Can Electricity Stop Working Like In The Show Revolution?

For those looking for a quick answer to the question above: NO, unless you can explain the following.

While I am probably going to actually like this show alot because of the characters, I have a hard time just letting some things slide in this show that don’t make sense. Those of you that don’t know, Revolution is a new TV Series on NBC. It is based upon the idea that electricity one day, stopped working. That’s right. The electricity just turned off. Not just the electricity to your house, but anything that runs on power.

I know what your asking. So wait, the power went out and batteries stopped working and turbines and anything like it? Lets go back to chemistry and remind ourselves how batteries work. It is a chemical reaction with an anion and a cation. So chemical reactions don’t work anymore?

What about turbines? Magnets don’t work anymore? Current just doesn’t flow? Electrons just don’t exist? I thought they would attempt to explain these questions in the first episode, but they didn’t.

Now I know I am going to spend the next 4 years watching endless seasons of this show waiting for these questions to be answered just to be disappointed. Sound familiar? (LOST). At least LOST tried to sell its ideas off of magical ideas that would later be explained. Revolution takes the fictional medieval approach.  So lets just accept the no electricity thing. So why did the planes start dropping and hurling towards the ground? If they did lose power wouldn’t they just continue in a straight line slowly gliding towards the ground rather than dropping like a firefly?Anybody else notice the number of candles in the bar? You think after 10 years or so of using candles they would run out like in the first week and it would be such a high commodity. A bar that size would have no way bringing in economically what it would be spending by keeping all those candles lit. Or what is up with everyone having swords and crossbows? Swords are hard to make and would be a rare item. Not to mention, how many people do you know own crossbows? Why does everyone look like they just got out of the shower? A town the size of a neighborhood would be putting all their resources into finding food rather than teaching their kids education.

The list goes on and on. Well I’m excited to watch it. Why? Because I’m a sucker for tv shows that give me false hope.  Let me know what you think of the show, or if you found other things that just make no sense in the comments.

5 comments on “Can Electricity Stop Working Like In The Show Revolution?

  1. Steam. Has anybody heard of steam? Still trying to figure out how we go from no electricity to living in the 1500s versus the late 1800s. Did everyone forget how to make steam work? Also, are there no longer any thunderstorms in this world without electricity.

    1. Looks like they do have steam powered devices (train) with the latest episode. Even if they cannot channel that steam into current in a wire, there is alot of mechanical possibilities.

  2. Not to mention cars don’t really need electricity to run, just to start them. The first cars were started by hand. New cars wouldn’t run no matter what but in 15 years no one would think to build old ones?

  3. What about nerves, without electrical impulses our hearts would all stop. All animals would die in a minute or two. Eventually plants would run out of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and die. Leaving this planet an arid barren desert. I’ve checked my facts on this subject and don’t see anyway around this. Let’s see what explanations they give to this argument, I’m sure they’ll be interesting.

    By, a random chemistry student.

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