“Those aren’t mountains, those are waves” — How much of the beloved Sci-Fi film ‘Interstellar’ was science rather than fiction?
If you’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film “Interstellar”, most likely you left the movie theater baffled about the science in it. “Interstellar” may seem far-fetched from reality with the storyline involving aliens, but surprisingly, it is considered to be the most scientifically accurate film. It has even led to scientific research papers being published.
For those who haven’t watched Nolan’s masterpiece:
What is “Interstellar” about? Well, it’s hard to summarise. It involves wormholes, blackholes, aliens, gravity manipulation and so on. John Nugent summarises it perfectly in his film review: “Humanity is on the brink of extinction when the Earth fails. A futuristic fifth-dimensional civilisation guides a team of astronauts into harnessing gravity so humanity can evacuate. Also, it’s kind of about love. And astrophysics”. A trailer for the film can be found here.
What makes “Interstellar” so scientifically accurate?
The secret is Nobel prize winner and theoretical physicist Kip Thorne. Throne was consulted in the scriptwriting and filming process, and required that the film did not break the laws of physics. Thorne goes into more depth on the science behind “Interstellar” in his book. For now, lets look at the science behind the famous 1.2km tall waves in “Interstellar” and the Miller planet.
“Those aren’t mountains, they’re waves”
Spoiler alert!
How does science explain these giant waves? Well, their height is due to gravitation pull from the blackhole Gargantua. This is similar to tidal waves caused by our moon.
In our solar system, there is a gravitational pull between the Moon and Earth. According to NASA, the moon’s gravitational pull causes the ocean on Earth to convex out on the side closer to the Moon and on the other side as well. These humps create high tides while the low tides are where there are no humps. A visual of this can be found here.
Considering this, Gargantua has 100 million times the mass of our sun. According to graviton theory, mass is proportional to gravity because of gravitons which are particles responsible for gravitational attraction. The more mass an object has, the more gravitons and stronger the gravitational pull. So, you can imagine how much greater the gravitational pull Gargantua will exert on Miller, hence, the larger tidal waves.
One hour on Miller = 7 years on Earth
On the planet Miller, every hour that passes equals to 7 years on earth. How can this be? Well, this can be explained by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Einstein’s theory explains how gravity affects the space-time fabric. The space-time fabric is essentially everything in the universe where the vertical lines in the picture above represent space and horizontal lines represent time. The planet in the center shows how mass affects gravity — by warping the space-time fabric.
In a nutshell, Einstein states that time is relative and the perception of it depends on the individual’s position in a gravitational field. Thus, an individual experiences time at a slower rate as the gravitational force increases. This is because the fabric of space-time becomes more distorted.
As Miller is located close to the blackhole Gargantua, which is 100 million times the weight of our sun, the fabric of space-time becomes more distorted than that of Earth, causing time to be perceived slower, and thus, one hour on Miller is equal to 7 years on Earth
This was just the science behind the planet Miller, there’s plenty more science to explore in “Interstellar”.
What makes “Interstellar” so popular is Nolan’s clever method of storytelling. Not only does “Interstellar” convey complicated and scientific concepts through accurate visuals, characters’ emotions and actions allow the audience to engage with the science. The success of this film opens up the possibility of using Sci-Fi films to improve science communication. Just think about how much more interested in science society would with engaging and scientifically accurate Sci-Fi films and TV shows.
I’ll leave you with a quote mentioned in “Interstellar”, taken from a poem by Dylan Thomas:
“Do not go gentle into that good night … Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
This quote expresses the most important message Nolan aims to convey through “Interstellar” — humankind’s fight for survival and hope for the future of humanity
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