Space and Physics
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"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" may be universally adored by science-lovers and sci-fi fans, but this doesn’t mean that the science in the movie is actually correct.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Neil deGrasse Tyson, famed astrophysicist and host of "StarTalk" on the National Geographic Channel, has admitted he’d rather be a "Trekkie." He told Rolling Stone, "There's a promise of actual science going on in 'Star Trek' – but not so much in 'Star Wars,'" although he conceded, "I applaud the fact that it has people thinking about space."
In fact, Tyson seems to have been rather enjoying pointing out the flaws in the science of the global blockbuster on Twitter. For instance, he pointed out that the droid BB-8 (the new R2-D2, but possibly even cuter), which is a smooth, rolling spherical ball, would have struggled moving around the sandy terrain of the planet it finds itself on.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, BB-8, a smooth rolling metal spherical ball, would have skidded uncontrollably on sand.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
He also found frustration with the repeated use of the term ‘parsecs’ to show off the Millennium Falcon’s speed – as in, it can "complete the Kessler Run in under 12 parsecs." It turns out that a parsec is not actually a unit of measuring time, but rather an obscure measurement of distance equal to 3.26 light-years.
Unashamed of inanity, #TheForceAwakens repeats the Millennium Falcon boast of completing the Kessel Run in "under 12 parsecs"
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
( A Parsec is an obscure unit of distance in Astrophysics, equal to 3.26 Light Years. Neither has anything to do with time. )
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
Since we don’t want to give away any more spoilers, if you haven’t seen "The Force Awakens" yet, go right now and then, if you really deem it necessary, see how many scientific impossibilities you can find.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, if you were to suck all of a star’s energy into your planet, your planet would vaporize.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens the TIE fighters made exactly the same sound in the vacuum of space as in planetary atmospheres
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
Main image: Anime Nut/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
[H/T: NBC News]
