I’m sorry to break it to you, but movies LIE. Here are some of the scientific MYTHS they’ve made us believe:
1. You can hide behind a car door in a gun fight. Car doors are made to be lightweight, not bullet proof.
2. You can knock someone out with chloroform in seconds. It actually takes about five minutes to take effect.
3. Meteors are hot when they hit the Earth. They’re actually lukewarm, because the hot outer layers get blown off on impact.
4. Gun silencers actually work. Technically, they DO work. But not like they do in movies. In real life, a gun with a silencer is still pretty loud.
5. You should suck the venom out of a bite. That can contaminate the wound and harm the nerves and blood vessels of the victim. It can also cause harm to the one doing the sucking.
6. Using the paddles when someone flatlines. You actually do CPR when someone flatlines. A defibrillator is for someone experiencing rapid heart contractions.
7. A gunshot to the shoulder is no big deal. People in the movies are always getting shot in the shoulder and brushing it off. But you’ve got a major artery and a large bundle of nerves in there.
8. You can trick a biometric scanner with a severed hand. Those things check the capillary flow through the hand, so a dead one wouldn’t work.
9. Truth serums. According to the CIA, if you can hold out during a normal interrogation, a drug isn’t going to break you.
