Space, lies, and video(tape)

Steph P. Bianchini April 3, 2014 1 Comment

i.e, what else is fake in space?

A funny video I watched a few days ago  (that I also advise to anybody interested in sci-fi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9lJh2tBk2s&feature=share)  is about all the inconsistencies, errors, when not outward lies, about space we were led to believe thanks to movies.

At a better thought, however, there is nothing to laugh about. Even people with a good scientific culture are prone, unsurprisingly, to them, and in one case they got me too, for my eternal shame (and no, I am not going to confess which one not even under a medieval torture).

With this in mind, I decided to do a little research, and compile a list of the most startling, and widespread, misconceptions about space. To avoid making this post a dissertation in astrophysics, I kept it nice and simple.

At the end, this is what is called Hollywood Science, isn’t it?  (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodScience)

This is what I have found as the most commonly screwed-up points – in movies first and foremost, even if books have their own BS share too.

Note: There are some areas I have intentionally avoided, like teleportation, FTL,  the Death Star weapon. Why? Because Michiu Kaku has classified them as impossibilities of I type, the ones not violating the laws of physics (no, not even FTL: by warp drive the actual speed will be subluminal at all time) and therefore possible in future (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Physics-Impossible-Scientific-Exploration-Teleportation/dp/0141030909).

The following are violating any kind of physics, let alone sheer reality.

*Sound and explosions

Many blunders come from a fundamental misunderstanding about the medium itself. Space is seen as void as the air, but the point is that in space there is no air, just plain void.  With no air, no sound can be heard. And without oxygen, fire has no way to sustain itself. So forget loud, spectacular explosions – they would happen only in your dreams (or nightmares).

* Flying in and around asteroids

A sequence that it is now historical shows Star Wars’ space pilot Han Solo flying into a ring of asteroids, risking collisions every now and then. Now, even assuming it is not the Solar System’s asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the whole story seems farfetched. It simply does not consider distance in space – where what looks like a packed area is nothing of the sort. The Voth City Ship could navigate them at ease (for a comparison in size of starships from the famous series, see: http://www.st-minutiae.com/misc/comparison/comparison_large.png)  – Han Solo in his starfighter could do that drunk, doped and blindfolded.

*Dogfights in outer space

It is said that Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek’s creator, got inspired by his own experiences as WWII airforce pilot to recreate battles in space. If this is true, it would explain why they look somehow like the ones on Earth. The point is, excluded locations in near planet orbits (which present another fresh set of problems, atmosphere and gravity-related), dogfights stand little chance to really happen in space. (For a really good analysis, see: http://gizmodo.com/5426453/the-physics-of-space-battles/all). Again, it is a matter of distance, and scale, which few seem to fully comprehend. Not everybody completely agrees with this lack of imagination. Therefore, as a matter of fairness, I will mention opposite views: http://archive.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/dogfighting-in-space-the-history-channel-decides/, which I have to admit I don’t share.

*Gravity

I have already mentioned previously on this blog the point regarding planetary gravity. It is generally assumed in fiction that exoplanets have the same gravity of Earth, but this is rarely accurate, and it constitutes the exception instead than the rule. Just to show, once more if needed, that the so-called Sturgeon’s law – 90% of sci-fi is plain crap (http://www.physics.emory.edu/faculty/weeks//misc/slaw.html) – is sadly accurate in its spirit, if not in its figures.

*Temperature

Is space cold? There is no such thing as temperature per se in space (http://www.universetoday.com/77070/how-cold-is-space) – it is only when you put up something there – i.e., matter – that you can start talking about temperature. And even then, the heat transmission happens in different ways than on Earth (namely radiation). But space, by convention, is cold – and it is difficult to transmit a different image.  People won’t believe it, that’s all.

*Other matters

There are many other examples that could be made here – frictionless and uneventful reentries in atmosphere, black holes with a boundless event horizon, and so on – but I guess I have proved the overall point.

TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay) has made an excellent job in listing many of them, together with identifying the movies and TV series where you can find admirable examples of many of these pearls of physics.

Conclusions? Hollywood has certainly its rights, but sci-fi lovers deserve a better treatment, especially considering that many of us are wired more to the sci than the fi component. Or keep it at fantasy, that can take place everywhere, space included.  Moreover, given what is in store for the human race (eventually we will go and live in space, if we have to survive. Modalities and timescale are uncertain, but not the thing itself), a better education should be advisable anyway. You don’t want to believe you can actually breath out there, do you?