8. Gas Tanks Explode With A Single Shot
It's a movie staple. Our hero's being chased through the streets by some strange car. Inside, a group of masked men want him captured, and begin shooting. What's an action star to do? He has to get away, of course. Leaning out the window and taking dead aim, the character puts a few impossibly well-placed rounds into the villains' gas tank, igniting the fuel and reducing the car to a fiery wreck. Gas tanks are volatile, unstable bomb-buckets just waiting to blow. Once again, movie magic is bending the rules of reality for the sake of a good show. There's a reason why you've never seen cars explode the way they do in the movies. Each piece of the vehicles out on the road are built precisely to maximize individuals' survival in the event of a crash or emergency, and that includes the gas tank. Located on the underside of the car, fuel tanks are insulated to minimize the risk of leaks and spills from impact. And as was shown on
Mythbusters, conditions would have to be very specific to make a gas tank explode simply from a bullet.