10 Scientific Errors In Movies That Really Need To Stop

8. Visible Lasers

So yeah, those space battles usually involve lasers, phasers, or some other form of weapon that shoots brightly coloured lights. Because we'll have transcended simple ammunition in the future, won't we? Even down on the ground, farting about in some cyberpunk city of the 22nd century, people are more likely to be wielding guns that fire lasers than bullets. Even in the sixties the titular rotund Bond villain Goldfinger was wielding a white-hot red beam that was going to cut 007 in half, starting with the most impressive weapon in the secret agent's arsenal. Which only makes sense half of the time. In space, again, lasers wouldn't actually be visible. Like how sound doesn't carry, you can't see lasers in the vacuum of space because there's no dust or whatever to reflect them. Plus you don't get really, strongly visible lasers anywhere - you know how laser pointers rarely look like, say, that maze of red beams that Tom Cruise avoided in the first Mission: Impossible film? Yeah, that. Plus you couldn't actually have a fight with lasers, because they move faster than the speed of light. You'd have to be pretty quick on your feet to dodge an attack that's FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT.