The marquee stunt in the F9 trailer is one in which a Toyota 86 goes flying through a shop and into a truck thanks to the power of magnets. But is this grounded in reality?
Well, in that electromagnets attract metal, the stunt kind of makes sense in this physical universe we occupy, but not much else about the F9 premise tracks, according to astrophysicist Arron White who has studied electricity and magnetism on the way to earning his degree at the California Academy of Sciences.
Of course, White realizes that this is a movie and movies are supposed to be fun and little else about the Fast universe makes sense anymore, so why should this? The truth is, if we were going to apply the laws of physics to this stunt, there are some pretty basic things that would go wrong.
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Firstly, White points out that magnets are powerful when something is close, but as the distance increases, the force weakens pretty quickly. So, he says, there’s nothing in the real world that’s strong enough to attract vehicles at the distances seen here, but movies exaggerate and he doesn’t really have a problem with that.
What he does have a bit more of a problem with is how selective F9 is being with what it attracts. Magnetic fields are pretty much spherical so anything within the same field as the car being attracted (manhole covers, jewelry, etc) would also be attracted. Although there is a scene that shows people in an appliance store seeing items whip past them, there’s a fridge that doesn’t do much moving in the shot, so this one doesn’t quite pass muster.
Still, White accepts that this little bit of a movie taking some liberties with physics is all in good fun. The real issue he has with this stunt, though, is what happens when Vin Diesel turns the magnet knob counter-clockwise and repulses the vehicles.
Unfortunately, magnets do not repulse metal. It doesn’t matter whether you’re showing metal the positive or the negative pole of the magnet, it will be attracted to it.
Although there are some materials that will be repulsed by magnets, White says that unless Dom Toretto is also a magician with the power of alchemy, this part of the stunt doesn’t make any sense, even if we’re being really, really permissive with that word.
Still, the stunt looks pretty rad and IGN has just posted more clips showing another one and the almost even more impressive behind-the-scenes footage that shows what made it possible. You can check out all of magnetic fun when F9 premiers on June 25.