152
votes
Accepted
How accurate is this computer hardware in the movie Wall Street?
Those are actual stock trading computers used in the 1980s.
The manufacturer is Quotron - whose name is on the keypad in the second image. Quotron started providing a computer interface for reporting ...
- 12.2k
132
votes
Accepted
Why is Discovery One covered in sulphur in "2010: The Year We Make Contact"?
TL;DR: Because the space around Io is full of large amounts of ionized sulfur produced by Io's many volcanoes.
There are an absurd number of volcanoes on Io, and they spew out an enormous amount of ...
- 11.8k
115
votes
Accepted
Is the drug used to stop infection in The Rock real?
There is no 'deadly virus' in The Rock. The weapon that is stolen by Frank Hummel's team is VX, a so-called nerve agent, a chemical that (amongst other things) interferes with your muscles and causes ...
- 52.2k
102
votes
Accepted
Why weren't Hitler's actual facial features used in The Man in the High Castle?
For the benefit of those like me who haven't watched the series, here's a picture of Hitler in The Man in the High Castle, as played by Wolf Muser:
To me, this is still recognisably Hitler, just an ...
- 22.1k
102
votes
Why wouldn't soldiers eat meat of cows killed by their enemies?
When an animal is killed for meat, steps are taken promptly to limit spoilage - removing entrails and moving the carcass to the shade at the very least.
Dead animals left in the sun become unsafe to ...
- 871
91
votes
Accepted
Why does the roadrunner say "beep beep"?
As explained on Wikipedia:
Chuck Jones, the creator of the Road Runner, has stated that this sound, the only way the Road Runner can harm the Coyote, was inspired by hearing a Doppler-like effect as ...
- 48.7k
75
votes
Accepted
Was a supercomputer really needed in "The Martian"?
The consensus on Space Exploration.SE where this same question was asked is...
NO
Answer by Mark Adler
Well, developing low-thrust trajectories does take more computation than impulsive trajectories (...
- 133k
73
votes
Accepted
What could have resulted in such a huge crater in WW I?
That all depends on how big the artillery shell was.
A standard 75mm/18lb shell would have difficulty making a hole anywhere near that big, but the largest shell fired in WWI was 3,130 lbs! used by ...
- 53k
68
votes
Accepted
Can a single bullet from a handgun kill three people in the way Deadpool did?
TL;DR: It is possible, but not very easy to pull off.
Real life examples:
One bullet, two deer killed:
A few years ago, a 10 year old boy on his first hunting trip killed two deer with one round.
...
- 11.8k
68
votes
Would a DeLorean actually break apart into a million pieces if hit by a freight train?
Yes. A few points.
Real, better cars get destroyed all the time (for instance).
The DeLorean has always been known as a fairly weak car. Its construction and crash ...
- 67.8k
68
votes
Accepted
"A galaxy far, far away..." -- from where?
It is difficult to answer this without the “opinion” sin, but Star Wars was very dear to Lucas. It was a story he had worked out in his head for a long time and written several drafts for. ...
- 2,283
66
votes
Accepted
Why do movies think the speed of sound is as fast as the speed of light?
Because they fail test screenings. The general movie audience does not respond well to realistic depictions of explosions or cannons at a distance.
From the other SE, a partial excerpt of a great ...
- 67.8k
66
votes
Accepted
How realistic is it to have maggots to remove dead flesh?
It is realistic and has historical and recent usage proof/
From the Wikipedia page of Maggot therapy (Warning: This page contains graphic images):
Written records have documented that maggots have ...
- 118k
61
votes
Accepted
Can there be sunlight in Australia and Texas at the same time?
It's possible.
Google says 8am in Melbourne is 5pm in Austin
It's technically on a different day, which is possibly where the confusion lies, but around September both would be somewhere near equinox,...
- 53k
60
votes
What could have resulted in such a huge crater in WW I?
Possibly the result of an underground bomb, placed there by miners:
One of the common techniques used in warfare during the First World War was mining. There were various mines planted under ...
- 48.7k
57
votes
Accepted
Why was this sailor painting a Swastika on a US Destroyer?
Those are victory or kill marks. It was very common for tanks, planes and ships to mark their kills on both the Allied and Axis sides during the war.
Image source
The "Rising Sun" flags ...
- 12.2k
55
votes
Accepted
Is it scientifically possible to grow potatoes in Martian soil?
Normally, no, you could not grow plants in Martian soil... but adding nutrients to the soil makes it perfectly usable.
There's a great article about it on Modern Farmer:
And, yes, it is possible to ...
- 26.4k
55
votes
If you pour buckets of gasoline on mattresses and shoot one pistol bullet at mattresses, will mattresses fire up?
As the other answer states, a single actual standard bullet would not ignite that way.
However, in the movie, it seems clear that the officer is not using a standard handgun but rather a flare gun of ...
- 133k
54
votes
Accepted
Do janitors really earn more than the resident doctors in the US?
Caveat: Janitor says paycheck and paid much more. He does not say paid more per hour. Both are likely salaried and the p/h below is for comparison of their biweekly paycheck.
Consider that Sacred ...
- 67.8k
53
votes
Accepted
Is the device Beca uses in Pitch Perfect 2 a real musical device?
The device appears to be called (or is similar to) a Launchpad, and is not just something made for the movie.
https://global.novationmusic.com/launch/launchpad#
They've been around for some time. ...
- 19.7k
51
votes
Accepted
Why would a ship that is able to recycle all water consumed have trouble running out of water?
Unlike Galactica, many of the civilian ships were not equipped with effective water recycling system. Quote from your source:
Many of the ships like the Virgon Express were not made for long-term ...
- 626
51
votes
Accepted
Was Tim's reaction to the electric fence realistic?
Unrealistic in every possible way
It follows the standard film trope of electric shock - a bright spark, smoke, and the character blown backwards by an "invisible hand". It also assumes mere contact ...
- 2,868
48
votes
Did the actors in All Creatures Great and Small actually have their hands in the animals?
Oh, yes, it was done for real.
From Wikipedia, a quote from Peter Davison himself…
When it came to the oft-joked-about insertion of an arm into a cow's rear end, Davison said: "People think we ...
- 53k
48
votes
Accepted
How much of Twister is true?
Yes
In fact, one team of storm chasers died in their continued quest to make this a reality. Tim Samaras, 55, his son Paul Samaras, 24, and his colleague Carl Young, 45, died in 2013 while chasing a ...
- 59.6k
48
votes
Why wouldn't soldiers eat meat of cows killed by their enemies?
Those cows have likely been laying dead on the side of the road in the sun for hours, if not days. The meat is spoiled and likely to cause food poisoning if eaten. They don't want to get sick.
Had the ...
- 720
48
votes
Is NYC taxi cab number 86Z5 reserved for filming?
It quite likely came from a movie vehicle rental specialist.
I don't have a hope of tracking down the actual company, but vehicles used in filming are known as 'action vehicles' [possibly also '...
- 53k
47
votes
Accepted
Is it really possible to cause military-grade explosives to explode with a gun shot?
NO
Military Grade explosives are incredibly safe and are designed to only explode when required.
Take C4 (or Composition-4 to give it its correct name) - Wikipedia
C-4 is very stable and ...
- 133k
47
votes
Accepted
How does a rifle fire backwards?
While I am not a gun expert, it would be safe to say that while normal rifle cannot be modified to shoot bullet backward, it is possible to modify the rifle to make it hurt the shooter. All you'd need ...
- 11k
47
votes
Accepted
Are the computers in Severance real?
They're props, but the design is based on a real terminal screen/keyboard from the 70's
The entire design premise of the show is based on an uncertainty of where we are in time.
"We wanted to ...
- 53k
45
votes
Can there be sunlight in Australia and Texas at the same time?
Comparing times is not a great way of checking for daylight as time zones are very unevenly distributed.
solar "noon" can occur as late as 15:00 in western portions of China
Better to just ...
- 551
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible