Star Wars vs Science: May The Fourth Be With You!

pew pew pew (source)

Yes, it’s May the 4^th, and we mild-mannered nerds here at UseYourBrain! are just as excited as you are for all the geekiness that comes with this most hallowed of nerd holidays, so we thought we would celebrate by exploring a few burning (pun!) questions most often posed by the Star Wars universe:

Could Lightsabers be Real?

luke lightsaber — Fact: it is physically impossible to look at a light saber without making the “nyoom nyoom” noises (source)

Oh, oh buddy. If only. The basic premise of a lightsaber is simple: it’s a beam of energy that is used to cut up bad guys and, occasionally inanimate objects that get in the way of the plot. We already have lasers that can be used for cutting stuff, which is kind of like that, but the ones that can be used for slicing through baddies and obstinate doors require massive amounts of energy – far more than could be supplied by a few batteries tucked into the hilt of our coveted light swords. Also, lasers don’t form neat 3-foot long sword blades; they act like you would expect a beam of light* to: they go on in a straight line forever until they run into something – hardly a feature you’d want in your fancy energy sword.

Another popular idea for real-life lightsabers is using plasma. Plasma, the fourth state of matter, is made up by high-energy charged particles; examples of this strange substance can be seen in things like fluorescent lamps, lightning, and a type of welding equipment called “plasma torches.” Plasma torches have been around for decades, and use massive amounts of electricity to charge and superheat gas, which is then focused and fired through a nozzle at the piece of metal you want to cut or weld. Using a high-energy blade to cut through metal? Sounds like we’re in lightsaber territory. Unfortunately, the equipment required to run plasma torches is bulky and energy-intensive, not to mention the thick goggles and bulky protective clothing you need to wear so that you don’t blind and burn yourself while using it. So, sorry to say, plasma cutters aren’t likely to stand in for lightsabers any time soon.

plasma cutter — “Yeah, it’s cool, but can you do a flip while you use it? BECAUSE LUKE SKYWALKER CAN” (source)

*Lasers aren’t just beams of light, it’s a bit more complicated but not worrying about here.

Is light speed travel possible?

light speed travel han and chewy — Ever hit a bug going light speed? Those things will ruin your paint job. (source)

Short answer: no. Longer answer: no, but we may not need it to be! One of the most exciting parts of the Star Wars universe is the prospect of visiting distant planets and solar systems far, far away, and in to do this, denizens of the Star Wars mythos make use of “hyperdrives” to travel at the speed of light and zip from world to world. Unfortunately, there are a few problems with this solution in our observable universe: firstly, even traveling at light speed, the distances in space are so incredibly huge, it would take you years to travel from solar system to solar system. The nearest star to our solar system, Alpha Centauri, is over 4 lightyears away, meaning that even if you were to travel at light speed constantly, it would take you more than 4 years to reach that star. The next closest star after that, Barnard’s Star, is a red dwarf star roughly 6 lightyears away. Space is big, folks.

milky way galaxy — What’s a few hundred thousand light years among friends? (source)

The second problem with light speed travel is the energy cost (we keep coming back to energy, huh?). Moving mass costs energy. This is no more apparent than when your alarm goes off in the morning, and you have to find the energy to move your mass out of bed. Moving mass quickly requires a lot of energy and the faster you want to move something, the more energy you need to move it. Logical! Well, based on Einstein’s equations describing the relationship between mass, light, and energy, moving something at the speed of light requires an infinite amount of energy, so unless we find a source of infinite energy, light speed travel is a no-go.

HOWEVER. Relativistic physics (a branch of physics developed by Einstein) has some pretty kooky features that some scientists suggest could lead to faster-than-light travel if we can manage some clever engineering. You may have heard of the “warp drive” from the Star Trek universe? Well, at least one reputable scientist, Miguel Alcubierre, has done the math and proposed that you can obey the rules of physics and travel faster than the speed of light by simply warping the space in front of and behind your spacecraft. How, exactly one might do that? No one knows… yet!

Could the Death Star be real?

Presumably, people asking this question are interested in the planet-destroying Death Star laser weapon, not the big round spaceship. I think that big round spaceships are awesome, but giant super lasers are much more so. Why would you want to destroy a planet? Science has no answer for such a question. Who knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men? Is it possible to blow up a planet with a laser? Ah, now that is a question science can answer!

We here at UseYourBrain! firmly support the practice of Taking Very Silly Things Very Seriously and are pleased to present the findings of three students at the University of Leicester who bothered to calculate the amount of energy (why is it always energy?) needed to blow up a planet:

physics equation calculating death star laser — See kids? Science is fun and also useful (source)

2 x 10³² Joules is a lot of energy. For comparison, our sun produces about 3.8 x 10²⁶ Joules per second (or Watts) therefore, you’d have to somehow capture all the energy produced by the sun for six days and fire it out in a single second if you wanted to blow up the Earth. Not only is this an impractical use for such a large amount of energy, it’s also short-sighted: there are several new Star Wars films on the way and you won’t get to see them if you blow up the Earth.