Friday, May 2, 2014

Science and "Frozen"

I loved the short article "Crystallizing the Science in Frozen" in the recent issue of NSTA Reports (May 2014) explaining the goods and the bads of science usage in the movie Frozen.  Of course this is a great opportunity to link movies, literature, and so much more to science!  There is some great insight into the idea that the opening scene got it right when the ice blocks being cut float in the water as they are transported.  About 90% of the block is below the surface as it should be.  However, later when the fjord is frozen...the ships should have been destroyed...their expanding ice should have crushed the ships hulls and after taking on water sank.  Another wrong scene is when Anna is frozen...technically she should have grown by about 10% in volume since ice expands!  Right?!?!!!!  Finally, the idea of the snowflake as seen on the blog (http://britsketch.blogspot.com) isn't quite right.  The song Elsa sings talks about mathematical fractals (snowflakes) which is correct but the actual drawing doesn't hold true--no 60 degree interior angles maintained throughout the flake.  Interesting ideas.  For more see http://bit.ly/amBgvm.

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