Reverse Video Reference of Walking

Untitled from katja wiss on Vimeo.

Untitled from katja wiss on Vimeo.

Untitled from katja wiss on Vimeo.

Untitled from katja wiss on Vimeo.

Untitled from katja wiss on Vimeo.

1st term paper

Physics of 2012

The movie 2012 invites us on a journey to the end of the world as we know it and to the rebirth of human civilization. It is filled with spectacular scenes of the forces of nature wrecking havoc on mankind and his environment and in the end challenges the people that have survived to start from scratch and make their way in the new world. The movie abides to most of the physical laws found in the real world but has many scenes in which the physical capabilities of objects, such as airplanes, ships and even human beings are stretched to the limit to add visual interest and to create spellbinding drama and entertainment for the audience.

This paper will focus on scenes from the movie that do not follow the laws of physics every step of the way. Many scenes depict time slowing down to almost a standstill and than speeding right back up again to normal speed within a matter of seconds. Other scenes call into question the speed of a person and weight of an object as it is falling on the path of action it takes. Lastly, some objects tend to defy the action and reaction principle, where smaller less massive objects exert more damage to more massive structures.

The first scene to be discussed were time seems to slow down happens just as the plane takes off from Santa Monica airport and is flying through downtown Los Angeles as it is getting destroyed. There comes a point were two buildings are in the process of collapsing onto each other and the plane just makes it through the narrow opening on time. As the plane is flying between the collapsing buildings the passengers look out the window and can see people falling out of their offices and some that are even hanging on to the sides of the building. There is paper and office supplies flying everywhere and the desks and cubicles can be made out quite clearly. The detail in this shot is exquisite as time seems to slow down erratically. In reality the people inside the plane would probably not see much of anything that they pass at such a close range and at such high speeds. The plane needs to maintain a certain speed to stay in the air, so what is happening close up on the outside would mostly be a blur to the passengers looking out the window. A similar occurrence can also be observed while looking out the window of a car while driving. Objects that are closer to you, like trees lining the sidewalks or a fence, seem to go past you at a much faster rate than something that is further away, like houses or mountains in the distance or even cows in a field.

Another action sequence involving the same plane calls into question how fast a person can run. The scene takes place in Yellowstone National Park just after the motor home falls down the crack and into the inferno. The actor makes it out of the vehicle just in time and runs towards the already moving plane in an attempt to board it. He catches up with the aircraft, jumps on and flies away. Under normal circumstances the person could have not done this because the plane was going to fast. It can be estimated that the planes’ groundspeed was at least between 25 - 30mph. A normal person can probably run between 10 - 13 mph. We need to consider that the actor was portraying a middle aged man who probably doesn’t do much exercise and has quite a bit of fat stored in various places of his body. This would slow him down and decrease his running speed even more and thereby reducing his chances of making it onto the plane.

The next scene in the movie involves a very heavy Russian transporter aircraft. The scene takes place at the Las Vegas Airport. The runway is crumbling and there is very little left of it. The airplane tries to pick up enough speed to lift off but runs out of runway and plummets head on into the newly formed canyon that was caused by an earthquake. The plane miraculously gains enough speed to recover from the nosedive and flies off into the distance. The problem with this scene is that the path of action that the plane is on is way to shallow when the weight of the aircraft is taken into consideration. It only falls a couple hundred feet when it should probably fall a couple thousand feet before it can pick up enough speed to right itself. The weight of the plane can be estimated at about 170 tons and since it is filled with expensive cars it would increase the planes weight to about 200 tons. It would have to fall much further and take much longer to be able to recover from such a nosedive and in the real world probably wouldn’t make it in time before it hit the ground.

The last scene to be discussed is when the American ship is headed towards the north face of Mt. Everest. The engines could not be started due to a cable of an electric screwdriver blocking the machinery that was responsible for closing the door. The ship comes into contact with the mountainside and barely acquires any damage. In fact, the mountain crumbles under the ship’s weight instead. When the engines do turn on the ship stops moving up the mountainside fairly quickly and retreats back into the rushing water. In reality the ship should have acquired more damage. It should have followed Newton’s third law of motion, known as the action reaction principle. Even thought the ship is made from very strong material that was meant to withstand natural disasters, it was built to float on water and not to be used as a battering ram on a mountainside. An observation that needs to be taken into consideration is that the ship is hallow inside, for the most part, and the mountain is a solid block of rock. The mountain has more mass and is stronger through this and wouldn’t crumble as easily as it did upon impact. The ship should have buckled against the mass of the mountain to some extent. A good example to illustrate this scenario is by throwing an egg against a sheet or a wall. The sheet will absorb the impact of the egg leaving it intact while the solid wall will break the egg. Something similar should have happen to the ship. The impact might have not totally obliterated the vessel but should have done more damage. Also, the ship is being hurled towards the mountain by a gigantic tidal wave which would increase the speed of the vessel and create more damage upon impact. The wave would also hinder the ship from retreating so quickly because it would be pushing the ship up against the mountain, unless of course the engines are super strong and can speed up very quickly to exert enough force to overpower the strength of the water that is pushing on the ship.

As we can see the laws of physics in the real world do not always apply to the entertainment world. 2012 is a very good example regarding such exceptions in the laws of physics. It shows us a world very much like our own with some adaptation incorporated to create some drama and excitement. The movie slows down time, speeds up the average human running speed and manipulates weight and mass of objects. This allows for some enticing entertainment filled with spectacular action scenes and breathtaking encounters with the forces of nature leading to the end of the world and a new beginning for mankind.

Physics of 2012

I. Introduction

Objects falling in time

Human speed vs. plane speed

Action and reaction

Motion

Thesis statement

II. Objects falling

Buildings collapsing in L.A

- The buildings in L.A would collapse at a much faster pace in real life than

they did in the movie. It was shown in slow motion for the effect.

III. Speed

Human running speed vs. plane speed

- In real life the plane would have to go much faster to be able to take off. The

actor couldn’t keep up.

III. Action and reaction

Ship crashing into the mountainside

- The ship probably would have acquired quite a bit more damage in reality than

it did in the movie. The propellers wouldn’t have been strong enough in such a short period of time to stop it from moving forward.

IV. Motion

Wave

-Believable motion of wave coming over mountaintop. Water is very hard to

animate.

V. Conclusion

Summary of points

Restate thesis

stopmotion animation of falling from katja wiss on Vimeo.