Home Alone

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Home Alone

• Hollywood Science
• TaylorBlock 6
• RA

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Synopsis

• Home Alone stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin
  McCallister, an eight-year-old who is mistakenly
  left behind when his family flies to France for a
  Christmas vacation. While initially relishing his
  time alone, he is later threatened with two house
  burglars, whom he outwits by rigging the house
  with booby traps.

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Promotional Items

• Home Alone video games were released for eight
  video game systems NES, Sega Genesis, SNES, Sega
  Game Gear, Game Boy, Sega Master System, Amiga
  and PC.
• The first Home Alone game was released in 1991.

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The Bad Science

• Pendulumsswinging paint cans

Heat TransferMarv burns hand on door knob
Momentumwet bandits slip on icy steps
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Pendulums in the Movie

• Clip 1
• The pendulum shown in Home Alone inaccurately
  demonstrates the laws of gravity.
• WHY?
• The location in which Kevin throws/drops the
  paint cans from does not allow for them to swing
  in the smooth parabolic path as shown.

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Take A Closer Look
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Why Is This Bad?

• Kevin drops the paint can from a 270º angle
• It would not have immediately fallen into a
  pendulum
• Because of the extra slack on the rope, the paint
  can should have bounced a few times.
• Only makes sense if the paint can had been
  dropped near the window or thrown outwards.

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Pendulums

• A suspended weight that swings back and forth in
  a regular periodic motion. The length of the
  pendulum determines its frequency, while the
  weight of the bob does not affect the frequency.

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More on Pendulums

• ? angle of pendulum
• R length of rod
• m mass of pendulum
• g gravitational constant

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Heat Transfer

• The transfer of heat is normally from a high
  temperature object to a lower temperature object.
  Heat energy changes the internal energy of both
  systems involved according to the First Law of
  Thermodynamics.

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3 Types of Heat Transfer
Convection -One object transfers heat directly
through contact with another object.

• Conduction
• -Heat is carried from one object by a fluid
  motion in a gas or liquid
• Radiation
• -When heat is transferred by radiating off a an
  object.

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Heat Transfer in the Movie

• In the following clip, Kevin rigs a electrical
  system up to the front door of his house, causing
  heat to transfer from the wire to the door knob.
  
• Clip 2
• This clip is an example of radiation
  transferheat is being radiated off of the door
  knob.

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Heres Whats Wrong

• Hand would not steam
• Depending on the temperature of the door knob,
  his skin may have melted and stuck to it.
• When he puts his hand in the snow, it should not
  have sizzled.
• Hand would not become frozenit would just begin
  to return to its natural state.
• His hand may have also turned numb.

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Newtons Laws of Universal Gravitation

• FGm1m2/d2
• Any two objects exert a gravitational force of
  attraction on each other.

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Gravity Mistakes in the Movie
Clip 3
HUMANS CANT FALL UP
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What Else is Wrong?

• Observe the way that Marv falls after being hit
  with the second paint can.
• -Not natural
• Both men would have been critically injured after
  their falls down the stairs.
• The M that is burned into Marvs hand is in the
  wrong direction.

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So What Have We Learned?

• Great family movie
• Not such great science
• Doesnt abide by the laws of gravity
• Inaccurate portrayal of events involving heat
• Several small movie making errors took place

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THE END
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Works Consulted

• http//theory.uwinnipeg.ca/physics/circ/node7.html
  
• physics.about.com/od/classicalmechanics/a/gravity.
  htm
• http//theory.uwinnipeg.ca/mod_tech/node54.html
• http//sol.sci.uop.edu/jfalward/heattransfer/heat
  transfer.html
• http//www.calacademy.org/products/pendulum/page1.
  htm