I thought this was the best forum for this.
I was in physics today and we were talking about waves. The different kinds and other topics. Well this discussion came from it.

Games and movies about spaceships or anything where they are in outerspace are less realistic than believed.

So what is a wave? Well all waves carry energy. There are two types of waves (Well maybe more but two is fine for my point).
Mechanical and Electromagnetic

Mechanical waves require a medium. A medium is what the wave travels through. Be that solid, liquid or gas.
Medium Ex. Air, water, rock.

Electromagnetic waves, however, do not require a medium.

So onto the SciFi point right?

Well in most all space fights there is a explosion! They are able to hear this right?
WRONG!

Sound is a mechanical waves. It need something to travel through, medium, there is no medium for which it can travel through in space.

So be thinking....these games are cheating you out of reality...I mean..duh we can fly cool spaceships.
But sound!? Never!

-Pop quiz!

What does sound travel fastest through?
A. Solid
B.Liquid
C.Gas

SOLID! Think about hitting a desk. That desk moves right away right?

Just thought I would share that. Please debate if you disagree.

How ironic, I was in physics today and that's exactly what we were talking about too. Waves both electromagnetic and mechanical. Just thought that was kind of wierd.

On to the point about hearing sound in space in movies and games. They've been doing it for years and just for an entertainment aspect. SO the movies and games were lying to us. They've been doing that for years to. I guess it's just something we're gonna have to get used to.

lol...a little weird!
But yeah...I guess it wouldn't be as cool without the sound. But I really want to know if half the people who make these games and movie know if they are wrong. Or if they actually think sounds can travel in space?

No, the people who make the games and movies know that they're wrong. Most of these game programmers took plenty of physics classes (this should tell all: http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Game-Develop...g/dp/0596000065), but obviously in a game you have to twist physics a bit. If everything adhered perfectly to what happens in real life, then (1) it would no longer be a game and (2) it'd be a very boring game.

For instance, take a look at the N game. It's creators claim that it's loosely based on physics, but it obviously also twists things to make the game more interesting and to add "ninja-like superpowers" to the player. Without those ninja-like capabilities, the point of the game (as well as its name) wouldn't be there.

In fact, there have been some recent ideas as to whether or not they should make games adhere more to the laws of physics. I think there are more efforts to do this.

And plus a lot of these movies are based on books which are obviously labeled fiction. In fiction I suppose you can make up whatever you want without adhering to the laws of science. After all, it's not as if Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code sticks to hard facts--he obviously had to make up some stuff in there to make things more fun.

That's life, I guess.

This post has been edited by Arbitrary: Apr 12 2007, 11:28 PM

I totally agree with you, but dont you think movies or games would be really boring if all of a sudden a ship explodes and there is no booom? Like when captain hook made wendy jump of the plank.... There was no splash... That wasnt fun for him. I love sound and I think it sounds awesome when something explodes. It would be very boring if you see the spaceships dying in mute dont you think? But I think you are right, I dont disagree with you. I think Black holes and star explosions would sound very loud if there is a medium for which sound can travel. Would the gas that they are made up make their explosions and collisions sound? Thats the question I am thinking about know. What do you think?

No games are not cheating us out of reality because games are not supposed to be based on reality. Games are supposed to help you do things that you would be unable to do in real life, like to fly and so on. So by making the explosion loud and able to hear they are still not cheating you because in the real world you would never have the chane of going to outer space, let alone hear an explosion....

well even if the games are cheating upon us, it would surely be terribly boring to see something go up in smoke (if that is even possible in space) without any sounds. games are made to be fun and to entertain the players, and sounds are surely a great part in entertaining because they give the extra push with the graphics. graphics and animated stuff on your screen are nice, but without the sounds they would get boring fast
also everyone should know that space is soundless, since their is no air and kinda nothing for sounds to move in
so let those guys mess with physics since they only make our life better, unless you don't watch movies or play games

When stuff explode and not make a sound would be like smoking without the tobacco, or drinking without alcohol.