Force Fields Post #3 (Locklin, Guba, Hamilton)

“The pale continuous beam impinged upon the force field that surrounded the mayor of Terminus and was sucked harmlessly to neutralization. Wienis pressed harder and laughed tearingly. Hardin still smiled and his force-field aura scarcely brightened as it absorbed the energies of the nuclear blast. From his corner Leopold covered his eyes and moaned” (Asimov 135).

The force field used by the mayor of Terminus (Hardin) was able to “absorb” the nuclear blast from the laser gun that was shot at him. This force field was held on his person, meaning that it would have to be small.

We have found force fields to be unfeasible in the near future for multiple reasons. Although force fields do exist today in nature, there is no known way to harness that type of energy on a small scale. The closest type of force field that we have today similar to what we see in the movies is a magnetic force field. The problem with magnetic force fields is that they can only deflect magnetic objects with either a positive or negative charge. If the object charging at a magnetic force field has no charge, the chance of a force field stopping that object is miniscule if not impossible; a bullet would not be stopped or even slowed down.

The types of force fields that we see in movies stop anything and everything from penetrating the boundaries of the field. The only type of force field that may perform this task (with the technology we have today) would consist of extremely powerful lasers. Of course, these lasers would be dangerous, and would most certainly cause even more damage than bullets can. Disregarding that, a wall of powerful lasers could, in fact, stop bullets. Problems include: not being able to see through it, causing more damage than the bullets themselves, and the energy needed to sustain the power of the lasers would be more than a person would be able to make portable, defeating the purpose. Thus, the idea is unrealistic.

Although we have found the idea of a force field that could stop bullets unfeasible, the British are rather close to finding a way to create a form of energy release force field with great power. British engineers are working on a force field that would be used to shield tanks from missiles and bullets. Supercapacitors built into the armor of British tanks will work by storing huge amounts of energy which would then be deployed when an incoming projectile is approaching. Not only is this force field effective, but it is able to recharge quickly. Whether you consider this to be a force field or not, it stops incoming projectiles using energy.

Despite the tank force field technology, we still deem the force field from the movies and Asimov’s Foundation as unfeasible.

Bibliography:

Institute of Physics. "New Spaceship Force Field Makes Mars Trip Possible." ScienceDaily, 5 Nov. 2008. Web. 15 Oct, 2013.

Shiga, David. “Force Field Fiction”. Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 3 October 2013. Web. 15 October. 2013.

Sci-Fi Real. “Are Force Fields Real”. Sci-Fi Real. Sci-Fi Real, 28 February, 2013. Web. 13 October, 2013.

Wangshen, Xie. “The Design of a Next Generation Force Field”. National Center for Biotechnology. U.S. National Library of Medicine, November, 2007. Web. 13 October, 2013.