Did anyone notice the physics lesson in the opening scenes?
It had some translation errors (like gravitation force cannot be measured in meters), but it still showed a lot of the physics I learned in my U.S. high school.
For example, the diagonal velocity vector was broken into x and y components, although Vx is better stated as V cos alpha (the angle in the movie)
A good movie, overall.
Sadly, these weren't only translation errors, but they're there in the German original as well. That's one of the (few) things I didn't like about the movie:
The film makers obviously didn't do their homework here, even though it would have
been very easy to have someone with some knowledge of high school physics
check this. Come to think of it, that was what made Kubrik stand apart from
pretty much everyone else: His attention to detail and background.
Oh, yes... That physics lesson make sme laugh. He put just enough actual physics to make most people think it's right, but anyone who's taken an actual class in physics will think it's rediculous
Also... When he does the EXACT same thing later in the movie (with the car over the river), his math is right (well, I doubt anyone would be able to do math that perfect in their head) but his estimate in river distance was a bit off...
I can't read German, but the formula for Vk (the initial velocity at an angle alpha) needed to span Xw (the width of the river) is exactly correct in the classroom scene: Vk = sqrt(Xw*g/sin(2*alpha)) and the answer arrived at the river scene is also correct (with g = 9.81, the answer is closer to 96.40 km/h than 96.41, but hey, he did it mostly in his head – must have even memorized sine tables). Yes, Daniel says a few things wrong in both scenes, e.g. the mass of the car is not in the equation so there is no point in mentioning it as he does by the river. Of course [spoiler], he estimates either the angle of the ramp or the width of the river incorrectly (the river looked more like 35m).
Physics aside though, I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. The director says in the extras that the two characters reflect different aspects of his own personality. I'm much closer to Daniel in my personality, but I found Juli quite likable. The movie is not rated in the U.S. - if that matters to you, I'll let you know it would probably get an R rating for occasional illegal drug use (I had a bigger problem with all the tobacco use myself), there isn't any sex.
Dara
p.s. In case anybody wants the physics lesson, here it is:
Q: Let an object be moving at an initial velocity V0 along a ramp inclined alpha degrees from the horizontal (in other words, V0x = V0*cos(alpha) and V0y = V0*sin(alpha)) at time 0 and at position x = y = 0. How far does the object travel when (some time later) the object returns to y = 0?
A: Using Newton's laws (treating perpendicular axes independently):
dy/dt^2 = -g, g = 9.81 m/sec^2
dy/dt = -g*t + C1
dy/dt(t = 0) = V0y -> C1 = V0y
y = -g*t^2/2 + V0y*t + C2
y(0) = 0 -> C2 = 0
y = -g*t^2/2 + V0y*t
y = 0 has two solutions: t = 0 and t = 2*V0y/g
x = V0x*t (since acceleration in x direction is 0 after t = 0)
So at t = 2*V0y/g, x = 2*V0y*V0x/g = 2*V0^2*cos(alpha)*sin(alpha)/g
Solving for V0 and using sin(2*alpha) = 2*sin(alpha)*cos(alpha), we arrive at the formula given in the movie. Note that if alpha = 10 deg and x = 25 meters, we get V0 = 26.78 m/s = 96.40 km/h.
If only we used in july for our high school physics classes !!!!!
What a fantastic post!