Science of Star Wars
From lightsabers to TIE fighters, here are 5 ways Star Wars has been over-analyzed by science
1. Lightsabers
There is not a single Star Wars fan who wouldn’t want a lightsaber. Unfortunately even though scientists have been searching for a way to make a lightsaber feasible, there is not a good theory that supports how a lightsaber would work in theory. Too much power would bee needed, to be exact, UNLIMITED POWAH.
2. Hoverbikes
How do you take a car and make it sci-fi? get rid of the wheels. From Luke’s X-34 landspeeder to the Trade Federation tanks things that over are all over the Star Wars universe. Is this possible scientifically? Short answer: maybe. If you don’t mind 4 obnoxiously loud helicopter blades spinning close to your legs, this new Russian quadcopter bike could give you the rush of flying through an Endorian forest.
Unlike lightsabers however, hover vehicles have a lot of applicable uses. For instance, the Sqorpion 3 (from the video) is already planned to be used by the Dubai police department to help police navigate the city, by allowing them to fly over traffic, people, and theoretically buildings. So far, we’ve had several great applications for drones, so slap a seat on it, and the applications only grow.
3. TIE Fighters
Funny enough, the humble TIE is one of the few objects from the Star Wars universe that has a scientific explanation right in the name. TIE is actually an abbreviation for ‘Twin ion engine’ which is a real thing. In fact, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, came equipped with an ion engine. Currently, that tiny space prob is the farthest any man-made physical object from Earth. The ion engine does work better for a short ranged fighter, since it takes 30 years to leave a system.
4.Intergalactic communication
I’m sorry but I have to rant a little here. Using a ship’s comlink in hyperdrive transmitting to a planet light-years away without any latency is so stupid. First: any sort of signal, weather they use a highly advanced laser point to point, or old fasioned radio waves, they all move at or below the speed of light or C for short. For reference for how slow interstellar communication actualy is, not a single radio wave emitted from Earth has ever touched another star system. Earth has been emitting radio waves now for just over 100 years, and we can’t even reach the next closest system by conventional means. The Star Wars Galaxy is roughly the same size as the Milky Way, roughly 90,000 light years across. So getting a signal from Tatooine to Corasaunt, a distance of at least 50,000 light years, without 50,000 year latency between messages is a complete joke. If it is possible for lightspeed to exist, I suppose it could be argued FTL communications are also possible in the Star Wars universe, but very little in the way of science to back it up.
5. Death Star propulsion
The Death Star has been the subject of many discussions relating Star Wars to science, and for good reason. It’s massive, intense, and unfathomable. Much research has gone into the cost, weight, and how a thing of that size would function and power itself, however, not many have looked into how the damn thing moves. It’s very clear that the Death Star has FTL capabilities, as it moves from Alderann to Yavin, a distance of over 3,000 LY in a matter of days. So how theoretically is that possible? I guess you’ll just have to wait until Friday when I write more on the subject. Spoiler: there are some astronomically large numbers.
