Televisions and Internet pop-ups have been full of advertisements for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" for weeks. Ever since the latest addition to the popular series was announced, fans have been hoping for a film comparable to the original trilogy, and praying this wouldn't be a continuation of the widely disliked prequels. Theaters were filled for the opening night, and the movie has already grossed over $300 million, and received nothing but praise.
However, as in every sci-fi movie, there are some large gaps between reality and events of the film. In the galaxy in which "Star Wars" takes place, it is clear physics work differently than they do in the real world. Not to critique these iconic films, but the physics involved leaves a lot to the imagination.
Sound is understood by physicists to be a compression wave moving through a medium; air, for example. If there is no medium, there can be no sound. Outer space is practically a vacuum. Therefore, we should not hear the hum of the spaceships, the zaps of the laser guns, or the ensuing explosions.
On the subject of explosions, there are several that occur in space throughout the films. These explosions typically have remnants of the spaceship burning for several seconds. Fire requires oxygen to burn, and there is no oxygen in space. Realistically, these flames would die almost immediately, and the broken pieces would be scattered in all directions.
Another issue is that of the laser guns. They are constantly referred to as lasers by characters in the movies, but they cannot be lasers like those we know. Lasers are beams of coherent light, and would be invisible in a vacuum (like space). And yet we, the audience, are perfectly able to see the lasers as they are shot from ships. Furthermore, laser beams have been proven to move at the breakneck speed of 186,282 miles per second, so even if they were visible in space, they would be moving far too fast for us to see.
One of the biggest questions regarding the science of "Star Wars" seems to concern the Jedi weapon, the lightsaber. It's unclear exactly what a lightsaber is. They are similar to swords in the way people fight with them, and they can easily cut virtually any substance. They appear to be an intense laser beam, but that leaves the question of why they're only a yard or so in length. There would need to be a gravity field so powerful it causes a black hole to force a laser beam to turn back on itself. There are certainly no black holes in the hilts of lightsabers. Another theory is that the blades are made of plasma, but that would require some sort of mechanism to form the shape of the blade, and no such mechanism is present.
The science of "Star Wars" remains a mystery to many. Maybe physics in George Lucas' world really does work differently. More likely, the producers did not put huge amounts of time into ensuring everything was scientifically accurate, and instead focused on producing entertaining, well-made, good movies. Which, for four out of seven, was successful.
