Movies and science have long had a bittersweet relationship for a very long time.
At times, movies demonstrate incredibly complicated physical phenomena in a lucid way, making
science more accessible to the average viewer.
However, sometimes films take what movie makers call “creative liberties” in order to
create an impactful moment or to supplement the movie’s plot with a surprising “twist”.
In this video, we’ll take a look at some common movie myths that don’t actually hold up in real life.
Number 1: Chloroform knocks you out in 2 seconds flat.
Imagine that Brad is minding his own business when a shady figure sneaks up on him from
behind and places a piece of cloth across his nose and mouth.
Two seconds later, Brad is unconscious.
This is a fairly common on-screen event, especially in action and thriller movies, suggesting
that a cloth soaked in chloroform can knock someone unconscious in the blink of an eye.
There are a few problems with this big-screen trope.
First of all, chloroform doesn’t knock someone out that quickly.
The chemical’s efficacy depends on the dosage of chloroform being used on the victim, which
differs from one case to another.
Second, and a bigger problem, is that this practice is highly dangerous.
If the dosage is too high, the negative effects of chloroform poisoning can cause severe symptoms
and may even be fatal.
This is one of the primary reasons why chloroform is not used as an anesthetic on patients during
medical procedures.
2: Gun silencers turn gunshots into silent whispers.
When James Bond puts a silencer on his firearm, we know that he means business.
However, one thing that James Bond movies, along with most other action films, get wrong
about silencers is that while they significantly reduce the sound of a gunshot, the sound is
nowhere near as dampened as it seems in movies.
A gun silencer or suppressor slows the release of the propellant gases that result from firing a bullet.
This can potentially reduce the BANG of a gunshot by nearly 20 decibels.
The sound of a gunshot is muffled, yes, but it's still not silent, and certainly nowhere
NEAR as silent as they depict in movies.
3: Gunshots throw people off their feet Here’s another gun-related myth: a bullet’s
impact can cause the victim to get knocked back off their feet.
This one feels quite real, since we think that a bullet traveling so fast must pack quite
a punch.
However, while bullets do move incredibly fast, the aerodynamic shape of the bullet
is designed to rupture through objects with an extremely concentrated force.
That being said, the bullet is too small in size, compared to a human, and doesn’t have
enough momentum to actually knock a person off their feet.
The victim might stagger backwards from the impact and also from shock, but there are
other factors like bullet weight and where the bullet hits on the body
that would change how the impact is felt.
In fact, the shooter is more likely to be the one to get thrown backwards.
This is where Newton’s Third Law kicks in: “Every action has an equal and opposite
reaction”.
The gun generates an immense force to propel the bullet forward, meaning that an opposite
force pushes the gun backwards.
This backward force is called recoil, and it can be large enough to knock someone off their feet.
4: Asteroids are clustered together.
Sci-fi movies based in space absolutely love asteroids.
Movie-goers are fascinated by the idea of a massive space stone slamming into Earth
and causing the apocalypse.
However, most movies take many creative liberties with how they portray asteroids.
One such example is showing asteroids clustered so close together that spaceships engaged
in a dogfight must maneuver through the tight spaces between them.
This cluttered field couldn't be further from the truth; in reality, once you run into an
asteroid, you’d typically have to go more than 960,000 kilometers before finding another one.
That's right! That’s how far apart most asteroids are—nearly 100 times the distance between New York and Tokyo!
However, it should be noted that showing a lot of asteroids in one 2D image or frame
is tricky, which is why most images will have asteroids bunched up closely.
In fact, we recently made a video about asteroids and faced the same challenge, but showing
asteroids so close together that spacecraft must dart and dodge to maneuver through them?
That’s totally unrealistic!
Another common asteroid-related misconception is that if any asteroid ever slams into our
planet, it would cause mass destruction.
Many people may not know this, but Earth is constantly being hit by space stones, including
asteroids.
However, the vast majority of these stones burn up during their entry through Earth’s
atmosphere.
5: Humans use only 10% of their total brain capacity.
Popular culture loves to propagate the idea that human beings use only 10%-30% of their
total brain capacity, and that if we could use all of our brain’s true power, we could
be “limitless”.
In fact, there are a few famous Hollywood movies, such as Limitless and Lucy, which
revolve around exactly this idea.
In reality, though, it doesn’t seem to be true.
The human brain is a complex piece of machinery composed of many tiny but highly significant
components, all of which work in perfect harmony to make the whole body work and keep us alive.
A healthy individual, therefore, uses all of their brain capacity, that is, 100% of
what their brain can offer!
6: Radioactivity makes superheroes.
As you have likely noticed, many superheroes are created as a result of freak accidents
involving radioactive radiation.
Spiderman, The Flash, The Hulk, Daredevil … there are simply too many to count.
While we’re constantly surrounded by small amounts of radiation wherever we go, there's
no research or scientific evidence to prove that exposure to radioactive radiation can
turn ordinary people into superheroes.
Most mutations from severe radiation exposure might give some people an extra finger or
a rare genetic disease, but being able to climb up walls or turn into a huge angry green
warrior is not among the known side effects.
Scientists have been studying the effects of radiation from the Chernobyl meltdown for
decades now, and while they’ve discovered some very interesting things, superpowers
aren’t among them.
7: You can casually walk away from an explosion without being hurt in any way.
Explosives cause damage and destruction in 2 ways – shrapnel and shockwaves – both
of which fly out rapidly in all directions following an explosion.
Even if you take cover behind a wall or metal barrier, you’d be shielded from the metal
shrapnel released from the explosive, but you would still be vulnerable to the shockwave.
The more powerful an explosion is, the more dangerous the resulting shockwaves are; they
can knock people off their feet and fling them onto sharp objects or against hard surfaces,
which can cause grievous and sometimes fatal injuries.
So, next time you see a movie hero casually sauntering away from an explosion, remember
that it’s highly unrealistic and dangerously misleading.
These were some very common movie myths that popular culture simply can’t get enough
of.
Are there any other common myths that movies use and propagate?
Please share your thoughts in the Comments below!