Some Basic Science and Explanations of INTERSTELLAR

Have you watched the movie? I would highly recommend it but for some some people it may be too deep to understand.

I'd say it was a great movie with many thrill rides along the way and jam packed with physics, lots and lots of physics. Not to mention the very nicely done portrayal of space, wormholes, blackholes and the many wonders of the universe that normal people probably won't get the chance to see in our lifetime.

I am writing this to explain some basic science and concepts of the movie and its plots, so SPOILER WARNING for those who haven't watched it yet.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert in astrophysics or any physics for that matter, all information below is based on information I learnt in my studies and general information.

Lets start with the plan they have:

Plan A: Travel to a new planet to confirm that it is hospitable (a choice of Miller, Mann and Edmunds), return to Earth and then using Professor Brand's gravity solution to move people of Earth in a space station towards the new planet with the power of gravity.

Side note: Halfway through the movie you kinda forget why they are so hyped about the gravity solution, its because Professor Brand promised to solve the solution and harness the power of gravity to lift people away from Earth. However the solution can never be found because it was missing data from a black hole's singularity to complete it (More about singularity below). With the help of Coop, Murph solved the gravity formula and discovered the way to manipulate gravity and lift people on Earth in a space station named Cooper Station into space and towards the new planet Edmund, which is why it is orbiting Saturn and found Cooper drifting in space.

Plan B: Travel to a new planet to confirm that it is hospitable (a choice of Miller, Mann and Edmunds) and use frozen embryos to repopulate the new planet (which is why there is a female crew on board).

Some basic science of the movie:

1. There is no air in space, Sound is transmitted through vibrations through the air. No air = no sound in space. Hence you see a lot of soundly shots as the ship is maneuvering in space.
2. When they dock on the Endurance for the first time, they spin the endurance so that the centrifugal force creates an artificial gravity. Coop maintains the rotating speed when gravity reaches 1G which is the standard number for gravity on Earth. Subsequently, the gravity of our moon is 0.6G, at Miller is 1.3G, and Mann's is 0.8G.
3. A wormhole is placed by future humans near Saturn. A wormhole is a short-cut to other parts of the universe. Its existence is still in debate among scientists.
4. Gargantua is a black hole not a wormhole. A Black Hole is something with a gravity so powerful it sucks everything in it, including light which makes it black. No one knows what's in it because everything is only one way in.
5. Miller's planet is orbiting the Gargantua like the moon orbiting the Earth, hence the gravity of Gargantua is affecting it increasing Miller's gravity.
6. Basically the more powerful the gravity, the slower time runs. (Yes, gravity affects time.) The gravity of Miller's planet combine with Gargantua's was so much that 1 hour in Miller = 7 years Earth time.
7. The huge waves in Miller's planet is caused by the massive gravity of Gargantua, like how moon's gravity affect the waves on Earth.
8. When the crazy Dr. Mann didn't dock properly on the endurance, the air from the inside of the Endurance gets vacuumed out into space. Because space has no air at all, the pressure of air flowing out into space from the Endurance becomes so powerful that it blasts the Lander and Dr. Mann out instantaneously. Air pressure will push air from a room with high air pressure (Endurance) to a room with low air pressure (space), the larger the difference in air pressure the greater the force of the pressure.
9. Boom! And the Endurance spins into Mann's planet. In space there is no air or force to slow down any movements, so once the Endurance starts to spin, it will virtually keep spinning forever until an obstacle is met.
10. This is basically how space travel is done. The ship only needs to push enough force to make the ship go forward, and because there is no air or force to stop the ship, the ship will continue with the same speed and direction virtually forever without having to constantly apply fuel. Unlike on Earth you have to keep pressing the gas to keep your car going because air and friction is always slowing your car down. This is why the astronauts can take stasis naps for years for the journey from Earth to Saturn,
11. When Cooper tries to match the rotation of the Endurance to dock his Lander, the spinning of the ship causes high levels of gravitational force (see No. 2), high levels of gravitational force (G Force) will cause people to faint, which is why Dr. Brand fainted for awhile, and Cooper told TARS to take the stick if he faints as well. Astronauts and fighter plane pilots wear special suits to protect against high G Force so that they don't faint easily.
12. When Cooper and Brand decides to use the high gravity of the Gargantua to pull the ship around it and then blast off to Edmund's planet, he mentioned Newton's 3rd Law of Motion: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body. Simply put, when you push against a wall, the wall pushes back against you with the same force.
13. Cooper hopes that with this law, by dropping 2 space ships our from Endurance into Gargantua, the force of dropping the ships into it will create force for Endurance to get out of it.
14. Nothing can get out of a black hole, but some scientists theorize that you can get out if you enter a 5 dimensional universe (which is where Cooper went).
15. Singularity is where matter is infinitely dense, imagine all everything in this world being compressed into a single point. When Cooper and TARS entered the black hole singularity, it was constructed to be a 5 dimensional universe where time is seen as a physical plane. It is the date in this dimension that is needed to complete the gravity problem.
16. Cooper was sucked in the Gargantua entering a dimension where time is lay out frame by frame, the thing that Cooper was doing to the books and sand and the watch are all manipulating gravity. As he said gravity can transcend time and space, hence it is possible to play and use gravity to communicate to the past. Which is why he cannot just write a note and pass it to his daughter from within the black hole.
17. The Gargantua has massive gravity hence the time there is super slow. By the time Cooper finished helping his daughter, time on Earth has already passed many decades.
18. Because Brand was also near Gargantua to be slingshot to Edmund's planet Brand got out of Gargantua's gravity almost the same time as Cooper, which is why Amelia Brand is still young and just landed at Edmunds about the time Cooper was found in Cooper Station.
19. Humans in a very very far future created the wormhole and the black hole space so that Cooper will help ensure that the human race will survive their fate on Earth.

A nicely portrayed Gargantua, the black hole

Some scientifically inaccuracy in the movie:

1. Because of the massive gravity on Miller's planet, Cooper and Brand's ship would need a lot of energy to blast off from its surface, probably more than what the Lander is capable of producing.

1. With the super massive gravity from the black hole Gargantua, Cooper would have been travelling in light speed when entering it. Humans traveling at this speed will cause massive friction and Cooper would have been disintegrated before he reach the singularity of the black hole.
2. The temperature of a super massive black hole would have been too high for Cooper to survive in it with his space suit.
3. Also, since Gargantua is a super massive black hole, the massive gravity and time dilation would mean that time around Cooper and Brand would pass so slow when they are in the black hole area, that hundreds of years would have passed when they return to normal space-time.

Well, I hope what I wrote was simple enough for everyone to understand.

Even if you don't understand, it is still a great thrill ride.

As I said, I am not an expert in any field above, feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

To further confuse you of their timeline, here is a timegraph (taken frm reddit.com):

And if you are interested, here is Discovery Channel's The Science of Interstellar narrated by Matthew McConaughey (Coop):

Leaving My Uni Life Behind

I finally mustered the heart to write this after unofficially ending my studies since June.

There are so many things I want to tell, as there are so many feelings I kept bubbling inside.

I will try to express as much as I can.

And gosh have I abandoned my blog for so long!

"20 years ago you don't want to be here. Now you don't want to leave."

-Dr. Archer to John Constantine

The quote above is how I felt when I started in UPM.

I dreaded having to leave my home and wished to go back as soon as I can every week.

But as I approached my final days in UPM, I wanted to stay as long as I can, after enjoying what might have been the best 4 years of my life so far.

Now that I have started working, I really miss my uni life.

Something about the life in uni that you know will never be the same again once we start entering the working world.

Things that I miss about uni:

1. Bringing all my stuff back to college every Sunday night. Carrying all my heavy stuff and walking up the stairs to my room and the feeling of settling down, and walking over to check if Jake is in.
2. Attending classes with PMP. Classes are just so fun when there are great companions to be bored with. Memories of the lecture, the room, the seats, the chatter, the ambience are all precious memories.
3. Looking out my window as I clatter with my lappie through the night. Most times just to see people walk and chat, once I even saw fire coming from the opposite block that summoned the fire department and medic.
4. Looking out the window during workout sessions, usually seeing LaiYee, PohYee and ShuXian walking back, and I would call out to LaiYee.
5. Workout sessions with Jake, and with Ray, the one who started it all. There is nothing like having a partner to workout with. The motivation and the mutual encouragement got us through what we felt was hell. Nowadays I lack the same motivation to push myself during workouts.
6. Bathing and washing clothes myself.
7. Dinner with college mates at 8pm (sometimes 7.30pm).
8. Party sessions with college mates every once in awhile, with cheap alcohol, snacks and a whole lot of games and drunkenness. (free flow anyone?)
9. Going to Jake's lappie to play games (his laptop was the most advanced gaming console at the time.)
10. Going to college events and doing cheers. Haven't done cheering in such a long time, but the memories are just nice for some reason.
11. Dinner and hanging out in Serumpun Cafe. There was a time where food in Serumpun Cafe was good, and we hesitated to go back after our meals. I miss the corn, and the roti canai, and the chats.
12. Registering for courses in FEM McD tables and yelling "DAFTAR ARAB! DAFTAR ARAB!". It is one of those PMP moments I will remember for life.
13. Meals with PMP in old flat (no longer there) and new flat.
14. Taking pictures of the funny moments of PMP.
15. Doing assignments and presentations with PMP & EKIN (though I always become the leader.)
16. Mountain hiking and skytrex with PMP.
17. Taking videos of PMP during trips with them. Luckily I did take the videos even though they disagree, as it turned out to be the most memory cherishing item we will ever have.
18. Going to bed in my college that felt oh-so-comfortable with the powerful ceiling fan that made the sleep so cozy. Also, looking at the shadows when I couldn't fall asleep and listening to the hum of the ceiling while I ponder on study issues that might come tomorrow.
19. The Amazing Race to Melaka Portugese Settlement with LaiYee and TakJie.
20. Being called "King"or "Boss".
21. Organizing PMP events.
22. Discussing Kpop and SNSD,
23. Playing Ironman with Jake's watch.
24. Playing Defender II with Jake and Chris.
25. Staying up with course mates to study on tips for exams.
26. Saying "See you again next sem." in the PMP Facebook page.
27. Recording our events and trips.

Things that I wished would have been different:

1. More time to express our thought and feelings to each other before leaving Sabah on our last course trip. We didn't get a chance to have pillow talk since our 1st trip to Port Dickson.
2. KMR didn't fell-out in our 2nd semester. Because of the problems faced in KMR, plus some amount of poor leadership, most KMR-ians pulled out and lived else where after semester 2. There in causing a large chain effect that cause most PMP to move out of KMR a few semesters later. It would have been nice if everyone would have stayed in KMR.
3. Organizing more activities like we suggested. Many activities were put on hold due to many reasons (eg, clubbing, Chilling waterfall, skytrex extreme).

But nevertheless, I wouldn't have changed anything about the four years I had in UPM.

I began a journey on the last leg of my studying life, who would have known I would make such good friends and had so much fun. People say the time in uni would be the best time of your life; I am inclined to believe so.

Perhaps we all know that this will be the last leg of our study lives before we move forward to the working working that we cherish our uni life more than other studying phases.

This is Jake. My gym buddy. I think we were close because of the similarities in our personalities. One of the most creative guy I've met, but applied to the wrong things most of the time. Imma miss our workout together. Thanks for letting us game on your lappie. Haha!

Chris and Susan. One weird couple who never showed much affection in front of us. I wonder if they do have any intimacy when alone. Occasionally they would post sweet messages for each other on Instagram, which I think is very weird to hear Chris write those kinda things. But I am still rooting for you guys, the only PMP couple of our batch. You guys are the luckiest 'cause you get to keep a piece of PMP with you after graduating. Wish to see you guys again after many years.

LaiYee! I feel like I am closest to her among all PMP. We used to joke that we are relatives as we share the same name and is of Hakka descent from Johor. Perhaps that's why we are close to each other. It's a shame we couldn't always take the same classes during semesters and as Susan mixed with Chris more you became closer to ShuXian and ChuiTeng, further dividing the gap between EKIN and ChekWongShuTeng.

This is ShuXian. I remember when I first met her she had a lot of white hair. But it disappeared as the time went by. She reminds me of the old generation folks who speaks older Chinese. We should have drawn more often together and chased our drawing dreams. Hope you can live your life the way you want, now that you are working now.

Dear ChuiTeng. Hope you don't blur liao and don't get bullied when you working ya. You have the right to choose what you want. Even though we have graduated, you can still find me for counseling. All the best in chasing your personal goals, I know you have many goals to achieve about improving yourself. You have made a huge leap by opening your mind and doing things you fear. One last advice for you, be firm and decisive, once you've made the decision, say "Yes." and that's it. Stand firm on what you want and what you decide.

Mr. Chek, my 1st year roommate. Wei friend, where are you lately? Sorry I couldn't keep my promise of playing chess with you since 1st semester. But I know I won't win you anyway. Haha! I will miss your cold jokes and weird antics. Make your girl happy, she's a good one.

Caroline~. The most non-ladylike girl I have seen so far but also the most outgoing girl I know. In her own words "if a guy loves me he will love my everything". This line has stuck with me since the 1st semester. It was fun when you wanna invite her to any activities as she will mostly join without hesitation. Without her, my videos would be boring as hell as the other PMP members are so camera shy.

This is PohYee! She has talent in martial arts I can tell you that, and a great interest in it too. A very moderate and down-to-earth kinda girl. Too bad I didn't have time to chat much with her. Haha! Sorry~

This is Ms. AnnGie. With the name of my mother and the face of my sister, but she isn't like either of them. The most lastly impression is that she uses big plastic clips to clip her hair (the type you use to seal a plastic bag or your bread). Unfortunately she never join many of our PMP activities. I wonder what would it be like if she came along. But then again she wasn't that close to all of us.

ChaiYoke. The girl with the radical thought. Someone to balance out the group think effects among PMP. Hmm, perhaps I should have been closer to you and get to know you more.

Nowadays it's just not that fun anymore. The days in the working office is mundane and repetitive. When coworkers talk to you you have to decipher the political implications and threat to your work position.

It's only 3 months since I ended my uni life, and I miss it so much.

"Memories are nice, but that's just what they are."

-Rikku, Final Fantasy X

I will keep the memories, all the good and the bad, the days of laughter and hardships, dearly in my heart, together with all my nakamas.

“一起欢笑一起流泪的日子，将这几年点缀成美丽的画面”

-Adrian 陈凯旋, <熬夜>

From now on marks a new chapter in our lives, but I will forever cherish the time we had together. Words can't describe how much I treasure those memories. Bye uni life, bye PMP, we had such a good time together.

"We knew this day would come, we knew it all along. How did it come so fast?"

-Daylight, Maroon 5

I put a lot of efforts in doing our videos, from editing and selecting songs, if you listen well, especially on Day 4 of our Sabah trip, I picked songs that mainly reflect our feelings. I truly hoped that you all liked it.

Here is one for the memories and the tears (gosh I miss you guys so much):

And this one is my particular favourite! A montage of all PMP trips, I tried to match to the beat of the music: (click to watch!)

More videos on my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/RegenWLC

Even if I could continue to study in UPM again, it just wouldn't be the same without you guys anymore. Its sad things never last, but it is exactly that that makes us cherish our experiences even more!