TOP 10 popular misconceptions about space, born of cinema

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

It is quite difficult for an average person to imagine that space is a space in which there is simply no gravity. Perhaps that is why facts from your favorite films about intergalactic adventures have become firmly established at the level of understanding the concept of space. We have collected 10 facts that will dispel the stereotypes imposed by Hollywood about space.

Myth 1. Sounds are heard in space

On Earth, thanks to the atmosphere, any objects are connected to each other by a relatively dense medium. Evolution has created a way of collecting and interpreting the vibration of air or liquid around, which allows you to obtain useful information about the world around you. In space, there is no atmosphere or liquid through which vibrational waves would pass. This means that there can be no sound. The sounds of engines and explosions are just the director's invention.

Myth 2. In space, you instantly freeze

Yes, it is theoretically very cold in space, but heat exchange occurs only through the physical interaction of particles. In the absence of particles around, capable of "absorbing" the temperature of the body, it cools in open space very slowly. A person will suffocate faster in space than freeze to death.

Myth 3. In space, you can accelerate endlessly

Some believe that without air resistance or gravity, gradually accelerating objects can reach almost infinite speed. In fact, the problem with such acceleration is the lack of a fuel source that can last forever.

Myth 4. There are fires and explosions in space

Fire is the reaction of burning gases in the air. Without air, there is no combustion. The maximum that can be seen in space is a flash that will "feed" on air from the spacecraft.

Myth 5. Soviet cosmonauts wrote in orbit with a pencil

In the US, they say that while NASA spent millions of dollars and years to invent a pen that could write in zero gravity, Soviet astronauts used graphite pencils. But it is worth remembering that on Earth, tiny chips of graphite left by a pencil settle on paper or fall to the ground, and in orbit they would hover in zero gravity and be sucked into air recirculation systems. As a result, the astronauts would breathe graphite, which is unacceptable.

Myth 6. On the surface of Mars, you can explode from internal pressure or suffocate

Since Mars has a very thin atmosphere, a person will certainly suffocate there. But it is impossible to explode, since the internal pressure of a person is simply not enough for this. There were even recorded cases of depressurization of space suits in space, and nothing of the kind happened.

Myth 7. Astronauts fly around ships on jetpacks

While it is true that compressed air can be maneuvered, backpacks are not usually used in the way they are portrayed in the films. In practice, the backpacks are only intended to be used if the astronaut accidentally leaves the ship at an unsafe distance. In addition, without the use of large special backpacks with compressed air, you will not fly far on the knapsack.

Myth 8. It is very difficult to fly through the asteroid belt

The films have spawned a very common misconception about asteroid belts. Yes, they have a very high density, but only by cosmic standards: half-kilometer blocks fly at a distance of hundreds of thousands of kilometers from each other.

Myth 9. There is a "dark side of the moon"

The fact that earthlings never see the other side of the moon does not mean that it never receives sunlight. Because the Earth revolves around the Sun and the Moon around the Earth, and every part of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun. It's just that the Moon is always turned to the Earth on one side.

Myth 10. In space, astronauts are in complete weightlessness

There is often talk of the possible medical consequences of living in "zero gravity", but the reality is that no human has ever truly been in zero gravity. One has only to remember that no one has ever been further than the Moon, and the Moon enters the Earth's gravitational field. It is gravity that allows astronauts to “float”.