Hollywood Physics

Take a look at a few of cinema's most mind-boggling moments of scientific inaccuracy-plus a few rare films that manage to get things (mostly) right

By John Mahoney Posted 09.04.2007 at 2:00 am 8 Comments

by The Everett Collection In The Day After Tommorrow, Hollywood's not the only thing erronously creamed The Everett Collection

View Photo Gallery

As we reach the close of the summer blockbuster season, reports of a recent paper by two professors at the University of Central Florida recently caught our eye. In it, the physicists Costas Efthimiou and R.A. Llewellyn assert that movies are making their students dumber. ""Sure, people say everyone knows the movies are not real," says Efthimiou, "but my experience is many of the students believe what they see on the screen."

Whether you believe them or not, it's always fun to take a scientist's eye to the silver screen to see just how ridiculous things can get when directors and screenwriters set poetic license against physical reality. High-school physics teacher Adam Weiner does just that in his great new book Don't Try This at Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies. Here, we take a look at a few of the worst offenders, and at the actual science behind them.

Launch the slideshow here.

Previous Article: Small Stuff, Big Trouble

Next Article: The Bunker Nightmare Goes Nuclear

Want to learn more about breakthroughs in electronics, medicine, nanotech, and more?
Subscribe to Popular Science today, for less than $1 per issue!

8 Comments

Link to this comment

radinplaid

02/06/08 at 2:49 am

you may want to check your speed record for the XXX movie critique. the fastest recorded speed on a snowboard is 125.45 mph, not 50mph. you were only off by 75 mph, but i guess im just picky...

Link to this comment

drewman

04/05/08 at 9:01 pm

The movie Serenity honored no sound in space right at its beginning and throughout.

Link to this comment

angelkehan

05/14/08 at 10:47 am

Link to this comment

hackdack

05/15/08 at 9:18 pm

ليبيا
شباب ليبيا

Link to this comment

shrivastav5

01/05/10 at 5:19 am

From the 1902 production Voyage to the Moon to the recent What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?, physics has appeared in numerous feature films. Sidney Perkowitz examines the accuracy of physics in the movies and asks how realistically physicists are portrayed on screen
www.nobledrugstore.com

Link to this comment

soft2010

06/03/10 at 8:07 pm

thank you
Some of the best locations, whetherساتا نت sports or
mainland sites of the area
ديكورات واكسسوارات
ديكور – أثاث – غرف نوم – مطابخ – حمامات – اكسسوارات
and computer time and Internet sites Eve latest
fashion Programmes Branch Mobile Blackberry iPhone iPod sites
willأخبار الرياضة,مشاهدة مباريات كاس العام ware
free programs

Link to this comment

FF1FC

06/06/10 at 1:26 am

دردشة
منتديات
العاب

Link to this comment

nazlimm

09/19/11 at 5:14 am

http://www.akdeniznakliyat.com.tr : evden eve nakliyat
I recommend everyone who has benefited me a lot of information here. Thank you ..

Science

+ More Photo Galleries

June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.