The force, it’s an essential plot element of the star wars universe, but could it actually
be possible?
In Star Wars, we’ve seen characters do some pretty extraordinary things with the force.
Everything from lifting aircraft to manipulating weak minds, and all the way up to stopping
blaster shots in mid air.
It seems that over the years the power of the force has grown stronger (especially in
Episode VII…), but the basics still remain.
To try and explain “the force” it’s probably a good idea to know what a force
is.
From what we can tell, there are four fundamental forces and possibly four force-carrying particles.
The first is the strong force.
As it’s name suggests, this force is the strongest of the four fundamental forces and
is what binds quarks together to form protons and neutrons.
Correspondingly the weak force is what changes protons into neutrons and neutrons into protons.
Although their strength is many times greater than that of gravity, their influence can
only be felt at the atomic and subatomic levels, which goes completely against what is seen
in the movies.
Not really what we’re looking for if we need to strangle someone through a computer
monitor...
The next two, electromagnetic force and gravitational forces are the only two forces that have attributes
that are consistent with the movies.
The electromagnetic force is what’s responsible for the interactions between positive protons
and negative electrons which in turn results in some other pretty interesting things.
Electromagnetic force is communicated through photons, meaning that it travels at the speed
of light, and has influence over infinite distances.
The electromagnetic force is also responsible for magnetism and electricity.
Strong enough magnets have been shown to allow objects to levitate, even ones that aren’t
traditionally considered magnetic, such as a grasshopper or some flowers.
Now, the previous three forces all have force-carrying particles so it’s believed gravity should
too…
right?
The only problem, the graviton is merely a theoretical particle that we not only haven’t
been able to observe but also don’t even know if it even exists.
In fact, it isn’t even incorporated into the Standard Model.
Gravity waves are another theoretical aspect of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity
and is the last aspect that has yet to be observed.
With a waveform, you have a lot more control over when this force is applied and at what
strength.
Imagine producing a gravity wave that contracts space between you and an object.
It may appear to be pulled towards you.
The problem is, symmetrical objects do not produce gravity waves and even unbalanced
orbiting black holes and neutron stars produces such small gravitational waves that if we
observed them from earth they would only contract space about one millionth the width of a proton.
So back to square one.
There clearly isn’t a force known to man in the universe that posses the properties
seen in the movies.
It’s time to engineer the shit out this but it’s going to require a combining electromagnetic
and gravitational forces, and passing into the world of the unknown.
It’s going to rely on some things that can’t really be proven, but that’s okay for now.
An electromagnet is made by coiling copper wire and running an electrical current through
it.
If a person is born with copper based blood, running through veins that are coiled around
their bones, they may have the properties required to produce a strong enough magnetic
field given they have special organs that can produce a strong enough current.
This might be a stretch, but it isn’t completely unrealistic either, since octopi have copper
based blood and electric eels have electricity producing organs.
Like going to the gym, this process may have the ability to grow and get stronger, just
like in the movies.
Not to mention, magnetic fields have been shown to affect the brain in unusual ways.
Not exactly mind reading, but it has led to some pretty odd phenomena such as altering
a person’s morality, inducing pain and fear, and in some cases causing death.
All of which we’ve seen happen in Star Wars.
Now, I’m not delusional, I do understand that even if this were the case and force-sensitive
people could produce a magnetic field it wouldn't be very strong, but it does prove that the
method can theoretically have some effect, even if
it is small.
Now to Darth Vader’s force choke.
Imagine if you could control the flow of gravitons.
If you made the matter around a subject’s neck more massive or have greater than normal
gravitational acceleration, this may cause the neck to pull together, closing off the
air way.
Graviton manipulation is not well understood, but it may also contribute to some of the
other gravity defying actions force-sensitive users display.
Though it does feel like cheating to use the unknown element of the how gravity works to
explain a fantasy movie, but whatever.
So we’ve covered Yoda’s ability to levitating an x-wing, Obi-wan’s mind manipulation,
and inadvertently the Emperor's electrifying hands.
But how strong would the force need to be?
In Star Wars Episode VII, Kylo Ren can stop a speeding plasma shot in mid air from a distance
of about 20 feet.
According the WIRED.COM, the ground based blaster rifles only fire at about 35 meters
per second, but realistically, it should fire at around 500 meters per second, so we’ll
go with that.
For the plasma bolt to be dangerous, it would have to be at least as massive as a 5.56 NATO
round.
Given that, Kylo Ren would have to induce a force of 3,280 Newtons requiring about 1,600
kW of power to stop it in mid air.
As a good comparison, take a look at Yoda from the original trilogy.
When he uses the force to lift an x-wing out of the swamp, how much force and power would
that require?
Luckily the guys over What If… have already crunched the numbers, showing that Yoda would
need around 19.2 kW of power to do the job.
Continuing where they left off however, it would require a force of almost 50,000 Newtons.
Here’s an interesting way to look at the force: Your father can likely not outrun you,
but he is probably a lot stronger than you.
The same may go with the force.
Finishing off, the guys over at What if also put together some calculations for how powerful
the emperor would be and it lines up pretty well with what Yoda can do, which makes sense.
Oddly though, Luke pales in comparison, producing only a fraction of what either Yoda or The
Emperor can do.
Now Star Wars is just a movie and the force doesn’t really exist and there are a lot
of other theories about how it could function.
There may be a fourth or fifth dimension that allows them bend space time, but like the
things in this video, they are all theories.