Don't Try This At Home: The Physics of Hollywood Movies

Science News,  Sept 1, 2007  

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DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME: The Physics of Hollywood Movies ADAM WEINER

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Many of the sequences in today's action movies, which feature such escapades as driving a car on an asteroid, drilling to the core of Earth, or surviving a horrific crash with little more than bumps and bruises, leave the viewer asking one question: "is that really possible?" In a book that will appeal to movie buffs and physics students alike, Weiner offers humorous insights into the physics behind famous action scenes in movies such as Mission: impossible, Star Wars, and Armageddon. Also a primer on basic physics, the book introduces such topics as Newton's laws, the conservation of momentum and energy, circular motion, thermodynamics, and quantum mechanics. Within this context, Weiner then explains the physics at work in various movie scenes and reveals what is possible and impossible. The book concludes with additional film reviews and a brief look at physics in popular fairy tales and cartoons. Kaplan, 2007, 254 p., b&w illus., paperback, $17.95.

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