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Post by Manic Bliss on May 31, 2004 19:30:15 GMT -5
he will be playing the new Batman. I loved him in Little Women, American Psycho and Laurel Canyon.
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Post by xnightx on Jun 1, 2004 0:51:37 GMT -5
I watched Reign of Fire tonight.
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Post by audio on Jun 1, 2004 0:57:08 GMT -5
Piece of crap huh?
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Post by lilith on Jun 1, 2004 0:57:08 GMT -5
ooooooooooo... he's hot
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Post by xnightx on Jun 1, 2004 1:18:45 GMT -5
Not totally. It was ok, just not enough dragon scenes.
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Post by audio on Jun 1, 2004 1:19:43 GMT -5
The story was so stupid!
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Post by audio on Jun 1, 2004 1:22:34 GMT -5
A boy arrives at his mum's place of business which happens to be a major tunneling operation that has just broken into a strange underground chamber. The boy is not only allowed to descend deep into the labyrinth of tunnels but is also allowed to roam freely. He discovers the opening to the chamber and pops inside to look around. There's the usual lull while everyone in the audience is screaming inside their heads. "get out, get out! There's a dragon in there". And guess what happens?
The dragons are big and heartless. They fly through the air torching or eating everything in sight. Their reproduction rate is second only to bacteria and their growth rate would require cell division that makes a cancerous tumor seem slow. Somehow, the beasts quickly spread over the entire globe, all but wiping out humanity in the process.
The idea of a biological system for emitting flame as a defense or attack mechanism is pretty incredible but, surprisingly, there's at least one real world example of something similar, although far less dramatic. The bombardier beetle has a defense mechanism for producing tiny explosions that blast a mixture of hot liquids in a would-be predator's face. These liquids can reach temperatures of 100 degrees C. The tiny explosions are created using a complex system for storing and eventually mixing hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide with enzymes. However, even if we concede that a flame producing mechanism, though unlikely, is at least conceivable, there are still numerous problems with the way it's depicted.
First there's the milkshake problem. Any energy transfer out of the dragon in the form of flames must first go into the dragon in the form of food. If we assume an energy conversion efficiency of 100 %, the dragon will have to consume about 60 milkshakes in order to expel the energy contained in a gallon* (3.8 liters) of gasoline. (Yes, we know the dragon doesn't use gasoline but it's a convenient unit of measurement.)
The complex process of converting food to fire would probably not be 100 % efficient. In other words, the dragon will have to take in considerably more energy in the form of food than he expels in the form of fire. For our purposes we'll assume a 50 % efficiency of converting food energy to fire energy.
In one scene, a dragon torches an entire convoy of armored vehicles melting tires and killing almost everyone. This required an enormous outpouring of energy which easily had to exceed the energy of 100 gallons (380 liters) of gasoline. The dragon would have had to consume the food energy equivalent of 12,000 milkshakes to make this one flame throwing run. He'd have to own a chain of Dairy Queens and spend several days ahead of time slurping shakes.
Next we have the politeness problem. Any critter who goes around torching people's yards is likely to be considered impolite and be shot at. Indeed, some of the bullets are likely to be rather large, like say .50 cal machine gun bullets or 20 mm cannon rounds if fired from military aircraft. A dragon would require some heavy-duty armor plating to resist injury.
We're all familiar with the light-weight body armor worn by police officers. These are typically designed to resist the penetration of various handgun bullets fired at close range. Even so, getting hit with a handgun bullet can produce bruises and in some cases even broken ribs. However, a .50 cal machine gun bullet has a muzzle energy of over 15,000 joules compared with around 600 joules for a .45 cal ACP handgun bullet. A 20 mm cannon has a muzzle energy of around 54,000 joules. What's more, the 20 mm Vulcan cannon in a typical U.S. fighter jet spits out about 100 rounds per second!
Momentum can be considered a measure of how difficult it is to stop an object. The momentum of a fairly hot .45 cal ACP bullet is about 4 newton seconds. A typical U.S. Airforce fighter jet's 20 mm cannon round has a momentum of 104 newton seconds, good luck trying to stop this with a bullet proof vest.
Even a heavily armored dragon would need some very stout bone structure and internal organs to resist the abuse of being raked with 20 mm cannon fire. Auto accident victims with no discernable external injuries all too often die from closed head injuries or tears in major blood vessels like the aorta. These are caused by the high accelerations their bodies are subjected to during collisions. Martial arts experts can deliver fatal blows without penetrating the skin. Boxers deliver knock-out punches with padded gloves. Likewise, a 20 mm cannon round would not have to penetrate a dragon's scales to do serious internal damage.
In the movie we're told that every form of human weapon including nuclear warheads have been unable to stop the onslaught of dragons. Yet, they can be killed by shooting them with an explosive tipped arrow in the mouth when they open it to emit flames. This is ridiculous!
There's also the flame fallacy to contend with. A flame does not have to impinge directly on an object to heat it up. A massive flame such as those expelled by the dragons would emit very large amounts of radiant heat in every direction including backwards. The dragon itself would get burned by the flame unless it was protected by a combination of heat-resisting insulation and a cooling system. It would not only need fire resistant scales but would probably also have to sweat massive amounts to keep itself from roasting.
Firefighters are well aware of this problem. The heavy bunker coats and other attire they wear are designed to insulate them from radiant heat. In addition, they will often wet down their coats before going near a particularly hot blaze, and depend on the water spray of their hoses to keep them from getting burned.
Propane gas flames are one of the hottest blazes fire fighters can face. These can happen at propane tank filling facilities when a flexible propane hose breaks. If the gas ignites, the end of the pipe becomes a giant blow torch. Firefighters are trained to walk up to this inferno by spraying a fine water mist in front of them with a fire hose. A firefighter then shuts off the nearest gas valve while his teammates keep the water spray going. Usually, additional hoses are trained on the fire to keep the area as cool as possible. If the water supply fails the team near the propane flame can receive burns before backing away even though they're wearing protective clothing and the flame is not impinging on them.
Finally, there's the weight-watcher's problem. A dragon has to carry a large supply of fuel, heavy armor plating, thermal insulation, an extremely rugged skeletal structure, and some form of cooling system in addition to the usual stuff like lungs, intestines, kidneys, etc. She's then supposed to be able to fly using rather small bat-like wings. It's pretty unlikely.
If you're tempted to write and tell us that "according to science the bumblebee can't fly", please don't. First, scientific models have been developed which do predict that bumblebees can fly. Second, complex aerodynamics such as those used by bumblebees don't scale up very well. The prevalence of flying insects compared to the absence of flying elephants should make this fairly clear.
As for the humans in the movie, most get wiped out. The young boy at the beginning of the movie does grow up and becomes the hero of the story. He survives the dragon scourge by hiding in a ruined castle with a group of refugees.
In one scene we see him and the remains of his group cowering under a sprinkler system in a tunnel beneath the castle as a massive dragon torches the entire structure. While the sprinkler system and tunnel probably would have protected against heat, the humans would still have been unlikely to survive. A massive fire in the castle would have consumed available oxygen causing death by asphyxiation or carbon monoxide poisoning. Indeed, this was one of the key causes of death when British and American aircraft fire bombed Dresden during WWII.
In the end it turns out that the dragons have a biological weakness far worse than their inability to take an explosive tipped arrow in the mouth. They have only one male dragon. All the others are females. What's more, he's into the whole macho thing. Rather than sending his legions of females to fend off attackers, he feels he can take care of himself. It proves to be his undoing. With their only possible love interest gone the females evidently all die of broken hearts.
Reign of Fire goes down in flames not just because it has ridiculous physics but because it gives us nothing which makes us want to suspend our disbelief. The movie is an extreme contradiction. It takes itself completely serious yet serves up scientific silliness. Surely, it could have come up with some comic relief or at least a few dragon jokes. Instead, it's one of those movies which drag on and on.
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Post by xnightx on Jun 1, 2004 1:23:38 GMT -5
Wow you type fast.
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Post by kao on Jun 5, 2004 20:35:02 GMT -5
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Post by audio on Jun 5, 2004 20:36:58 GMT -5
Hey, hitting CTRL+V is still technicaly typing!
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