Question

Gravity Movie Plot holes..

Three major plot holes

a) Communication black-out due to low earth orbit destruction.
Many communication satellites are in Geostationary orbits right? So how can there be a total black-out happening.

2) The crew hits the debri ever 90 mins. This never made any sense to me. I understand that in such low earth orbits the time period is 90 mins, but the satellites which got blown to smithereens were also orbiting in the same orbit, then they would also continue to orbit at same speed, thus maintaining a constant distance with the crew
3) George clooney

Answer 1

he didn't have to let go, cause they are weightless!

Answer 2

didn't see the movie, If what you say is true I 'm glad I didn,t waste my money. Just saw "Intersellar" See if you can see some holes (aside from the black ones) in this movie.

Answer 3

Nah... that uses untested theories.. so cannot think of plot holes as in scientific errors..
but gravity is like classical physics
M teaching gravity chapter.. i want to end that chapter with a bang..
cause i have covered concepts of low earth and geo stationary orbits, orbital periods and also weightlessness in space.. so it would be just.. JUST PERFECT :D

Answer 4

@gleem
But its a fantastic movie .. you should watch it.. !

Answer 5

Was the black out permanent? An yes they should have been part of the debris and float in it or with it unless they had changed their velocity say with a personal thruster. Wait was their drifting due to their being away from the satellite when it destructed or was hit by something or what?? George Clooney? what about Sandra Bullock.

Answer 6

If they passed through the debris field every 90 minutes and the orbits are usually 90 minutes they they had to be stationary or travelling twice a fast in which case they would be in a higher orbit.

Answer 7

The black out was permanent as in it was gone for the rest of the movie.. so it was actually built into the plot. Because of the black-out they were stuck in space and ground station couldn't communicate with them to help them through out the rest of the movie.

And they were repairing the Hubble space telescope. So they were at some 500 km altitude i guess. And in the radio they mention that , several satellites in THEIR ORBIT are shot down by russians causing some chain reaction (this was just before the total blackout).

And so there isn't any fix for the 90 mins thing. I thought for some crazy reason, maybe they were going opposite (who knows, this takes place into the future.. maybe.. just maybe) but then they would hit it every 45 mins.. so that makes no sense. and like you said, if either of them had more speed, they wouldn't maintain that orbit

so i guess they wanted that debris to be just floating there.. I accepted that.. just like how cloud floats (due to air drag)..
can small debris float (without orbiting ?) so then they would go and hit the cloud after every 90 mins? or will the cloud of debris immediately start falling down?

Answer 8

There is a scene were sandra and clooney are tethered and they are falling and trying to grab the ISS. Sandras Tehther breaks, but she graps onto ISS and comes to stop (with respect to ISS ofcourse). And then she JUST manages to grab onto the tether of clooney.. and now here the whole physics falls apart..
Clooney says and get this "you have to let go", cause his weight is pulling her, and so she won't be able to make it. which is non sense, they are all weightless (they have come to a dead stop with respect to the ISS)

Answer 9

here is a pic of that scene.. the right end is clooney

Answer 10

They are traveling about 20000 mph if in orbit. Depending on the characteristic of the fragmentation of the satellites part of the debris could come out of orbit and some stay in a although different orbit. If they sensed a falling (acceleration) situation they would be coming out of orbit -together.

In the picture are they rotating with the satellite?

Answer 11

Probably the real physics would have been too boring for the average movie goer.

Answer 12

Yea they are rotating with the satellite.. everything is in the satellites reference frame.. so they were always orbiting and being weightless

And in the picture, they are at rest with respect to the ISS.. so even if they WERE falling straight down, after coming to rest.. they are now WITH the iss orbiting. And THEN after few seconds he let go.. and its seen he starts drifting away.. which makes no sense :P

Answer 13

i only care about George clooney part :P