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Physics of Star Wars

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blog-0904411001368811827.pngWe all know Star Wars right? A common theme is battles in space with big ships blasting at each other. However, if the movies were based on actual science, you wouldnt hear anything. There's always big booms and laser sound effects, but if you think about it, sound cannot travel through space. Sound is a longitudinal wave, and can be looked at as such:

::: : : ::: : : ::::

Longitudinal waves need a medium to travel through, and since space is nothing more than a vacuum, there is no medium, and therefore no sound could travel. Then Star Wars would be really boring, huh? Good thing George Lucas neglected his physics class. You should't though!

3 Comments

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sara329

Members

I love star wars! I never thought about the battles in space that way

rtsully829

Members

But its cooler if you hear sounds

Michio Kaku also does a nice exploration of the physics of a light saber in his "

" series.  Could make a great follow-up blog post!
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