The film is set in Coalwood, West Virginia in the year 1957. The coal mine is the town's largest employer and almost every man living in the town works in the mines. John Hick, the mine superintendent, loves his job and hopes that his boys, Jim and Homer, will one day join him in his mine (“Plot”). When it appears that Jim will receive a football scholarship to attend college, this leaves Homer to fulfill his father's dream, although his mother, Elsie, hopes for more for her son. In October, news of the Soviet Union's rocket launch of Sputnik 1 reaches Coalwood (“Plot”). As the townspeople gather outside the night of the broadcast, they see the satellite orbit across the sky. Filled with awe and a belief that this may be his chance out of Coalwood, …show more content…
Overnight, someone steals his de Laval nozzle, as well as his autographed picture of Wernher von Braun (“Plot”). Homer makes an urgent phone call home for help. Elsie implores John to end the ongoing strike so that Mr. Bolden can use the mine's machine shop to build a replacement nozzle (“Plot”). John initially refuses but relents when Elsie, fed up with his lack of support for their son, threatens that she will have to leave him. With the support of the town, Homer wins the top prize and is besieged with scholarship offers from colleges (“Plot”). He is also congratulated by his inspiration Dr. Von Braun, but in the confusion does not realize the engineer's identity until after he is …show more content…
The top one of course is rocket science. Physical changes is referred to as well as the scientific method that use all of our lives applying and testing science. The way Homer in this movie uses science is by using physics to prove many of different things to do with the rocket. For an example that the fire did not start because of his rocket he launched, which he proved through physics. The other example is when Quentin discusses how the DeLaval nozzle works within the rocket’s engine. The action is the burning and expansion of the gas and its movement out of the nozzle at high speeds and the opposite reaction is the propelling of the rocket (“Newtons Laws”). The way this movie portrays fake physics is how their first rocket ends up shooting towards the mines. There is no way boys of that age could build a homemade rocket with that high of velocity and acquiring the knowledge of rockets (“Newtons Laws”). Another example of fake physics is when Homer places the rocket on a fence. When it launches it throws the boys backward. In real life, a rocket being that small would not cause the boys to go backwards like the way they did (“Newtons Laws”). The science used in this movie is correct and incorrect at points. Homer and his friends show true physics by how the rockets shoots up and the engineering behind it. Other times there is more so dramatic scenes being a movie. So when the boys go flying backwards from the