several places in Britannia. On the other hand, Valoria is simply hilarious. Jhelom was destroyed by a volcano outburst, OK. So what are we gonna do? Right, we rebuild the town inside of the volcano! Bravo!}}

* Very much present in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', despite its horrendously complicated temperature system. Until somewhat recently, an long-standing [[Good Bad Bugs|bug]] caused ''ice'' to be considered a magma-proof material.

* [[Wii Sports]] Resort, where apparently being inside a volcano is perfectly safe, as long as there're guardrails.

* Part of one of the later stages of [[Dino Crisis]] 2 takes place inside an active volcano that Dylan can run around in (while wearing body armor, no less) with no problems despite coming perilously close to the lava flows.

** Conversely, the 2007 movie gets convection mostly right, but was criticized by fans who did not fully understand that while space is infinitely cold, the ''lack'' of convection in space means that a body in space will cool very, very slowly - much more slowly than a superheated body falling into the Arctic Ocean. In fact, the TF Wiki ''links to our [[Space Is Cold]] page'' to explain why that's not an error. See, this stuff ''is'' educational!

*** Not only does "infinitely cold" not exist (there is a lowest possible temperature), but space is several degrees warmer than absolute zero. Specifically, it's about 3 Kelvin, or -270 degrees Celsius (0 Kelvin is absolute zero). Furthermore, unless there is evaporation going on, a body in space that is in view of the Sun tends to heat up unless it's already hotter than the Sun's surface, 6000K. And, of course, if it is not in view of the sun, it tends to cool down to that 3K I mentioned, but it happens very slowly because neither conduction nor convection are possible, only radiation, and things at "normal" temperatures tend to radiate very very slowly.

** Likewise, in "Volcano" Lois is right next to molten lava and is completely unaffected, even doing a hand-over-hand climb over a field of lava without being even singed.

** This is amended in later episodes, where Lois Lane is imperiled by fire, and passes out or is burned outright by the heat.

* In ''[[Brother Bear]]'', Koda and Kenai traverse a field of heat (supposed to be lava...) This is impressive for two reasons: Kenai gets continuously hit by jets of steam (a la Princess Bride and the Swamp) and the nearby areas are covered in SNOW!

* [[Justified]] by [[Captain Planet and the Planeteers|Captain Planet]], who can not only swim through molten lava and be completely unharmed, but can also ''use it to heal himself''. As dangerous as they are to humans, lava flows and volcanoes are still part of the Earth's natural ecosystem, which Captain Planet is a Physical Avatar of.

* Notably averted in an episode of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''. A giant fire meteor threatens to strike Townsville. Even for most of the episode, the citizens suffer from a severe heat wave. Bubbles and Buttercup fly towards the incoming meteor to destroy it, but the intense heat simply forces them to flee (yes, not even ''[[Flying Brick|they]]'' can stand the heat) and to search for Blossom, whose current [[Heroic BSOD]] forbids her from using her [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|newly-gained]] [[An Ice Person|ice breath]].

* In ''[[Cow and Chicken]]'' Red accidentally falls into a river of lava. Then notices it's not as hot as he had thought (he's the Devil, though).

* Most [[Egregious]] example: ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' did an episode in which a planet is apparently ''half lava.'' We don't know what took half the planet's crust off. What we do know is that you can walk within ''inches'' of pools of lava... ''in a cavern that would logically be like an oven'' with that much lava and nowhere for the heat to go. However, anything thrown into lava catches fire before it hits, a nice bit of realism... if the aforementioned oven-cave hadn't been mere seconds earlier. If the characters didn't have to ''cross the lava on a rope that's only a few feet above the surface'' and do so without harm mere seconds ''later.'' Perhaps it's production values, but in none of the episode's more ridiculous examples of this trope did anyone even ''sweat.'' Going back and forth on it like that made it crazier than anything you've ever seen play the trope straight from beginning to end.

** [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in another episode; things are seen catching on fire ''before'' making contact with lava.

** [http://xkcd.com/735/ This] ''[[Xkcd]]'' comic sums it up well.

* Subverted a bit by [http://youtube.com/watch?v=4b6n8riJaFo the Discovery Channel].

** Further, the most important bit of safety gear: a sort of awning over the tops of your boots. Molten Aluminum can run down denim, barely scorching it (ironically, its convection acts on the water vapor to act as a temporary force-field), but bad things happen if it gets in your boots and it can't flow anywhere else.

*** Kind of brings a whole new layer of meaning to "flares", that does:)

** Also one of the reasons for which gas welders [[Captain Obvious|use dark goggles]].

* Averted with many living things, since most except for some species of bacteria actually cannot survive above the boiling point of water. The only place bacteria cannot survive at all is still inside volcanoes, however.

* Averted with the Sun, where its corona is actually much hotter than its surface, so in real life any spaceship that orbits that close will melt and vaporize instantly, killing any astronauts onboard, even if it is only a thousand miles away from the corona.

* Averted with certain exoplanets where most scientists think that the least habitable planets for life are those mostly covered in lava.

* One episode of [[The Magic School Bus]], though being as it is an educational show, they make it a point in the ending segment that realistically everyone would have been burned alive.