The science and controversy behind Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’
Global News
What is a three-body problem? Why are some in China angry at the Netflix series? Global News spoke to experts to find out what is fact and what is science fiction.
Netflix’s 3 Body Problem has sparked fascination and controversy.
Based on the 2008 novel by Liu Cixin and brought to the small screen by Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, the series tells the story of an impending alien invasion of Earth.
The show portrays some science that left some viewers with questions and some historical events that have upset some people in China.
Global News spoke to experts to separate fact from fiction and history from hysteria.
A three-body problem refers to three astronomical bodies, like planets or suns, and how each object’s gravity impacts the other’s orbits.
But it’s easiest to understand if we start with a two-body problem.
“The closer objects are, the stronger is the gravitational pull,” York University professor emeritus of physics and astronomy Paul Delaney said.
The sun is millions of times larger than the Earth, according to NASA, and so its gravity holds our planet in orbit around it.