1.
a) I saw that during the movie the spaceship malfunctioned and started to to spark and catch on fire.
b) I thought that it was pretty well because you never know when a spaceship can malfunction. But pretty much half of the spaceship exploded and lost power and later on it the movie it was all functioning again.
c) "Gamma rays are high energy photons emitted by the Sun. Sometimes, during in an intense flare, there can be a large amount of gamma rays produced. These photons can indeed damage equipment, but the size of the burst would have to be unprecedented to do as much damage as shown in the movie. Remember too, the ship was designed to go to Mars, and the design engineers would know that the Sun can be unpredictable. They would use radiation resistant equipment."
2.
a) I saw that during the movie when all the guys were dying from lack of oxygen. Gallagher opened up his mask on his helmet and could all of a sudden breathe because of the "algae" that was planted long ago.
b) I honestly thought that was dumb because you cannot breathe on Mars. Anyways, there definitely wasn't enough algae planted to proved enough oxygen to withstand life.
c) "The main plot of the movie was that the pressure should be low, but the oxygen had mysteriously disappeared from the atmosphere. However, the bugs that ate the algae produced prodigious amounts of oxygen, so there was O2 to spare. However, we would have known that! Even from Earth, telescopes on the ground and in orbit would be able to detect the signature of oxygen in the air. After all, they somehow knew the oxygen had disappeared; why didn't they know it was back? My thanks to Bad Reader Sean Hill who pointed out to me that the correct medical term for reduced oxygen to tissues is hypoxia; I had it written originally as anoxia, which is actually a complete lack of oxygen."
3.
a) When the last two astronauts where going to find cosmos and the one guy gets attacked by the nematodes, he sends off the bomb like thingy to kill off the bugs and Bowman can see it from orbit.
b) It was pretty cool to see that and what an explosion looks like in space but if it was that noticeable in space and the other astronaut Gallagher was maybe 20 yards away. he probably should have been fried to death.
c) "An impressive scene, with cool effects, but if Bowman can see it from orbit, I would think Gallagher would literally be toast. He was at ground zero!
But there's perhaps worse science here. It is a very common misconception that pure oxygen will burn very fast. That is not true. Something that normally burns will burn much better in the presence of a lot of O2. Pure O2 won't burn at all. So if the bugs themselves were flammable, then they would certainly burn a lot better as they release the oxygen inside them. However, I don't know how well a bug would really burn. I doubt they would burn well enough to cause such a huge conflagration. However, they are science fiction bugs, so maybe they make methane too. Still, that scene is pretty unlikely."
4.
a) I saw Gallagher start a space ship that has been on Mars for years. It wouldn't start at first, but he charged the battery with the robot Amee. He also had Bowman send information to his spacecraft from the main one in space.
b) What I think about it is that how could information be sent to Cosmos when it has a whole older computer system in it and that wouldn't match with the one in space with Bowman. Also how could a space craft be started up that hasn't been used and been sitting on Mars for eons.
c) "Why would an unmanned probe have a display console? Who's going to use it? Probes are programmed via radio, and no human contact is needed. Note that the display has an audio speaker too."
5.
a) I saw in the movie that when Gallagher was dying and couldn't get any air, Bowman was preforming CPR and told the space craft's computer system to stand Gallagher up.
b) What I think about it is that when you're in space, it doesn't matter if you're standing up or laying down because of the zero gravity. So that really didn't make that much sense.
c)This scene was in micro-gravity. Standing him up would make no difference, because there is no "up" in that environment! Actually, it might be easier to resuscitate someone in micro-gravity, since their heart doesn't have to work against gravity to pump blood. Incidentally, she didn't do the CPR correctly either. You start by giving a few puffs of mouth to mouth, then pump 15 times, then give two breaths again. After that you repeat the pumps and breaths. She pumped too slowly too."
1. The Egg and Equinox misconception
a) I always was told that at equinox which is around Spring, you could stand an egg up on its side and it would actually stay there because of the way the earth is tilted.
b) I learned that this whole egg and equinox is just a myth and the Chinese would say that you could stand the egg up six weeks before the equinox. it was a ritual for them to start off spring.
2. The Dark side of the moon misconception
a) I have always heard that there is a dark side of the moon. Which was the side that we couldn't always see.
b) I learned that the whole "dark side" is just the far side that we cannot see. It is because of the way the sun is facing it causing a shadow to appear and make it look dark.
3. Why the sky is blue misconception
a) I always was told when i asked why the sky is blue is because it is a reflection of the oceans. But that never made sense because the oceans would have to be everywhere. And that it would only make sense that the sky would be green like grass and brown like dirt too since it is a "reflection".
b) I learned that the sky is blue because it is scattering blue light from the sun.
