Friday, January 22, 2010

The science behind 'Avatar'


A new research has analysed what are the things in the movie Avatar that comply with science and can exist in reality and what are the things that are implausible.

According to a report in Discovery News, one of the plausible stuff shown in the movie is the concept of moons that can host life.

Inhabitable moons are probably the most common place to find life in the Milky Way galaxy, simply because large moons outnumber planets by at least a factor of 10.

For example, Saturn's giant moon Titan could be the archetype of inhabitable moons. It is as geologically and meteorologically diverse as Earth.

Another likely concept shown in the film is that biological evolution on other habitable worlds can take a different road than Earth.

In Avatar, the biosphere of Pandora supports and extraterrestrial Serengeti of diverse creatures.

The respiratory systems of many of the species appear to operate differently from ours. Bioluminescence also plays a big role in communication among organisms.

Another plausible stuff shown in the movie is that the atmosphere on other habitable worlds might be breathable for organisms of that planet, but not for human beings.

In the flick, it's hard for humans to breath Pandora's atmosphere and they must wear filtering apparatus.

Some of the implausible stuff shown in the movie includes the concept of almost magical rocks known as "unobtaniums", which are described in the movie as metallic superconducting crystal with the capability of powering starships and fulfilling Earth's energy needs.

The reality is that even if such an element existed, it would have been forged under tremendous pressures deep inside a super-Earth and would not be extractable.

Even if it was extractable, the chemistry would be easier to synthesize on Earth rather than building an interstellar spaceship to haul it between stars.

Source  : http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_the-science-behind-avatar_1330880

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