The Star Wars Series is a saga of films loved by just about every person in the United States. From middle-aged Sci-Fi nerds to middle school jocks, you’d be hard pressed to find somebody that “just didn’t get the hype.” The first Star Wars film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, was released in 1977 and the last film of the series (so far), Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, was released in 2005. Though the original movie was a pop culture phenomenon and has changed film forever, the physical fallacies are striking. Despite predicting several astronomical events before their scientific discovery, for example, the likelihood of a planet to orbit around binary stars, the many delusions cannot be ignored. This paper will explore these
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Hyperspace (or darkspace) was described as a sort of alternate state of existence in which starships were able to achieve speeds greater than the speed of light. It was described as an alternate mode of physical existence or an extra dimension of space. Special relativity does not forbid the existence of particles (which have infinite energy) that are able to travel greater than the speed of light at all time, but the ability of a planet sized space ship to do the same (even given any foreseeable technology¬) is highly unlikely based on all but one relevant modern theory. One hypothesis, that “unusually distorted regions of space-time might permit matter to reach distant locations in less time than light could in normal or undistorted space-time” supports such an idea. However, it is still believed that matter is, in fact, required to travel subluminally (or below the threshold of sensation) with respect to the locally distorted space-time region, which may mean that faster-than-light travel is not excluded by general relativity (Nygren, pg …show more content…
Twins Luke and Leia travel at speeds greater than the speed of light throughout the films and remain the same age throughout. Though according to Einstein’s twin paradox, their ages differ by quite a bit. Let’s discuss the earliest example of the young twins being separated. Soon after their birth, Luke and Leia are taken to the planet Tatooine and their guardians decide to separate them. While Luke remains on the planet Tatooine, Leia is taken to the planet Alderaan. Alderaan is at rest relative to Tatooine and is approximately 10 light years away. As discussed earlier in this essay, it is not plausible that the starship carrying Leia would move at speeds greater than the speed of light, so let’s assume that infant Leia travels at a speed of 99.5% the speed of light from Tatooine to Alderaan. At the moment the starship that is carrying infant Leia goes into hyperspace, it has reached its cruising speed and is passing over Tatooine. Let’s assume that at this exact moment, all clocks on Tatooine, Alderaan, and the starship set to 0 (which is also the approximate age of the infant twins)
Hyperspace (or darkspace) was described as a sort of alternate state of existence in which starships were able to achieve speeds greater than the speed of light. It was described as an alternate mode of physical existence or an extra dimension of space. Special relativity does not forbid the existence of particles (which have infinite energy) that are able to travel greater than the speed of light at all time, but the ability of a planet sized space ship to do the same (even given any foreseeable technology¬) is highly unlikely based on all but one relevant modern theory. One hypothesis, that “unusually distorted regions of space-time might permit matter to reach distant locations in less time than light could in normal or undistorted space-time” supports such an idea. However, it is still believed that matter is, in fact, required to travel subluminally (or below the threshold of sensation) with respect to the locally distorted space-time region, which may mean that faster-than-light travel is not excluded by general relativity (Nygren, pg …show more content…
Twins Luke and Leia travel at speeds greater than the speed of light throughout the films and remain the same age throughout. Though according to Einstein’s twin paradox, their ages differ by quite a bit. Let’s discuss the earliest example of the young twins being separated. Soon after their birth, Luke and Leia are taken to the planet Tatooine and their guardians decide to separate them. While Luke remains on the planet Tatooine, Leia is taken to the planet Alderaan. Alderaan is at rest relative to Tatooine and is approximately 10 light years away. As discussed earlier in this essay, it is not plausible that the starship carrying Leia would move at speeds greater than the speed of light, so let’s assume that infant Leia travels at a speed of 99.5% the speed of light from Tatooine to Alderaan. At the moment the starship that is carrying infant Leia goes into hyperspace, it has reached its cruising speed and is passing over Tatooine. Let’s assume that at this exact moment, all clocks on Tatooine, Alderaan, and the starship set to 0 (which is also the approximate age of the infant twins)