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
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Posted on Sep 7, 2007 10:00 AM EDT
Falling with Kim Basinger from the top of one of Gotham City's gloomiest bell towers in the first Batman flick, a right-on-the-money shot from Batman's always-trusty grappling hook catches on one of the tower's gargoyles, stopping their fall and saving their lives. If you noted their painfully abrupt and inelastic jerk to a stop, though, you'd be on to something. With Newton's second law (F=ma), we can calculate just how painful this "life-saving" shot may have been. Assuming a total mass of 140 kilograms for the falling pair, a near-terminal velocity rate of fall of 60 meters per second, and an abrupt 0.1-second stop to zero (yielding an acceleration of 600 m/s2, or 60 times the force of gravity), the force exerted on Batman via the rope is a massive 85,000 newtons, or 60 times the force of gravity: the equivalent of about nine tons. Batman would need to be packing some serious rope to hold up under such a force, but even if the rope didn't snap, a force of that magnitude applied in such a short amount of time would almost certainly break whichever bone the rope was anchored to, on top of causing massive internal injuries. But Batman manages to do it all without even a wince-all the while keeping his grip around his lady's waist. Dreamy! Everett Collection
