Things You Thought You Knew – Zombie Apocalypse

What It Covers

Neil deGrasse Tyson explores three common misconceptions: asteroid belt density with 600,000-mile spacing between rocks, the analemma figure-eight pattern explaining solar time variations, and how zombie apocalypses represent civilization's fragility through infrastructure collapse.

Key Questions Answered

• •Asteroid Belt Navigation: The average distance between asteroids in the asteroid belt is 600,000 miles, making collision virtually impossible. All four Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft crossed without incident, requiring no maneuvering despite cinematic portrayals showing dense, dangerous fields requiring constant navigation.
• •Solar Time Correction: The analemma, a figure-eight pattern on sundials, corrects for the sun reaching its highest point up to 15 minutes early or late relative to clock noon. This occurs because Earth's elliptical orbit causes varying orbital speeds, requiring extra rotation to realign with the sun daily.
• •Civilization Dependency: A zombie apocalypse scenario reveals human vulnerability through infrastructure collapse. Unlike wildlife that knows how to find food, shelter, and survive independently, humans depend entirely on supply chains, utilities, and specialized workers maintaining civilization's complex systems for basic survival.
• •Pandemic Comparison: COVID-19 with only three percent fatality disrupted supply chains significantly. A virus with 20-50 percent mortality would cause complete societal breakdown, as truck drivers, water treatment operators, and power station workers become unavailable, rendering modern survival skills useless without functioning infrastructure.