Cinema Science: PLANETARY PROPULSION IN THE WANDERING EARTH

In this Chinese sci-fi blockbuster, our planet is threatened by the rapid expansion of the Sun, necessitating an ambitious response: to fit the Earth with giant engines in order for it to escape the solar system and travel to a new home. Measured purely on its box-office receipts, it's one of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAustralian screen education no. 97; pp. 24 - 31
Main Author Crewe, Dave
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Melbourne The Australian Teachers of Media Inc 01.01.2020
Subjects
Curricula
Earth
Engines
Film studies
Motion pictures
Science
Science fiction & fantasy
Short stories
Solar system
Sun
Ticket sales
Tsunamis
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Summary:In this Chinese sci-fi blockbuster, our planet is threatened by the rapid expansion of the Sun, necessitating an ambitious response: to fit the Earth with giant engines in order for it to escape the solar system and travel to a new home. Measured purely on its box-office receipts, it's one of the most popular films of 2019: at the time of writing, its US$700 million revenue puts it in the top ten highest-grossing films of the year worldwide, within spitting distance of juggernauts like Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (David Leitch) and Disney's live-action remake of Aladdin (Guy Ritchie).1 But most of you are probably thinking the same thing: why haven't I heard of it? The Wandering Earth's introduction provides plenty of figures to examine, and, if you'd like, these can be supplemented with details from Hugo Awardwinning author Liu Cixin's short story of the same name on which the film was based.5 In an astrophysics unit, you could explore the force needed to allow the Earth to escape the Sun's orbit - and, indeed, the entire solar system - using Newton's universal law of gravitation, and whether this gels with the numbers quoted in The Wandering Earth's introduction. Set aside the Earth exiting our solar system for a moment, and instead focus on the importance of the Earth's rotation around its own axis.
ISSN:1449-857X