Force lightning is something that only experienced dark force users are even capable of. It’s also important to note that this type of thing is technically possible. Moreover, it’s one of the most believable things in the Star Wars universe. We have electricity in our body but it’s not enough for us to be shocking people all day. Rather, the force lightning concept uses something called “breakdown voltage.” This is normally connected to insulation, and the air itself is a great insulator. But when stressed, high voltages will cause air to break down and become partially conductive.
[Image via Lucasfilm]In fact, you’ve likely experienced it. This happens when you have a static shock. The breakdown voltage of air is 3000 volts per millimeter. A static shock can cause 15,000 to 30,000 volts of electricity. This is why the small shock hurts us. However, imagine this on a larger scale. That brings us to what force users will do to send the lightning over to another person, an electron avalanche. This is when free electrons are subjected to acceleration by an electronic field that has them collide with other atoms. If force users can manipulate gravity already, pushing an electron avalanche into someone would be simple.
Could Space Battles Like Those In Star Wars Ever Happen?
This is usually the hardest one for most people to accept. However, while we are currently in the process of developing ships that can enter space and shoot weapons to protect us, those do not exist right now. While we all know space is silent and would not cause any noise regardless of what blows up, the other stuff from the Star Wars universe is not exactly crazy. They use lasers or protons within their main weapons.
[Image via StarWars.com]In reality, this would be the best stuff to use. Light can and could still move within space without being too broken down. A bullet, regardless of how good the gun is, would do nothing. Gravity is needed for it to be effective but lasers are direct-energy and use light, allowing them to travel. While the overall science is still not completely there when it comes to making laser weapons in space battles, this is likely to happen. Yet it is unlikely we’ll see it for space war. Rather, we’ll probably use them for mining and even destroying potential asteroids or comets that could hit our planet.
We’re told at the beginning of the Star Wars movie that the activities and results of the original trilogy happened “a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.” While it is unknown exactly where everything happened, we do know that the Death Star blew up the planet Alderaan. This type of thing was so big for the universe that Obi-Wan Kenobi felt a disturbance in the force, meaning it would have been seen by people close by. Yet if it happened in real life, we might be able to see it too. If we factored it out, Alderaan could have exploded roughly 160,000 years ago.
[Image via Wookieepedia – Fandom]If that is the case, we could see it blow up in our sky with the naked eye or with the Hubble Space Telescope if we were alive then. That’s all depending on how far away the planet is from us. However, the events of the original film happened 44 years ago as of this writing. That said, let’s say Alderaan was 44 lightyears away from us. A light-year measures the distance of light in a given year, meaning we see planets lightyears away in their past. If we put our telescopes on Alderaan this year, we could see it explode due to its light-year distance equaling out to finally show us the past explosion.
