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Altair IV
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Japan
110 Posts |
 Posted - 03/24/2007 : 10:53:16 AM
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That's one of the big problems with space battles. Since laser weapons travel at the speed of light, there'd be no way to know they're coming until they actually hit you. There's no dodging a light ray.
You can get around it a bit by positing that they aren't actually lasers, but charged particle/plasma weapons, which would be slower than light. This would make space battles a bit more realistic, but it wouldn't help much in small-arms fights, because they'd still faster than the fastest projectile.
Speaking of lasers, here's one. Any movie that has laser beam alarm systems, especially ones where the infiltrators can simply put on some kind of goggles and can suddenly see the beams.
<Morbo voice>LASERS DON'T WORK THAT WAY!</Morbo voice>
Not to mention that having such an easily-bypassed "security" system would be moronic. |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2007 : 5:46:28 PM
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Did you see the Mythbusters episode where they did laser alarm systems?? You can see the infrared ones to some degree with goggles, and powder or fog works with the visible ones. Of course, too much powder or fog and you obstruct the beam and trip the alarm. But they are extremely easy to beat- just take your own laser, aim it at the receptor and break the original beam. Nothing to it. Kari Byron (aka The Hottest Chick In The Universe) actually beat a motion sensor by moving slowly- it took her half an hour to cross a 15' room. Talk about self control!
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
Edited by - Sardu on 03/24/2007 5:47:15 PM |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2007 : 08:28:14 AM
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Sardu in the pretty good TV show SEA HUNT, LLoyd Bridges was hired to test a security system and he beat an alarm by shining his FLASHLIGHT at the photo cell while swiming past.
The Force Skeptics artical by Roger M. Wilcox pointed out that the blaster beams in Star Wars are slower than bullets. Sorry for the late credit, Roger.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2007 : 10:30:42 AM
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Altair--that's actually a good point about geologists. I can see what that'd bug you now. I am a little ashamed I didn't think of that before. Bleh.
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Fifty lashes with a wet noodle for me, I guess. |
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Altair IV
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Japan
110 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2007 : 3:25:10 PM
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No, I haven't seen that Mythbusters. Unfortunately, imported shows here generally run at least a year behind their US releases, so it may be a while before they get around to that one. I'd really like to see it.
Ok, I can guess that the ambient dust and whatnot in the air might be just enough for infrared or light-sensitive goggles to pick up, but I can't imagine it would be easy, especially in the super-clean high-tech fortresses usually depicted. But whether or not the beams are visible, it would still be a stupid way to secure an area when there are better alternatives available. |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2007 : 9:48:08 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Altair IV
But whether or not the beams are visible, it would still be a stupid way to secure an area when there are better alternatives available.
Yep, that's the conclusion they came to as well.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2007 : 01:20:25 AM
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This may or may not be science gaffe:
The Ring
How long can someone survive at the bottom of a well with no food or (clean) water? Seven days.
Not sure about this one. What do you think? |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 8:00:19 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Max Torque
But the funny thing is, every time they get into trouble in the movie, it's always the "brainless" Scarecrow who comes up with the plan to get them out of it. Even subtler, methinks.
And the heartless Tin Man weeps sentimentally several times before he gets a heart. Honestly, the only one who really seemed to lack what he "needed" was the Cowardly Lion, who did get scared a lot.
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 8:20:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Greenhornet
There used to be a formula in the 1930s that "prooved" that it was "impossible" for an object to travel faster than SOUND, even though bullets and other projectiles did it every day!
Well ... no. My understanding is that most of the math involving supersonic flight was worked out by Ernst Mach back in the 19th Century. Supersonic flight was pretty well understood, and the "sound barrier" never stopped bullets (as you pointed out) or mach 5+ rockets.
The real risk of the X-1 flight is that while supersonic aerodynamics were fairly well understood, theoretically, and while supersonic wind tunnels were built in the 1940s, paradoxically enough, transsonic (speeds right around Mach 1) flight was not well understood; nor was it possible to build a transsonic wind tunnel.
So, an engineer on X-1 might have said, "We know it is possible to build a wing that will work both below and above the speed of sound. We believe it is possible to build a wing which will survive going from subsonic flight to supersonic flight, and then back down from supersonic to subsonic flight. However, we cannot be sure we have done so, and we cannot test the wing except in a manned aircraft." Nowadays, we'd build the X-1 as an unmanned plane.
quote:
Originally posted by Greenhornet
Back to the subject:
In "Phantom Planet" the astronauts recived their final orders via teletype, which would mean that their rocket was attached to the moonbase by a TELEGRAPH WIRE.
Ehh... or a teletypewriter ("Teletype" is a brand name for a teletypewriter) using wireless signals. That's sort of a stretch.
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 8:29:48 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by VikingBarry
Another thing is they were wearing G-suits while walking about on Mars. The outfit is only good for the upper astomsphere of Earth.
Actually, this raises an interesting point -- around the time period of the 1950s, the atmosphere of Mars was thought to be much, much more dense than it actually is: the Mariner missions in the 1960s discovered otherwise. In the 1950s Von Braun proposed a winged Martian landing craft (The designs were used in Conquest of Space -- possibly the least memorable of Pal's SF films.) High altitude suits for Mars missions were pretty much correct based on the knowledge at the time.
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 8:45:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BT
I'll try to defend ID4 a bit (I'm always stumped why bad movie lovers hate this movie, but that is a topic for another day). As far as Zombiewhacker's P-47 analogy goes, they could sneak a P-47 past security if every fighter they had was still a P-47.
Also defending ID4 (without having seen the film):
1) "The heck? That fighters been MIA for 50 years, and it's returning just now?"
"Maybe the pilot crashed 50 years ago, and his ship can't handle deep space? Wouldn't you want to come back on your own power instead of waiting to be rescued?"
(Assuming, of course, the aliens could live for 50 years)
2) The F-14 remained in US Navy service as the primary carrier based interceptor for about 34 years; 1972-2006.
The B-52 entered service in the USAF in 1954 and remains in service after 52 years.
So, I don't think that a 50 year service life is too preposterous, especially for an advanced alien technology which might be nearing a plateau.
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 8:58:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Altair IV
On a slightly different note, The local cable movie channel showed Tremors last night. Now this is an almost textbook example of a good monster movie, but I did notice one minor science mistake when I watched it. Just after killing the first grabboid, the lady scientist tries to figure out what they could be, and she says something like, "There's nothing like them in the fossil record....so...they predate the fossil record. They could be one or two billion years old."
Yeah, I caught that too -- but to give the character every possible excuse (which I would not do if I disliked the film, I guess), this is part of a monologue where she basically spits out a lot of different theories, and can't come up with one she likes.
Personally, I sort of liked it. It had a "Maybe they're...no, that makes no sense. Or maybe ... no, not that either. Hell, I got nothing!" feel that strikes me as being a wonderful spoof of those half-assed "scientific" explanations you see in different horror films of the 1950s.
And actually, I think that Alien fell into this trap. I've never understood why Ripley was so suspicious of Ash's inability to come up with a plan to kill the Alien. He's the science officer on a commercial ship; he's certainly the go-to guy in this scenario, but is it really suspicious that he muffed it?
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 9:07:00 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
This may or may not be science gaffe:
The Ring
How long can someone survive at the bottom of a well with no food or (clean) water? Seven days.
Not sure about this one. What do you think?
I understand there's something they call "The Rule of 3" in survival school: you can survive three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, three weeks without food, three months without posting on an Internet talk board.
Of course, those numbers are very, very rough, and it is possible to exceed them -- just don't bet on it. If, for example, the bottom of the well is cool, so the victim doesn't sweat, and if the victim is kept damp, and if the victim is not bleeding ... well, I'd believe seven days without water, but I wouldn't want to try it.
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 9:22:01 PM
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And my personal worst science moments:
Silent Running
An Earth without any animals but humans? How?
A biologist forgetting that plants need sunlight? [this one might be forgiven if we take it as evidence the main character is losing it in a big way, which is a perfectly reasonable way to read the film]
Er, why did the plants start dying? Are you saying he somehow moved the ship so it would always be in the shadow of Saturn? How?
Matrix
No, humans cannot generate more electrical energy than it takes to keep them alive. The Second Law is Your Friend.
And, in one of the most subtle ones:
Son of Frankenstein
"My father spoke of a ray beyond the ultraviolet. I think he meant what we call cosmic rays."
Nope; cosmic rays are particles, and are not part of the electromagnetic spectrum. "Beyond ultraviolet" would be X-Rays and Gamma Rays. Neither of which bring the dead to life, but that's another one.
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 11:16:32 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by John Nowak
And actually, I think that Alien fell into this trap. I've never understood why Ripley was so suspicious of Ash's inability to come up with a plan to kill the Alien. He's the science officer on a commercial ship; he's certainly the go-to guy in this scenario, but is it really suspicious that he muffed it?
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan
You do have a good point. Ash was helpful earlier, coming up with the motion detector and suggesting using a flamethrower. That's not the behavior of someone trying to stab you in the back, at least on the surface.
But Ripley voices early on that she doesn't trust Ash, and it's clear that the two of them don't like each other, fueling her mistrust. It's also telling that after Dallas is et, Ash is the only one who doesn't offer any suggestions — even a bad one — on what to do next. Considering what had gone on before, Ripley may be getting a little frazzled, and some paranoia may have set in. Turns out, her paranoia was right.
The movie originally called for a scene between Dallas's death and Ripley's showdown with Ash; the scene would have Parker and Ripley finding out that the Alien is in one of the airlocks, and they try and take advantage of their good fortune... until an alarm scares the Alien off. This would be clear evidence that someone was trying to protect the Alien, and Ash would be a natural "person of interest."
This next one is nitpicky, and it's taking on a giant.
In 2001, why does the Discovery have a ladder? The astronauts are weightless; there's no need for a ladder in there. Also, they climb down the ladder! Try getting on all fours and crawling backwards. Awkward, isn't it.
Okay, they couldn't really simulate zero-g in the film. But I wonder if Kubrick could've gotten around this somehow. Ah well. |
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