MovieChat Forums > Collision Earth (2011) Discussion > Physics error (Spoiler)

Physics error (Spoiler)

posted 12 years ago by enathanb1
14 replies | jump to latest

Apparently as the other planet gets real close to Earth, its gravity starts pulling objects (cars and others things) up towards it. Unless the oncoming planet is super-dense and has a truly gigantic gravity field, objects on Earth would stay right where they are until the collision happened.

An example of this is the gravitational effects of the moon on the Earth. At an average distance of 240,000 miles from the Earth, the Moon is pulling on you with a force equal to 1/300,000th of your weight. (i.e. for a 180 lb. person that would be 6/10,000 of a pound or a little over a quarter of a gram (.2725g)).

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jmartz11 12 years ago

replays on syfy at 1am est sunday

[–] wichart-2 12 years ago

Magnetism that somehow pushes nuclear missiles AWAY from Mercury instead of pulling them closer. Also, magnetism that is powerful enough to lift vehicles off the surface of Earth (at convenient times) but not powerful enough to crash a spaceship flying just a few hundred feet off the surface of Mercury. Still a physics fail.

[–] patkarnes 12 years ago

Well the pushing the missles away could be credible if the magnets inside the missles were opposite poles to that of mercury, but the rest is yes huge fail!

[–] wichart-2 12 years ago

True story.

[–] patkarnes 12 years ago

Even so the fact that the sun turned into a magnatar for a split second than returned to being the sun lol that is impossible within our laws of physics as well, but syfi movies are known for ignoring the laws of physics when making their movies. in fact most movies are known for it.they are not into making a movie based on scientific fact, they want to make a movie people want to watch.what most movie makers don't understand is that in the world of physics fact is often more interesting than fiction. With what we know about physics these days a movie could be made well within those realms that could be a blockbuster if they would just hire a good scienc
e advisor.

[–] wichart-2 12 years ago

Magnetism would not account for the effect of vehicles (and nothing else) rising up into the air and then FALLING BACK DOWN TO THE GROUND. Again, a physics fail.

Aside from that, they never explain how a force from the Sun that is strong enough to move Mercury at least 48 million miles in under 12 hours has absolutely no direct effect on Earth.

I would have been less disappointed if this had been a Planet X / Elenin disaster movie. At least then I would have had to come up with (slightly) more difficult objections.

[–] patkarnes 12 years ago

Also something tells me that if mercury was taken out of ours orbit it would have an effect on all the planets in the inner solar system being how dense it is and its gravity is fairly powerful for as small of a planet it is. Ask around physics fail!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] trypt 12 years ago

In the end, the forces are the same. Just like inertia is the same as gravity, from different points of view, and electricity is the same as magnetism, and weak force the same as electromagnetic, all the forces are the same when talking either about the extremely huge or extremely small events. That being said, I'll have to see the film to weigh in on the physics of it, but we don't watch these movies for physics right, and I'm an astrophysicist.

"You were assimilated, resistance was futile!"

[–] Frumious_Bandersnatch_46 12 years ago

I have to agree. The amount of real science here isn't enough to activate the blink reflex if it were to fly in someone's eye.

---
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things,"
Of atoms, stars and nebulæ, of entropy and genes.
---

[–] mvance-1 12 years ago

I didn't think this was a terrible movie, and it kept me watching until the end, but the absolute biggest roadblock to my acceptance of its premise has already been mentioned on this thread: how in the name of science fiction could a "magnitizing solar flare" send the innermost world of the system tens of millions of miles off course and into the path of the Earth in just a few hours? I actually was expecting some sort of teleportation explanation that never came.

On the other hand, Kirk Acevedo and Diane Farr are solid pros (and Diane's pretty cute -- I wish she had had some Earthside scenes), and there were a couple of deaths I didn't expect (at least, not when they happened).

I do have to wonder how many times Kirk had to say, "Let's get outta here/let's move NOW/we have to go NOW!" over the course of the flick, however. Steve V.

[–] southerndude 12 years ago

There were so many fails in this movie, I do not feel like listing them all. Also, how were the kids on Earth with the radio thingy talking to the astronauts around Mercury IN REAL TIME? Doesn't it take radio waves about 10 minutes to travel between Earth and Mercury?

[–] JungleHyena 12 years ago

I forgive you,... but you missed something. :D

What was attracting the car's up into space and such, was not gravity but magnetism.

They did say that only metal objects went up in the air. This means it was magnetism, not gravity effecting it.

Magnetism and gravity are two different forces of nature. Wiki it.

I guess due to the awesomeness of this movie, you failed to notice this. ;-D