8 Space Myths We Believe Because Of Movies

We
all have a favourite space movie, cult classics such as the Alien
series, Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars are watched
by millions over and over again. But do you really believe the plots
and tech in these movies? Many of the scenes in these movies will
have us believe many myths about space that are not accurate. Check
out these 8 space myths we believe because of movies…

1.
Sound
in Space

Many
space movies include explosions in fact pretty much all the space
fight scenes have them. Of course when something explodes in the
movies a massive sound effect is played for maximum effect. However
this sound is simply not true in any way, sound cannot travel in
space because of the lack of air and vibrating molecules. If sound
could exist in space in theory we would constantly hear all the
sounds of the universe, the sun alone would make constant massive
thermonuclear explosion sounds! Movies add sound to make a better
impact on screen, only movies like Stanley Kubricks 2001 have got
this right so far!

2.
Laser Beams are visible

Sci-Fi
movies feature laser beams (usually in the form of weapons) all the
time, we are even close to having laser weapons on our earth
battlefields. However most people wouldn’t know that they are
nothing like they are on the screen, a laser beam is a burst of
concentrated energy which in reality would be completely invisible in
space as there isn’t any particles around the beam to scatter
light.

In
many movies black holes suck in and consume everything, anything
inside them can never escape. Most of us believe this and see them as
vortices of utter doom, but if you read even the basic description of
black holes you would learn that their pull is only proportional to
their mass. In reality, they cannot pull in anything more than their
size will allow. It is true that a black hole will consume anything
near its event horizon, however it would have little effect on
anything outside this radius (which is often quite small).

4.
Explosions in outer space

Similar
to the sound in space point, explosions in space in sci-fi movies are
usually spectacular. Massive explosion special effects in high
definition are usually breathtaking, however, whether these
explosions can really occur is another matter. Explosions here on
earth occur as they do because of air and gravity, neither of which
exists in space. Explosions in space would be very different, some
fire would exist even though air is not present, but the fire would
look more like an expanding light ball. Of course any objects blown
from the blast would cause significant danger to anything nearby!

5.
Warface in space – just everything!

Of
course the only reference movie makers have to warfare is the warfare
that occurs here on earth. In many films space fights are very
similar to the World War plane dogfights, spaceships flying and
looping like they would in the sky. Of course as great as this looks
it’s not really reality,

Dogfight
tactics would not work in space due to the gravity and lack of air.
Many warfare tactics could still apply however the movement of all
things in space in reality would be nothing like our memories of Star
Wars.

6.
Weightlessness

Many
people believe you are weightless in space, probably because there
is no gravity and the fact that many movies base space life on this
fact. It is true that astronauts feel weightless in space, but this
is only when they are in orbit around a larger body such as earth. If
you are not in the orbit of a larger body then you are always under
the influence of some form of gravity, even if it is very weak.

7.
Deadly asteroid belts

Many
films in particular Star Wars depict asteroid belts as deadly and
extremely chaotic environments, scenes with space craft navigating
through them and exploding as they hit asteroids are brilliant. Its
true these asteroid belts do exist but in reality they are very
different. NASA has sent probes through belts in our galaxy, the
odds of colliding with an asteroid are about one in a billion! The
belts are so huge and over time have less and less asteroids in them,
meaning the asteroids are very far apart within the belts. Even if
you flew through one blind folded you would probably still make it
out alive!

8. The sun is yellow

The sun, the main reason we are all alive, is believed to be yellow and on fire, but not many of us actually understand what’s happening inside the sun. The sun is not yellow at all, it only appears yellow are the Earth’s atmosphere gives it a yellow tint. The light from the sun is actually pure white, also the sun isn’t actually burning in any way there is no fire, instead the sun’s heat is generated from fusion reactions from all the molecules within the sun’s core.