While most Star Wars fans went to The Force Awakens to enjoy a fun, action packed film, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson watched with a critical eye.
Like any good scientist, Tyson poked holes and asked questions about the science presented in The Force Awakens. He took to Twitter to share his thoughts of some of the scientific flaws with The Force Awakens.
In @StarWars#TheForceAwakens, BB-8, a smooth rolling metal spherical ball, would have skidded uncontrollably on sand.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
Okay, this one is completely valid. But there are tons of alien races in Star Wars, who knows what technology they have that we don’t. The same could be said of the technology used on the Starkiller Base to contain the energy of a star.
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
This is definitely a mistake, but not one most fans are likely to catch. Audiences might find the lack of sound effects strange, even though no sound travels in a vacuum.
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
While correct that a parsec is a measure of distance and not time, had Mr. Tyson done his research he would understand why this is not incorrect. The explanation most widely accepted by Star Wars fans is simply that the Kessel Run is a smuggling route that passes near several black holes.
The run usually has to avoid these black holes and only daring pilots with powerful ships could fly close to the holes cutting down the distance of the run. You can learn more about the Kessel Run in Star Wars: The Essential Atlas.
Wired.comPerhaps Tyson forgot to take his own advice to not “think about or care about evaluating their science… just sit back and enjoy the storytelling.”
Want more? Check out THIS video to see a video of Tyson explaining the science of Star Wars.
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