8 You can talk to another skydiver during freefall.

When Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson went skydiving in The Bucket List, you might have surely added the activity to your bucket list too. But the way the two men were conversing during the flight was quite odd as nothing as such happens in reality.

The terminal velocity of an individual during free fall is 170 feet per second. That means if they jump from an altitude of around 13,000 feet, they will have nearly a minute of freefall before reaching the parachute’s opening height.

Also, during this time, the speed of wind past their ears will be over 100 mph. Do you think in such a short time when a person is almost deaf, they can have real or proper conversations? Think again! (1, 2)

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9 An asteroid belt is dense and crowded.

The iconic Star Wars might be one of the most successful movies in Hollywood or perhaps in the world, but the movie has shown some crazy stuff that doesn’t make sense at all. For instance, the asteroids in asteroid belts are shown to be very close together. How dense are the asteroid belts in reality?

These interstellar movie myths debunked by NASA sheds light on the actual facts. Unlike in movies, an asteroid belt is not tightly packed. According to scientists, our nearest asteroid belt contains over 100,000 asteroids larger than one kilometer in diameter.

The average spacing between them is over 1.2 million miles. Due to the vast distance, collisions are also extremely rare. (source)

10 You have to wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person.

James Franco, while starring in a biographical survival drama movie 127 Hours, showcases his missing report scene. But only after a 24-hour hold does the report gets filed by the police.

You don’t really need to wait this long to report someone missing. You can report to the local police station as soon as you discover that a person is missing. In the US, dial 101, and inform them that you want to file a report. Alternatively, go down to the nearest police station. You can also dial 911 in the US if you have immediate welfare concerns. (source)

11 The pin of a grenade can be dramatically pulled out with one’s teeth.

We have seen it in many movies, the protagonist pulls out a hand grenade, pulls its pin with his teeth, and directs it at the enemies swarming towards him. Well, such bizarre things happen only in movies as they are pretty much impossible to do in real life.

While designs of grenades differ, it is not a joke to pull a grenade pin with your teeth. A hand grenade needs a bit of force, and soldiers use proper grip and technique to make it work. Further, depending on the grenade model, the pulling power required to get the pin out can vary.

For example, the Russian F1 grenade needs 17 pounds of force to pull the pin. The standard American M67 grenade takes about 7-11 pounds. You can use your hands to pull the grenade pin out quickly and easily but not your teeth, anyway. (source)

12 The forensic process gives answers to all questions and even solves crimes.

The police and forensic team in movies like Enemy of the State and No Way Out did their level best to mimic real officers, but they forgot the simplest thing – you can’t enhance a blurry image and acquire complete information from it. In fact, it is not always possible to solve a case based on forensic evidence.

While the current study shows that such evidence can play a role in criminal justice, the result may not be uniform across every crime or evidence type. The effects of evidence depend on certain factors such as the variety of evidence collection, the nature of the case, the criminal offense, and the decision level. (source)

13 A stopped heart can be restarted with a defibrillator shock.

What you may not realize is that Hollywood movies are completely unrealistic dramatizations when it comes to using defibrillators to revive someone. Movies such as Inception showcase those electric paddles bringing the patient back to life by restarting their heart, but this is not something defibrillators do.

When the heart stops beating due to cardiac arrest, the person will need CPR and not an electric shock. In fact, delivering a shock with a defibrillator can be harmful in such a case. The goal of the defibrillator is to reset the heart when it experiences an irregular heartbeat.

An electric shock from the defibrillator will interrupt the chaotic rhythm and allow the heartbeat to restore to the normal pace and rhythm. That means if there is no beat, a defibrillator cannot fulfill its role. (source)

14 You will sink if you fall into a volcano.

The fate of Gollum, a fictitious character in the film Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, looked eminently horrifying when he rapidly sank into the pit of bubbling lava. However, falling into lava is not at all similar to what is shown in this movie. Experts say that molten lava is not like water, so it doesn’t behave like it.

In reality, lava is more than three times denser than water. Since we have mostly water in their bodies, lava is denser than we are, too. According to the law of physics, a human would float on the surface of molten lava and not sink. But a Gollum? Who knows?!
(source)

15 A person can easily drown in quicksand.

Quicksand is a common hazard faced by on-screen actors like in the 1971 flick Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead. A scene from the movie shows Victoria Zinny (Eleanor) is engulfed by quicksand and eventually disappears out of sight. Does real-life quicksand exist that are capable of completely incapacitating someone’s locomotion and drowning them? Well, not exactly!

Quicksand, which is saturated with water, behaves like a liquid. Since it is denser than the human body, a human will float on the surface and not drown in it. Although you can get stuck in quicksand easily, and getting out of it will take a while, it is nearly impossible to die like the way it is shown in movies. (source)