Smart robots, lightsabers, spaceships that fly faster than light, weapons that destroy the whole planet… are technologies that are very familiar to fans of the “Star Wars” series.
In the Star Wars universe, robots like R2-D2, C-3PO and BB-8 are very intelligent, the lightsaber is the symbolic weapon of the Jedi knights. And the Galactic Empire as well as the fascist organization The First Order use massive systems like the Death Star and Starkiller Base to destroy the opponent’s planet.
Can such technologies exist in real life? On CNN, Fermilab’s physicist Don Lincoln, author of a book on the Higgs particle, answered fans’ questions.
Robot BB-8 is fun and full of personality.
Robots are the closest technology to real life in the Star Wars universe. In Star Wars, however, robots like C-3PO, R2-D2, and BB-8 are more than mere robots, with distinct personalities and impressive abilities.
In life, current robotic technology is mainly applied in industrial production. International engineers have created a number of humanoid robots that can mimic human movements. And international science is making great advances in artificial intelligence.
Therefore, it is likely that in the distant future, man-made robots will be as impressive as the robots in Star Wars.
The lightsaber duels are a special attraction of Star Wars.
The lightsaber is the iconic weapon of the Star Wars franchise. The Jedi Knights use them to protect justice and justice in the galaxy. It was also the favored weapon of the wicked Sith lords, who used the Force of Darkness to sow terror.
Lincoln said a lightsaber needs to contain at least 20 megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to the amount of electricity serving about 14,000 homes in the US. That huge amount of energy is stored in a tiny device that fits in a person’s hand.
Not even nuclear power can meet those requirements. In addition, the tremendous heat emanating from this device could burn a Jedi knight’s hand. The lightsaber is really “cool” , but it’s unthinkable.
Star Wars spaceships fly faster than light.
In Star Wars, spaceships equipped with “hyper drives” easily fly to every planet in the galaxy. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader’s Galactic Empire controls the galaxy. Take the Milky Way as an example. It is 100,000 light-years in diameter. That is, light at 300,000 km/s takes 100,000 years to travel through the Milky Way.
As such, spacecraft must fly at a speed much faster than light to be able to travel to planets in a short period of time. But according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, a non-zero rest mass particle needs an infinite source of energy to reach the speed of light.
This is simply not possible. There won’t be a hyper drive device in existence. Even if you live as long as Yoda, you can’t wait for the day when technology that allows faster-than-light travel becomes a reality.
The Death Star space station has the power to destroy the entire planet .
In the first 3 episodes of Star Wars, the Galactic Empire produced the Death Star space station (Death Star) capable of firing lasers to destroy an entire planet. In The Force Awakens, The First Order builds a Starkiller Base on one planet, capable of firing lasers to destroy several planets at once.
To destroy an Earth-sized planet, the Death Star must gather as much energy as the sun emits within a week. Starkiller Base is even more powerful, draining the energy of an entire star (emitting over billions of years).
The Death Star and Starkiller Base must store those enormous energies in their hearts. “It’s absolutely crazy,” emphasized the physicist Lincoln. Lehigh University experts once estimated the cost to build a Death Star space station up to 852,000,000,000,000,000,000 USD, 13,000 times higher than global GDP.
However, fans don’t enjoy Star Wars to be educated in science and technology. “Don’t worry about science, just enjoy. May the Force bless you,” the physicist Lincoln wrote humorously.