My 5 Favorite ‘Physics Takes a Beating’ Moments on TV

My husband and I are both science types. So, when we watch TV or a movie, one of our favorite phrases is “physics takes a beating.” What we mean by this are those moments where, in a program that is not scifi or fantasy, one of the characters does something totally, humanly impossible. Or, in any kind of show, something occurs that defies the laws of physics and is not because of some technobabble gizmo.

We love to watch scifi shows, and Star Trek, in all its incarnations, tops the list. Since it is scifi, there are a lot of things on the show across all the series that are impossible with today’s science, but could be possible at some point in the future.

However, one thing that even the future cannot ignore is momentum. Newton’s First Law of Motion states: “Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.” In other words, in space, stopping is a problem. There is nearly nonexistent friction. So, when Captain Kirk says, “Mr. Sulu, all stop,” and the Enterprise stops on a dime, well, just no. To stop the Enterprise, or any other space ship, you need retrorockets and distance.

In a recent episode of Once Upon a Time, Mary Margaret went over a cliff, and managed to stop her fall, one handed, by grabbing onto a vine. David comes to the rescue – be still my heart! – manages to grab her other hand, which is wet by the way, and pull her to safety. She is none the worse for wear.

This kind of event occurs all the time on TV, and is basically impossible for an ordinary person. Grabbing hold of something as you are falling puts a lot of force on your arm – and remember that momentum thing? – would result in your hand sliding along whatever it is you grabbed. If it is a vine, rope, or other rough surface, your hand would be minus a lot of flesh, assuming you could grip it tightly enough to not continue falling. If by some miracle you were able to hang on, you would likely dislocate your shoulder.

And speaking of improbable, on a recent Chuck episode, the bad guy was kicked out a window on a moving Bullet Train (typical speed of 180-200 mph). He managed to catch, and hang onto, a narrow out-cropping with his finger tips. The sheer force of the wind caused by the speed of the train would have made this impossible – he would have been literally blown away. He then manages to climb down and under the train, to emerge in the middle of a car full of people, via a floor hatch.

How many times, in scifi and fantasy shows, do we see someone who becomes out of phase with everyone else, or perhaps in an alternate dimension, and two strange things occur.

First, while everyone else is not able to see or hear the hapless out of phase person, he or she can see and hear everything they are saying. Why is that? Assuming that out of phase is possible, why are vision and hearing not affected?

Secondly, these out of phase folks can walk through walls, doors, etc., and cannot grasp objects like coffee mugs, and yet, they do not fall through the floor and are able to ride in elevators!

This has been seen in Star Trek episodes, and also in Stargate SG-1 episodes, and my favorite instance is where Daniel is seen sitting on equipment, after people have walked through him.

I love a good explosion! And, some of my favorite TV shows are more than happy to provide them for my entertainment. The problem is, that unless explosives are involved – you go Fiona! – some of them are unlikely.

On an NCIS episode, Gibbs fires a shot at a propane tank on the outside of a trailer. The shot causes the tank to explode, killing the bad guy. The MythBusters have shown this to be impossible without using incendiary rounds.

Then we have the common device of exploding cars. Again, if explosives are involved, no problem. But, there are many instances of cars being involved in collisions and as a result, exploding. The more common occurrence would be for the car to possibly catch fire, but even in that event, an explosion is unlikely. Even funnier is when cars go off a cliff and explode in mid air, before even striking the ground. Plus, striking the ground, while causing severe damage to the car, will not cause it to explode.

This is another fun one! During a space battle, the ship is severely damaged – a hole is blown in the side, or a chunk of the spaceship is torn away, or a personal favorite, a window is blown out. Then furniture and the poor hapless crew that were in that area are explosively ejected into the vast void of space. This has happened on just about every scifi show with spaceships at one time or another.

The problem with this is that there is only a pressure difference of 1 atmosphere between the interior and exterior of a spaceship. The effect of a large hole would be air escaping, but not the prolonged, strong wind that we commonly see. Neither of these would cause people and furniture to go flying!

So, there you have it, my 5 favorite physics takes a beating moments on TV. Do you have any I have missed? Please add them in the comments below. My husband reminded me to be sure to end this article with another favorite phrase: “If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes, and other science facts, then repeat to yourself, ‘It’s just a show, I should really just relax.’ ” Any MST3K fans out there?