Movies are dumbing down science, along with everything else

In one of the least surprising bits of advice ever, college professors at the University of Central Florida are suggesting that you don't take physics lessons from Hollywood.<BR><BR>Read More

 

[Evil Peer]

Someone has already pointed out why the Superman scene is not an example of bad science (its just often misinterpreted as such). It should also be pointed out that if he were trying to reverse the turn of the Earth, it would not reverse time, but it probably would end all life as we know it. As quickly as he stopped the Earth, things would have been flying into the air tangentially at about 1000 MPH. Kal-el, destroyer of worlds. -- View image here: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif --<br><br>The Magneto scene is also not really a bad example. As has been previously mentioned.. Super powers, 'nuff said. But even beyond that, the measurement of calories burned would only apply if Magneto were somehow creating the magnetic/gravitic waves himself and applying them to the bridge. More likely, he is merely shaping the fields by the power of thought and suggesting to them to move the bridge. This means you are now dealing with an information measurement as opposed to pure f = ma.

 

[Evil Peer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Fulgan:<BR>WHAT field? </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>I haven't actually seen the movie in question, so I was writing from what I know of Magneto based on the prior two films and what was described of the scene. If he doesn't have powers and is moving the bridge as an ordinary man, then yeah, its completely bogus. But Magneto doesn't have super-strength, so even if he's grabbing onto the bridge when he moves it, he's still using magnetism to do so (in the comics, even though his powers are supposed to be based on magnetic fields, they sometimes take on gravitic effects, so it may not be "magnetic" per se).

 

[Evil Peer]

<blockquote class="ip-ubbcode-quote">
<div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div>
<div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Macwarrior:<br>I think the question he was asking is "if Magneto is just manipulating an existing magnetic field to move the bridge, where is the field coming from?".<br>Which is a valid question. Fields don't come out of nowhere. </div>
</blockquote>
<br><br>A <i>very</i> valid question. There's nothing in the human body that can generate magnetic fields in such a manner, which makes it unlikely that Magneto himself is the culprit. So we either go back to "gravitic" or we throw our hands up in the air and say "a wizard did it". -- View image here: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif --<br><br>The whole point I was making is that the calorie burning issue brought up was a completely erroneous approach, which is pretty much true no matter how you look at the situation.