10 Huge Disaster Movies That Scientists Called Bullsh*t (And Why)

5. We'd Already Be Dead If The Earth Stopped Spinning - The Core (2003)

The Disaster: Earth€™s electromagnetic field begins to rapidly deteriorate when the planet€™s inner core suddenly and inexplicably stops rotating. As people with pacemakers start dropping dead and confused pigeons stir up panicked crowds when they lose their ability to navigate, geophysicist Dr Josh Keyes puts together a team who become mankind€™s last hope. As electrical storms terrorise the land, Keyes and his cohort head into the centre of the earth to reignite it with a nuclear bomb. Why It€™s Bullshit: First things first €“ if earth stopped spinning, every one of us would die. Horribly. Our planet rotates at a speed of more than 1000mph at the equator, with the speed decreasing the closer you get the poles. If earth€™s core, and subsequently the rest of the planet stopped spinning as it does in the movie we would be catapulted through the air at unimaginable speeds. Imagine flying through the windscreen of a car hitting a wall at 100mph and times it by ten. Even if you did somehow survive this part, you€™ve got the atmosphere to deal with, which would still effectively be travelling at hundreds of miles per hour. At that speed, the wind would rip right through your flesh and leave you a shredded mess. The movie also shows the Golden Gate Bridge (always a goner in a disaster movie) melting due to space radiation previously kept at bay by the electromagnetic field, though in reality the electromagnetic field is only part of an atmosphere several miles thick. Cancer cases would increase, but metal structures would be just fine.
 
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Phil still hasn't got round to writing a profile yet, as he has an unhealthy amount of box sets on the go.