Unbelievable: Sci-Fi Movies That Ignore The Laws of Physics

Science fiction movies are not exactly known for being the most accurate depictions of actual scientific laws. In other words, they’re usually more fiction than science. The smarty-pants team at io9 put together this handy graphic to help explain which movies adhere to the laws of physics and which adhere to a looser definition of reality.

Using criteria like “All Planets Have Earth Gravity” (they don’t) and “Dodging Faster-Than-Light Weapons” (you can’t), the chart shows the worst of bad science in popular movies. Not that movie science should always be good science, of course – that would be no fun. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the only two movies given a “clean bill of accuracy” are Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff: two space movies based on real events.

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See more in Science Fiction or under Science. January, 2011.