Myths Hollywood Has Taught Us About Space

Ever wondered if 'In space, no one can hear you scream' is true? Dive into the science behind sound, explosions, and surviving in the vacuum of space!

[keepingitreal]

Minor correction Simon. I heard on April 26th that Voyager 1 is back online and communication with earth. In general, software engineers discovered one of the computers had areas that were corrupted and after re-uploading the software / coding using areas of other computers, Voyager 1 started communicating again. The signal (travelling at the speed of light) took almost 23 hrs to reach Voyager 1. The round trip signal (travelling at the speed of light) took almost two days. It’s amazing that both Voyagers are still working and communication after almost 48 years.

[benshija]

"Helium fuses to produce Hydrogen" - you WILL not hear the end of this!😂😂

[michaelleigh]

Space is very, very cold. The baseline temperature of outer space is 2.7 kelvins — minus 454.81 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 270.45 degrees Celsius — meaning it is barely above absolute zero, the point at which molecular motion stops. But this temperature is not constant throughout the solar system.Apr 16, 2022

[RJSUSMC]

Actually, the tree falling in the woods with no one around to "hear" it, still causes air molecules to be moved in waves. The presence of ear drums is not required for the physics of the air molecules to be moved by an object. It's the same as tossing a rock over your shoulder into a pond while not looking at the water. The water reacts with waves regardless of whether it is being watched or not.

[rhov-anion]

The Expanse is phenomenal. It proved you can still have action, drama, and suspense in space, but still be scientifically accurate. That IS the suspense. Physics practically is a villain, a hero, and a secret weapon by itself.

[DarkMatter]

Hollywood: "But the chances of successfully navigating an asteroid field are 3, 720 to 1!"
Real life: "We're in an asteroid field?"

[bedlamite]

Astronaut 1: "I can't find any milk for my coffee"
Astronaut 2: "In space no-one can. Here, use cream"

[bihlygoat]

8:28 I think you misspoke. Hydrogen fuses to become helium, not the other way around that you said.

[MrPablosek]

Interstellar did really well with the lack of sounds in a vacuum. Whenever there was a camera shot in a vacuum it was just... silent. No sound. That movie is a work of art.

The expanse show also did a really great work on exposure to vacuum without a spacesuit.

Obvious spoiler ahead!

Naomi jumps out of an airlock without a spacesuit to escape a ship. She lets air go out so her lungs don't rupture, and at the end of the 15 sec window where she would pass out she injects herself with oxygenated blood, buying her a bit more time which is enough for her to reach a spaceship close by, open the airlock, close it and pressurise it. She then passes out but wakes up gasping for air. She is in pain, she has troubles with balancing herself, blood socket in her eye pops, she looks buised and also has received some sun burns. Not only that, she is extremely dehydrated.

[ncdavelife]

11:31 Great news -- as of April 5, 2024, Voyager 1 is back on-line!!

Major kudos to the Voyager team, for figuring out what was wrong, and devising a fix.

[DemonEyes]

a tree in the forest will always be surrounded by ear drums, they just won't be human ones

[AwoudeX]

If the sound from roaring engines is heard within the ship, but not when the camera pans outside of the ship, that would be an accurate depiction of how sound would work in and out of a space ship.

[ignitionfrn]

0:55 - Chapter 1 - Sound doesn't exist in a vaccum
2:30 - Chapter 2 - Explosions in space
4:45 - Chapter 3 - A human body will freeze or explode in space
7:10 - Chapter 4 - The sun is a burning fiery ball
9:55 - Chapter 5 - Flying through an asteroid belt is dangerous

[drg]

That Total Recall scene might be completely inaccurate... but DAMN it was a genius bit of movie magic!

[DanielVerberne]

I have a few qualms with the answers given here.
Okay, our body won't 'violently decompress' when exposed to space, but as pointed out, the air in our lungs will. The human body is replete with gas pockets and liquids. Survivors of decompression events have reported that the last conscious memory being the liquid on their tongue starting to boil. Of course, this isn't boiling due to heat, it's boiling due to insufficient pressure keeping the fluid in that state.

[shannoncole]

Kudos to the editor for throwing a beret on Simon when he said "We're going to bust some myths". Even without the stash, it was a good throwback to Jamie.

[fredbrewer]

I would question the conclusion concerning your body's ability to adapt to one atmosphere (Atm) of pressure change. As a scuba diver and a former US Navy Aerospace Physiology Technician, I admit that a single Atm is reasonably easily handled when moving above 1 Atm, but when going in the opposite direction the relationship between temperature, pressure, volume and boiling points of liquids. There is a very good reason pilots who fly at extreme altitudes are required to wear pressure suits. Although it is cold enough to freeze very quickly at approximately 63, 000 ft in altitude, the air pressure at that altitude brings the boiling point of the blood to around standard body temperature. In space, depending on your protective gear etc it would just be a race between what kills you first, but I believe the embolism, possibly secondary to your blood gasses coming out of solution (boiling) would win.

[hannanshahid]

its not that Hollywood writers dont know this information its just that a scientifically accurate looking explosion with no sound would just look soooo boring!

[ScottJPowers]

I'd say sound is the air vibrations itself, which can affect things other than ear drums, and the air vibrations from a falling tree are still there whether anyone is there to hear it or not. The actual definition of sound is "vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear" which means air vibrations bring sound is not contingent on being heard, just that they could be heard if an ear was near.

[PaulVandersypen]

A couple of updates since Simon's team wrote the script: Voyager 1 is communicating again. NASA engineers told the onboard chip to disable the "dead" or damaged part and transfer the instructions to functional portions of the chip. Eventually, yes, Voyager 1 will "die". The other thing is that neither Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have not left the solar system. Assuming they keep going, eventually they will enter the Kuiper Belt and indeed the system, but that hasn't happened at this time.