So I just saw 'The Core'...

[Kuja]

Yes. They didn't go to the core of the earth, and they didn't need to use any hokey treknobabble to save the planet.

They didn't do either of those in The Core either:

They didn't reach the inner core;

they just said, nukes will solve the problem, they don't try and technobabble their way out of it.

[Hotfoot]

they just said, nukes will solve the problem, they don't try and technobabble their way out of it.

You know, I never thought I'd say this, but...

They take the principle of "There is no problem which can not be solved by the proper application of high explosives" way too far...

[Kuja]

they just said, nukes will solve the problem, they don't try and technobabble their way out of it.

You know, I never thought I'd say this, but...

They take the principle of "There is no problem which can not be solved by the proper application of high explosives" way too far...

"If brute force isn't solving the problem, you're not using enough of it."

:mrgreen::mrgreen:


Yes, the prevalence of planetsaving nuclear weapons in movies is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as Voyager technobabblespeak (TM).

[Keevan_Colton]

Lets mix the two and use viewer saving nukes on the voyager technobabblers......

[Hotfoot]

Lets mix the two and use viewer saving nukes on the voyager technobabblers......

See, now THAT would be the proper application of high explosives!

[Kuja]

Lets mix the two and use viewer saving nukes on the voyager technobabblers......

Hell yeah!

[neoolong]

Is this really so different than enjoying Journey to the Center of the Earth?

Yes. They didn't go to the core of the earth, and they didn't need to use any hokey treknobabble to save the planet.

But they did end up riding a raft up a volcano didn't they?

[Durandal]

They didn't do either of those in The Core either:

They didn't reach the inner core;

they just said, nukes will solve the problem, they don't try and technobabble their way out of it.

And, according to the trailer, they are using "nukular" weapons. Maybe these nukular weapons are more powerful than anything we've ever seen before, even nuclear weapons.

[Darth Wong]

Can someone please describe the general plot of this film instead of just citing snippets?

[Hotfoot]

Can someone please describe the general plot of this film instead of just citing snippets?

I can only tell you what I learned from the trailer...

I saw this myself when I went with a friend to go see The Two Towers. Here is my personal tale of a descent into madness...

The US government has created a superweapon to covertly destroy the enemies of nation by causing Earthquakes...

Hm, okay, a little far-fetched, but I'll bite....

...from the other side of the planet.

Okay, well...eh, what the hell, could still be good.

But the weapon has stopped the Earth's core from spinning...

Um...the fuck? Earthquakes, plate tectonics, Earth's Core? Error, error...

...removing Earth's magnetic field...

Logic shields failing! Mister Scott, I need more power to the shields!

...and removing Earth's protection from dangerous cosmic rays and radiation...

All neurons, brace for impact!

...causing violent superstorms to erupt all over the planet.

Logic shields are down! We have multiple hull breaches! All hands prepare to abandon ship!

One team of unlikely heroes must go and jumpstart the Earth's core in an experimental drilling ship...

This must end now....

...using an insane amount of nukes, and then get out before they are destroyed.

Clear the bridge...

"You want me to hack the planet? I'll need Star Trek tapes..."

Yes, you'll need the power of Trek to technobabble your way out of this movie, young one. Of course, since he's a "hacker", he's got to steal a line from Hackers.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

Salvation!!!

[Admiral Valdemar]

Can someone please describe the general plot of this film instead of just citing snippets?

My bro saw it last night (he was no doubt drunk with mates) but I shall see it Monday I hope because from what my bro was telling me, it's a laugh fest for us scientists.

I loved how he went on about the pigeons crashing into buildings and buses in London and the board meeting that died as people's pacemakers fizzled out. Not to mention the rip in the magnetosphere above San Francisco that cuts the Golden Gate in half and stays there to blow up falling cars like it was a particle beam.

This may be better than Armageddon!

[Durandal]

Can someone please describe the general plot of this film instead of just citing snippets?

My bro saw it last night (he was no doubt drunk with mates) but I shall see it Monday I hope because from what my bro was telling me, it's a laugh fest for us scientists.

I loved how he went on about the pigeons crashing into buildings and buses in London and the board meeting that died as people's pacemakers fizzled out. Not to mention the rip in the magnetosphere above San Francisco that cuts the Golden Gate in half and stays there to blow up falling cars like it was a particle beam.

This may be better than Armageddon!

I'm very eager to see Phil Blait review it on his Bad Astronomy website.

[Kuja]

Can someone please describe the general plot of this film instead of just citing snippets?

OK. It starts off with weird stuff happening around the world: pacemakers go offline, birds start flying into buildings like their brains no longer work, a space shuttle goes off course and nearly crashes...

One scientist, a guy named Tyler, makes the connection between them: the Earth's electromagnetic field is failing. he notifies another scientist, and they determine that the outer core of the planet is no longer rotating, and the EM field is dying because of it. The outer core must be restarted, or the EM field will fail completely, and Earth will get torched.

Well, another scientist has spent time developing a laser doohickey that can cut through rock like a hot knife through butter. Coincidentaly, the same guy has developed a new material (nicknamed "unobtanium") that can withstand the intense heat and pressure of the core.


Well, the militaries of the world throw a lot of recourses into building a train-like vehicle (named "Virgil") that will penetrate into the Outer Core and dump a bunch of nukes there. The nukes will go off, and the shockwave will get the inner core restarted.

Well, the mission goes off with six team members, Virgil crashes into a cave inside the mantle and the mission commander is lost. Another member is lost when one of the compartments is damaged and has to be split off. At this point, they reach the outer core, and determine that their calculations were mistaken, the nukes are actually too powerful. Instead of setting them off at once, they have to zip around, dropping nukes and setting them off one at ta time and creating a ripple effect.

A third member of the team is lost overriding a control device to allowthem to dump sections of the vehicle, each with a nuke inside. The fouth member is lost when the nuke tips over and pins him to the floor, forcing him to eject the compartment with himself inside.

Anyway, the last nuke is determines to be insufficient to complete the chain, so the last of the scientists has to pull a fuel rod out of the reactor powering the train and set it next to the nuke. Then, he and the pilot rig up a temporary power supply from the material of the train (it gets energy from the heat of the core, somehow)

The nukes go off, the last two make it home, and everyone's happy. That's not a complete plot, but it's the basics.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Can someone please describe the general plot of this film instead of just citing snippets?

My bro saw it last night (he was no doubt drunk with mates) but I shall see it Monday I hope because from what my bro was telling me, it's a laugh fest for us scientists.

I loved how he went on about the pigeons crashing into buildings and buses in London and the board meeting that died as people's pacemakers fizzled out. Not to mention the rip in the magnetosphere above San Francisco that cuts the Golden Gate in half and stays there to blow up falling cars like it was a particle beam.

This may be better than Armageddon!

I'm very eager to see Phil Blait review it on his Bad Astronomy website.

Ah, you a Bad Astronomy fan too? I loved his take on Reign of Fire and Armageddon, even the Star Wars films there did better for science than them.

Maybe I'm a masochist, but I enjoy watching bad films and laughing at them, since MST3k went off the air I've been in need of some quality no brainer entertainment.

[Kuja]

Ah, you a Bad Astronomy fan too? I loved his take on Reign of Fire and Armageddon, even the Star Wars films there did better for science than them.

Gah, Reign of Fire is a movie that deserves to die screaming. They damn near completely ruined my image of dragons.

[Keevan_Colton]

Umm.....
I think I've seen this show before

Anyone remember a rather hack little sci-fi film with a title something like "Deep Core" or the like with....I think Terry O'Farrell (Jadzia Dax) was in it....all this sounds about the same if you drop the magnetic field BS and make it a slightly different secret government plot/weapon.....

Other than that.......the whole chain of nukes, loosing people, cant detatch bits thing....its all there......

At least it wasnt so bad since it didnt have the magnetic field BS, it was plain 'ol earthquakes that were going to do it......the idea IIRC was to use nukes to push the plates a little to keep it all together.....

[SyntaxVorlon]

Read later pern novels and you'll get fucked up even more.

I'll wait until it comes out on video or dvd, rent it then bring it to the science club for MST3k fest.

[Darth Wong]

OK, several obvious problems come to mind:

1. The surface of the planet is still rotating; if the core stopped, there would be enormous frictional resistance and it would cause seismic disruptions that destroy all life on the surface.
2. Four words: conservation of angular momentum.
3. The angular kinetic energy of a rotating body is given by the equation K=0.5*I*w^2, where I is the rotational moment of inertia and w is angular velocity. Now, the moment of inertia (which is determined with calculus) is simple for a sphere: I=2MR^2/3. So if we assume the core is half of the planet's radius and 1/8 of its mass (feel free to insert more accurate numbers; I'm too lazy to look them up), its moment of inertia is 5.12E36 kg*m^2. Angular velocity is also easy to determine: the planet makes one revolution per day, so that's roughly 7.27E-5 rads/s. Therefore, the rotational kinetic energy of the core is 1.35E28 J, or 3.2 billion gigatons. That's how much they have to replace in order to accelerate it back up to its original angular velocity. How many nukes did they plan to use, again?
4. In the same vein, if the planet's core abruptly stopped spinning in the first place, all of this rotational kinetic energy would have to be released outwards ... through the crust of the planet. Bend over and kiss your ass goodbye.

So much stupidity ... so little time.

[Illuminatus Primus]

They make it back up to the surface through the mantle without their rock liquifying laser things and just impellers...apparently the mantle is liquid...

The mantle IS liquid. It's the crust that's solid.

*sound of head banging against wall*

The mantle is plastic. NOT liquid. You could not simple swim through it.

they just said, nukes will solve the problem, they don't try and technobabble their way out of it.

You know, I never thought I'd say this, but...

They take the principle of "There is no problem which can not be solved by the proper application of high explosives" way too far...

"If brute force isn't solving the problem, you're not using enough of it."

:mrgreen::mrgreen:


Yes, the prevalence of planetsaving nuclear weapons in movies is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as Voyager technobabblespeak (TM).

Bullshit. "Wave interference" being the secret behind magically figuring out how to do it down there?

[StimNeuro]

Just out of curiousity, what would be the true effect of those nuclear warheads detonating where they did?

[Howedar]

If the vehicle gets its energy from the heat of the core for a while, what is that heat doing exactly? I mean, you need an energy differential to get anything going, right? The only place they could dump heat would be the inside of the vehicle, which would obviously be a bad thing (TM).

[Durandal]

The inner core comprises about 2% of the Earth's overall mass, which pegs it at around 1.2E23 kg. The Earth's core rotates somewhere between 0.02 and 3 degrees per year. Just for estimation's sake, we'll call it 1 degree per year. That equates to 3.17E-8 degrees per second, or about 5.5E-10 rad/s.

The moment of inertia of a uniform sphere rotating about its center is I = (2/5)mr^2, where m is the mass and r is the radius. The radius of the inner core is about 2.6E6 m. So, its moment of inertia is 3.2E35 kg?m^2. Angular momentum is given by

L = Iw,

where w is the angular velocity. Thus, the total angular momentum of the Earth's core is 1.76E26 kg?m^2/s. This is the total amount of momentum that would have to be imparted in order to both stop the Earth's core from spinning (which is the problem in the first place, but no one mentioned where this decidedly monstrous torque comes from).

1 gigaton is about 4.2E18 J of energy. This is a large amount of energy, to be sure, but it's nowhere near enough to get the Earth's core spinning again at the same rate it was before. The linear momentum of an explosion is given by

p = U/c,

where U is the total energy and c is the speed of light. That gives the total momentum of the explosion as 1.4E10 kg?m/s. Even if it was possible to focus all the momentum of the explosion into a single point particle that would strike the core at a tangent vector, that particle would have to impart all its momentum in 2E-10 s in order to generate the necessary torque (dL/dt = r ? dp/dt ... yeah I'm ignoring vectors; sue me). Of course, since half the explosion will radiate away from the core simply because explosions are omnidirectional, things are looking pretty grim for Our Heroes?.

The preceeding paragraph could very definitely be wrong, considering how bad I am at angular physics. But I think it gives a decent indication of just how insufficient any means we possess would be. When you've got 16 orders of magnitude between two values, units or no, that's a big difference.

[Darth Wong]

The inner core comprises about 2% of the Earth's overall mass, which pegs it at around 1.2E23 kg. The Earth's core rotates somewhere between 0.02 and 3 degrees per year. Just for estimation's sake, we'll call it 1 degree per year. That equates to 3.17E-8 degrees per second, or about 5.5E-10 rad/s.

Ah, so they're just saying it slowed down to the same rate of rotation as the surface, rather than stopping its rotation entirely? I must have misinterpreted (although I don't see why this would destroy the Earth's magnetic field). Nevertheless, the amounts of energy necessary to significantly change its rate of rotation are insane.

[Durandal]

The inner core comprises about 2% of the Earth's overall mass, which pegs it at around 1.2E23 kg. The Earth's core rotates somewhere between 0.02 and 3 degrees per year. Just for estimation's sake, we'll call it 1 degree per year. That equates to 3.17E-8 degrees per second, or about 5.5E-10 rad/s.

Ah, so they're just saying it slowed down to the same rate of rotation as the surface, rather than stopping its rotation entirely? I must have misinterpreted (although I don't see why this would destroy the Earth's magnetic field). Nevertheless, the amounts of energy necessary to significantly change its rate of rotation are insane.

I honestly couldn't tell you. The trailer says that the core simply stopped (relative to what is another question ... if the magnetic field went away, I'd assume that they mean the core is now stationary while the rest of the Earth rotates around it).

And yes, even inducing a small change would require energy far beyond our capability to generate.

[Admiral Valdemar]

To be perfectly honest, picking holes in the science and plot for this film is like shooting a beached whale with a tank cannon, it's far too easy, hell, with the info. I got off my bro today I was bringing up hilarity all afternoon about it.

I think it should be seen to be believed.

Gentlemen, I'm going in...