Geotimes
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Extra Friday,
April 11
Watching The Core: A
movie review
Geotimes went to the movies with four geophysicists from the Carnegie
Institution of Washington to see the new blockbuster movie The Core.
The event was an experiment for all, being Geotimes' first movie review.
With Hollywood blaming its newest apocalypse on Earth's core, we couldn't resist.
In the movie, Earth's
core has stopped "spinning" thanks to a secret government screw-up.
As a result, the planet's magnetic field begins to weaken, causing all sorts
of problems. People die suddenly, birds become navigationally inept, and compasses
drift off course. In one of the best scenes of the movie, Major Beck Childs
(Hillary Swank) helps save the shuttle Endeavor from crashing into downtown
Los Angeles by using old-fashioned geometry, a map and a pencil to plot a better
landing course.
The cast of The Core, beginning
lower left and going clockwise: Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Delroy Lindo, Stanley
Tucci, Tcheky Karyo and Bruce Greenwood. Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures.
Beck then joins our hero geophysicist Josh Keys (Aaron Eckhart) to help save
the planet itself. The two are part of a team of "terranauts" who
must drill their way to the interior of Earth and set off nuclear bombs in its
outer core. This they believe will return the core's natural "spin"
and reset the magnetic field. As they begin their journey, the weather takes
a turn for the worse and the unusual. Beautiful auroras are seen every night
in Washington, D.C., for example, and lightning storms ravage cities around
the world. The threat of solar radiation burning the planet to cinders begins
in San Francisco.
Joining me at the movies was Director emeritus Hatten Yoder from the
Geophysical Laboratory, who admitted he hadn't seen a movie in a theater in
more than 15 years. Would he again after The Core? From the department
of Terrestrial Magnetism was post-doc Steven Hauck and staff members David James
and Alan Linde, whose wife Caroline Linde also joined us.
As we bought a bucket of popcorn to share, James explained his criteria for
a quality science fiction film. "The primary requirement for a good science
fiction movie is one leap of faith. Once you accept that, everything else bridges
scientifically, logically and consistently. Otherwise the movie doesn't seem
believable."
That didn't bode well for The Core, but James was willing to give it
a go. As we sat down, I gave everyone a prime directive: To watch for copies
of Geotimes in office scenes. Paramount Pictures had requested past issues
of Geotimes to use as background props.
The lights in the theater dimmed and Yoder turned to whisper, "I hope
these people brought their asbestos suits. It gets hot down here, [in the core]."
Indeed, 3,500 degrees Celsius, he added.
The Core begins in London with a series of unexplained deaths and a
dramatic frenzy of pigeons in Trafalgar Square. Then the scene turns to geophysicist
Josh Keys at the University of Chicago. "Sound waves lose frequency
as they travel through denser material," he says to a classroom of
students. What was that, Keys? "I think he was referring to attenuation,"
Linde explained after the movie. "But you can't change frequency, just
amplitude." Uh-oh, not even 10 minutes into the show and the leaps of faith
are starting. No wonder Keys' Geology 101 students are falling asleep or doing
their nails.
Thankfully the FBI pulls Keys from his class to bring him and his French buddy
Serge Levesque (Tcheky Karyo) — who we learn later is not only a biochemist,
but also an atomic weapons expert — in to help them explain the mysterious
deaths and cool Hitchcock-like pigeon behavior. As it turns out, only people
with pace-makers died.
Back in the geology office, a graduate student explains the bird-storm phenomenon:
"Ions in birds' brains align with the magnetic field on Earth."
Remember that sentence. I'm not certain, but I think it is the only time in
the movie where Earth's magnetic field is not mistakenly referred to as an electromagnetic
field. This inaccuracy irritated the Carnegie geophysicists throughout the film.
The movie takes its time developing the characters before throwing them together
to adventure into Earth's outer core. When the mission begins, the movie provides
its own perspective on what the Earth's interior might look like and how these
brilliant people with varing backgrounds might interact.
In a discussion following the movie Linde asked, "What's this about an
electromagnetic field?"
"That was garbage," Hauck responded.
"That was a complete basic screw-up," Linde returned.
James explained the movie-makers' mistake: "It's a magnetic field but
electormagneatic phenomena is associated with..." he looked to Hauck.
"The ionosphere," Hauck replied.
Linde boiled it down, "Fundamentally, Earth has a magnetic field and all
the other stuff is a consequence of that."
What other leaps of faith did the movie demand?
- A spinning core generates Earth's magnetic field.
That's only partially right. Convection currents in the liquid part of the
outer core do the job. As long as Earth is spinning its core is spinning too;
some scientists agree it even spins a little faster than Earth.
- An element called unobtainium can not only withstand, but also gets
stronger with increasing temperatures and pressures.
As the movie recognizes, this element is unobtainable.
- The temperature in Earth's interior is 9,000 degrees.
That's heating it at least a thousand degrees more than most scientists would
agree for Fahrenheit. The Core's Web site, linked below, is more accurate.
- Without the magnetic field, solar winds and radiation would torch everything
on the surface of the planet.
They might increase mutation rates, but they wouldn't burn skin in seconds
or melt steel.
- The mantle is partially molten.
Sorry, solid as a rock. Yes, it does move — about as fast as fingernails
grow.
- The magnetic field would shut down in a year.
Geologic records show it takes hundreds to thousands of years to reverse the
magnetic field, and that it has switched many times without destroying the
planet's surface. Of course, if a secret government act destroyed the core's
ability to produce a magnetic field, all bets are off.
The
Core Web site accurately
shows the reversal of Earth's magnetic field taking 1,500 years — only
they inaccurately refer to it as the electromagnetic field. Photo modified from
Paramount Pictures The
Core.
Did the movie get anything correct?
"The core is about the size of Mars," Hauck said.
The thicknesses of the crust, mantle and core were also on target and as far
as fruit goes, a peach is a pretty good analogy to Earth. All agreed, too, that
the scene with the shuttle is the best one in the entire movie — although
I would have to watch it again to check that Major Childs got her latitude and
longitude correct. In reality, the Los Angeles River is between 33 and 34 degrees
north latitude, and 118 degrees west longitude. If anyone else goes to see this
movie please let me know what she scribbled down as the latitude and longitude
for the landing. The Carnegie geophysicists and I aren't interested in watching
The Core twice. And none of us saw an issue of Geotimes lying
around, but then maybe that's alright.
Christina Reed
Link:
The
Core Web site has real science links to follow and is fun to investigate
after watching the movie.
