I am doing a paper that entails my knowledge of physics to prove errors in the movie Transformers. There is one scene in the movie where Shia (Sam, the hero) falls in Optimus Prime's hand, from around 20 stories high. Obviously Sam should ooze out of Prime's hand, but of course he doesn't. I was wondering if this error can be said to be a true error due to Newton's 1st and 2nd laws of motion. For the 1st law, Sam is stopped by an external force applied to him, otherwise he would keep falling. For the 2nd law, it proves why Prime is unharmed after the fall, and thus why Sam should be harmed and not unharmed like he actually is. Ok, so any information would be great. Thanks a billion!

You have me pretty puzzled.

I am not familiar with these characters and their abilities so I am having trouble visualizing what would happen.
Now the First Law says that your friend Sam will keep right on going at the same speed unless an external force acts on him. That force would have to come from Prime's hand.
Then the Second Law says that the force acting on Sam is equal to the rate of change of Sam's momentum. If Sam has mass Msam and was moving at speed V in meters per second when he hit Prime's hand and he stops in one meter then
Average force on Sam Force = Msam (V-0)/time to stop Sam
Now we can figure out the time to stop Sam. The average speed during the stop is (V-0)/2 or .5 V
the distance to stop is one meter
so the time to stop Sam is 1 meter/.5 V
or t = 2/V
so the average force on Sam is
Msam (V^2/2) Newtons if he stops in one meter
Now you can make a guess at Msam in Kg.
You can figure out V from the height he fell from at acceleration 9.8 m/s^2
height = (1/2)9.8 t^2 solve for time in air
then V = 9.8 t
The Third Law says the force on Prime will be equal and opposite to the force on Sam.

And now, you have me puzzled. Thanks anyways, I appreciate it!

@Alexis

Same here, VERY scientific 0-0

To analyze the scene you described from a physics perspective, we can use Newton's laws of motion. Let's break it down:

Newton's First Law of Motion, also known as the law of inertia, states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an external force. In the scene, Sam falls from a high building, so he is initially in motion due to the force of gravity pulling him downwards.

When Sam falls into Optimus Prime's hand, Prime must exert an external force on Sam to stop him from continuing to fall. This force counteracts the force of gravity and brings Sam to a stop. So according to Newton's first law, the fact that Sam is stopped by an external force is consistent with the first law, and not an error.

Newton's Second Law of Motion states that the force acting on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration. This law links force, mass, and acceleration together. In the movie scene, the force applied by Prime's hand to stop Sam's fall would be determined by Sam's mass and the rate at which he decelerates. If we assume that Sam's mass is very small compared to Optimus Prime's, then the force applied to Sam should be relatively large to bring him to a stop quickly.

However, there is a discrepancy in the scene because Sam does not seem to be harmed and should have experienced a significant deceleration when caught by Optimus Prime. This discrepancy suggests an error in the movie's portrayal of physics.

In conclusion, while the movie scene doesn't necessarily violate Newton's laws of motion by having Sam stopped by an external force, it does raise concerns about the lack of harm to Sam as a result of the sudden deceleration. This aspect can be seen as an error in terms of the physics involved.