Welcome to Space!

Here are three different examples of physics from movies that are not possible.

Sound in Space Sound waves require a medium to travel. Space is a vacuum, so there is no medium for the waves to move through. Because of this, a person will not be able to hear any sound in space. Every movie that includes a loud boom in space when something explodes is breaking the known physics.

Travel at Light Speed It is impossible to travel at the speed of light. The speed of light is 3.0*10^8 m/s. This is equivalent to 671080887.616 miles per hour. That's really, really fast! The fastest a human has ever traveled was 24,791 miles per hour, and this was in a space shuttle. That is over 27 thousand times slower than the speed of light. It is impossible for humans to get any piece of technology to move themselves at the speed of light. http://wordlesstech.com/2011/10/10/faster-than-speed-of-light/

Armageddon In a last ditch effort to save Earth, a group of oil drillers are sent into space to plant a bomb on an asteroid on a crash course for Earth. In the movie, they are able to detonate the bomb and save Earth. In reality, it would take 3.0*10^25 Joules to create enough energy to destroy the asteroid to save Earth. This is a greater amount of energy than any bomb on Earth could ever create.