Scientific inaccuracies in the film Dante’s Peak

Media and Disaster Movies

Media, especially movies, are a perfect conduit for passing and obtaining information apart from entertainment. Various films produced retell stories about past natural or human-made disasters in a bid to educate and inform the general public. However, producers in an effort to make the movies as amusing as possible tend to dramatize some scenes hence making the film somewhat unrealistic thus not conforming to the standard science-based understandings. In other words, movie makers overdo some scenes. This paper aims to point the scenes in the movie Dante’s Peak the author feels were inaccurately depicted.

Inaccurate Depiction of Hot Water

First, in the beginning scene of the movie where two young teenagers - a girl and a boy - the movie producers show us that the teens initially got into the pool of water without noticing the water was hot (Hutchison, 2016). Then, out of the blues, the water boils spontaneously killing them instantly. However, scholars like Utaka, Kashiwabara, Ozaki, & Chen (2014) contend that water does not boil rapidly but rather gradually. Depending on the intensity of the energy, heating water involves the breaking of atoms. In the process feeling of hotness as the water slowly heats can be felt. One can only feel the burns of hot water unless suddenly immersed or the water poured on him or her. According to Hutchinson, the teenagers were in the pool when the water suddenly boiled thus killing them which is not factual.

Inaccurate Depiction of Molten Lava

Second, the movie depicts the molten lava as less viscous. Viscosity refers to the ability of a liquid to flow. The higher the viscosity, the less distance liquid travel. Molten lava is often a mixture of gases and ashes; this composition makes the fluid thicker therefore not able to flow long distances as shown in the movie (Pyle, 2015). As such, the lava depicted in the film is unrealistic because it should be more viscous. Also, the thickness of the lava would make boating impossible because lava solidifies as it enters the water. Combined with the thickness, the lava would make it impossible for any boat to move. However, in this movie, we are shown scenes where the boats were used to escape.

Inaccurate Depiction of Driving Over Molten Lava

Next, the scene when the George’s family attempted to escape using their car, they drove over the molten lava. This scene is not realistic because owing to the composition of the lava; we expect it to be extremely thick such that the tires would skid. However, the vehicle is shown as moving. Another aspect that would make driving under such conditions impossible is the issue of temperatures. Molten lava burns at temperatures over 800 to 1000 degrees Celsius, such extreme heat would melt rubber tires in seconds and even the body of the car (Pyle, 2015).

Inaccurate Depiction of Earthquakes

Lastly, another scene that justifies that the movie was scientifically correct is the depiction of the earthquake associated with the eruption (Pyle, 2015). In many instances, tremors as a result of volcanic eruptions do not bear significant magnitude as portrayed in the movie. Dante’ Peak exhibits tremors that bring down bridges, houses, and roads. Such earthquakes do not have the scale to bring down large structures but only small damage. The movie is an exciting and educative piece of art except the few misleading instances exhibited above.

References

Hutchison, C. (2016). Dante’s Peak (1997) Movie - Pierce Brosman, Linda Hamilton, Jamie Renée Smith - YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 4 March 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNGMYRpEOSM

Pyle, D. M. (2015). Sizes of volcanic eruptions. In The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes (Second Edition) (pp. 257-264).

Utaka, Y., Kashiwabara, Y., Ozaki, M., & Chen, Z. (2014). Heat transfer characteristics based on microlayer structure in nucleate pool boiling for water and ethanol. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 68, 479-488.