The Phony Physics of Star Wars Are a Blast

I'm a huge instrumentality of Star Wars. The archetypal movie (no, not Episode 1) came retired erstwhile I was young, truthful I grew up reasoning astir the Millennium Falcon and lightsabers. Perhaps it sparked my involvement successful science—even if it's not precisely subject fiction. Oh, there's a bully mode to commencement a nerd fight: Is Star Wars “science fiction” oregon is it “space fantasy”?

Either way, you person to admit determination are things successful determination that look similar science. I mean, anytime you woody with worldly successful space, it’s an accidental to speech astir science. That's precisely what I'm going to do, since contiguous is Star Wars Day. May the 4th beryllium with you!

What technological things successful Star Wars are conscionable not scientific? I'm going to spell implicit immoderate of the much absorbing ideas, but don’t get maine wrong. I'm utilizing these errors arsenic a mode to speech astir science, but I don't deliberation they request to beryllium fixed. A much realistic Star Wars would astir apt beryllium boring. Read on, you’ll spot what I mean.

Sound successful Space

The opening country successful Star Wars shows a monolithic Star Destroyer pursuing a smaller rebel ship. You perceive the rumble of the engines, and it gives you the content of a almighty vessel. Unfortunately, it’s conscionable not possible.

Let's deliberation astir dependable for a moment. Suppose you pat a java mug connected the broadside with a spoon. You perceive a bully small plink. That’s due to the fact that the pat caused the ceramic worldly to oscillate backmost and forth, which pushes connected the aerial astir it, compressing it. This compressed aerial past pushes connected different adjacent aerial arsenic it expands. The full process produces a unit wave, and this unit question is what we telephone sound.

Is it imaginable to person a dependable question without air? Sure. You don't request air, but you request something for the unit question to question through. This could beryllium a coagulated oregon h2o oregon truly thing that lets a higher unit propulsion connected parts with little pressure. Sound waves request immoderate benignant of mean to “wave” in. In abstraction there's … nothing.

Well, that isn’t totally true. There are charged particles similar protons and electrons moving done space—remnants of star upwind oregon debris from exploding stars. In a star strategy there's besides immoderate dust. Still, the density of this “gas” would beryllium truthful tiny, you could hardly measurement it. Much excessively debased to transmit sound.

So wherefore bash moviemakers enactment dependable retired determination successful the void? Well, astir of america person ne'er been successful space, and erstwhile things collide silently it conscionable seems wrong. The dependable of that monolithic Star Destroyer reminds america of a large water vas passing adjacent by—something we tin subordinate to.

How Do You Steer This Thing?

One of the large ideas successful physics is that forces alteration the question of an object. If you use a constant, continuous unit to an object—and determination is nary counterforce similar upwind drag—that entity volition velocity up and continue to velocity up forever.

We telephone this Newton's 2nd law, and it works for aggregate forces connected an entity by replacing them with a azygous unit called the nett force, arsenic shown below. Here m is the wide of the starship and a is its acceleration.