The science behind “Avatar”
January 4th, 2010 - 3:49 pm ICT by ANI ( Leave a comment )Washington, January 4 (ANI): A new research has analyzed what are the things in the movie Avatar that comply with science and can exist in reality and what are the things that are implausible.
According to a report in Discovery News, one of the plausible stuff shown in the movie is the concept of moons that can host life.
Inhabitable moons are probably the most common place to find life in the Milky Way galaxy, simply because large moons outnumber planets by at least a factor of 10.
For example, Saturn’s giant moon Titan could be the archetype of inhabitable moons. It is as geologically and meteorologically diverse as Earth.
Another likely concept shown in the film is that biological evolution on other habitable worlds can take a different road than Earth.
In Avatar, the biosphere of Pandora supports and extraterrestrial Serengeti of diverse creatures.
The respiratory systems of many of the species appear to operate differently from ours. Bioluminescence also plays a big role in communication among organisms.
Another plausible stuff shown in the movie is that the atmosphere on other habitable worlds might be breathable for organisms of that planet, but not for human beings.
In the flick, it’s hard for humans to breath Pandora’s atmosphere and they must wear filtering apparatus.
Some of the implausible stuff shown in the movie includes the concept of almost magical rocks known as “unobtaniums”, which are described in the movie as metallic superconducting crystal with the capability of powering starships and fulfilling Earth’s energy needs.
The reality is that even if such an element existed, it would have been forged under tremendous pressures deep inside a super-Earth and would not be extractable.
Even if it was extractable, the chemistry would be easier to synthesize on Earth rather than building an interstellar spaceship to haul it between stars.
Freight costs alone would kill any possibility of this material being commercially viable.
Another scientifically impossible concept shown in the film is floating mountains.
In Avatar, there are floating, superconducting magnetic mountains made of chunks of unobtanium on Pandora.
On such a moon, there would be a huge electrical current inside a cylinder of a highly concentrated magnetic flux that is connected to the parent planet.
Such a flux tube flowing between Jupiter and Io has the power output of about 2 trillion watts.
But, the fact is that living cells can be destroyed by extremely intense magnetic fields like these.
One more implausible ting shown in the movie is the 10-foot high blue humanoids, which would unlikely evolve elsewhere in the universe. (ANI)
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Tags: archetype, biological evolution, biosphere, different road, discovery news, flick, freight costs, giant moon, habitable worlds, interstellar spaceship, january 4, milky way galaxy, moon titan, moons, organisms, pandora, respiratory systems, serengeti, starships, super earth