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Feature
Overview
-Would the bus in Speed really have made that jump?
-Could a Star Wars ship actually explode in space?
-What really would have happened if you said “Honey, I shrunk the kids”?
The companion book to the hit website (www.intuitor.com/moviephysics), which boasts more than 1 million visitors per year, Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics is a hilarious guide to the biggest mistakes, most outrageous assumptions, and the outright lunacy at work in Hollywood films that play with the rules of science.
In this fascinating and funny guide, author Tom Rogers examines 20 different topics and shows how, when it comes to filmmaking, the rules of physics are flexible.
Einsteins and film buffs alike will be educated and entertained by this wise and witty guide to science in Hollywood.
April 17th, 2011 on 2:33 am
A Great Book Full of Scientific Common Sense,
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When people think of physics, they often think with horror about its more abstract sub-disciplines such as quantum mechanics, relativity, elementary particles, cosmology, etc. As a result, many people shy away from this most basic of sciences. But one thing that this book makes perfectly clear is that much of what we see in everyday life is easily explainable (or analyzable) using the elementary physics that one learns in late high school and perhaps early university courses. Using this most basic physics, the author has done an absolutely superb job of dissecting the scientific credibility of modern movies using the scalpel of Newtonian physics and the laws of thermodynamics. The movies discussed are action/adventure/science fiction/fantasy-type movies, i.e., movies that are more prone to stretching and outright breaking the basic laws of physics for the benefit of added spectacular effects. Equations are included throughout but in special boxes for those who are more technically inclined. The writing style is very clear, most engaging and very tongue-in-cheek (even hilarious) when discussing matters related to the scientific literacy of Hollywood movie makers. This book can be enjoyed by everyone; however, it will likely be most enjoyed by science buffs and movie aficionados alike. It could also be used as an exciting complement to any basic physics courses.
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|April 17th, 2011 on 2:48 am
Movies & Physics–A Great Combination,
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As a physics teacher who often used movies and TV to point out the ridiculous scientific mistakes that were common in the media, this book makes a great resource. Mr. Rogers does a good job pointing out the “insultingly stupid” physics that can quickly spoil a movie. Anyone with an interest in physics and the movies would be amiss not to have this on the shelf.
Mr. Rogers does a number of good things here. First, he is quite complete and deliberate in his coverage of the major topics of mechanics. There are chapters on the various aspects of Newton’s laws, kinematics, energy, momentum, rotation, gravity as well as brief dips into other areas. He earns a lot of respect for his good, scientific analysis. His chapters focusing on JFK and the collapse of the twin towers are among the best I’ve read on these subjects.
Wisely, he keeps the calculations offset from the main text so casual readers can skip this if they wish. Most importantly, he also has a real love and appreciation of movies. He doesn’t allow his science knowledge to interfere with his enjoyment of a movie if the science isn’t crucial to the story.
If there is a weakness in this book, it is that his writing is a bit workmanlike and repetitive, so reading a lot at a sitting can be a slog. But my opinion of Mr. Roger’s work may be a little colored because I did a lot of similar analysis for my physics students. Still, there were many ideas in this book that I never developed myself so I was glad to have my understanding widened. This book is well worth a read.
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|April 17th, 2011 on 3:35 am
Highly Interesting for Geeks like me!,
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This book examines many things that happen in movies. So, you see a guy with an automatic weapon firing for 20 seconds straight. This book lets you know the firing rate, and capacity so that it would be empty in 1.5 seconds. Also, the weight of bullets, e.g. Matrix Revolutions, at that firing rate, wheelbarrels of bullets won’t do it, you need truckfulls. Besides the physics – how fast an explosion goes, versus gravity pulling our hero down to water (they always jump away from an explosion), would give him 17 inches down toward water – oops, fried. Beside the fun physics, what I remember from high school and freshman college physics is in seperate boxes (e.g. Force = Mass x Acceleration) used to give details. You can skip these if they are too dry for you – but I love the backup info. What is great about this book is that the author does not just dismiss stuff – e.g. let’s say Superman can fly (given), but if he swooped in to save Lois, coming to an immediate stop, all his kinetic energy would be converted to heat – about 6000 degrees. Or Spiderman, to zip around would need about 1/3 of his body weight to be web creating fluid. Lots of great stuff covered, Star Trek inertial dampers (without they’d be pancake crew), shields in all space movies, Matrix Revolution firing, bullets knocking someone off his feet (e.g. Lethal Weapon), how much explosive to blast the asteroid in Armageddon (oh, about 1000 of the largest nuclear bombs Russia ever built), the bus jump in Speed (how it could actually happen, versus how they filmed it), etc. Lots of great movies covered, without ruining them. Clearly this author loves movies as much as I do, and yet wants to educate readers on physics so you don’t try to start a gasoline puddle fire with a cigarette (highly unlikely to work – read the book and see why!). The end of each chapter has a short list of PLUS and MINUS for movies in the category – e.g. [-][-] planets that explode in a few seconds, [0] terrestrial fireballs traveling great distances at hypersonic speeds (incorrect but forgivable), [+][+] fragmentation grenades detonating without large fireballs. So each of these plus and minus relate to movies in the prior chapter, and notice the author often ‘forgives’ some physics because it is good for the movie/story.
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