Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site topaz.RUTGERS.EDU Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!topaz!sdl From: sdl@mitre-bedford Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Inconsistency in "The Fantastic Voyage"??? Message-ID: <3290@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> Date: Thu, 15-Aug-85 09:58:42 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.3290 Posted: Thu Aug 15 09:58:42 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 01:38:29 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 36 From: sdl@Mitre-Bedford >>Well, wouldn't there be a problem with the size of the air molecules? >>I mean, when the sub was miniaturized, the air inside it was shrunken >>also. Now, wouldn't there be at least a bogus air pressure reading >>when they fill up with normal air that hasn't been miniaturized? For >>that matter, would the air molecules even be able to fit into the sub? There were a lot of such inconsistencies in the movie that Asimov tried to patch in the book. In this case, Asimov wrote that the submarine had a portable miniaturizer on board, and was miniaturizing the air as it came in. Of course, this means that the volume of air before miniaturization was sufficient to fill a normal-sized submarine's tanks; sucking in this much air through the patient's lungs should have had a noticeable effect. Another mistake occurred near the end of the movie, when the submarine is ingested/destroyed by the white corpuscles. Even destroyed, the fragments of the submarine after deminiaturization would be the same mass (and comparable volume) of the original submarine, which should have exploded the patient from within. Asimov tried to patch this one in the book, by having the white corpuscles follow the explorers out of the patient's body. The problem with "Fantastic Voyage" is that they could never figure out a consistent relationship between the principle of miniaturization and the conservation of mass. Steven Litvintchouk (617)271-7753 ARPA: sdl@mitre-bedford UUCP: ...{allegra,decvax,genrad,ihnp4,philabs,security,utzoo}!linus!bccvax!sdl