A Bubble Shield
Since our previous post, we have come to the conclusion that a personal force field, in the sense of it being an individually powered invisible shield, is extremely unlikely to be created within our lifetimes, and probably even longer.
For a small scale, force fields seem highly unlikely anytime in the future. They are even less likely to work especially for things such as bullets because of their high speeds. Of course, a physical material could offer this protection, but in the book Foundation, the personal force fields are simply a chain worn about the waist. This chain creates a power field that protects the wearer. These are powered by a miniature nuclear generator, which is highly dangerous and at least for today, impossible. Almost every working nuclear reactor is at least the size of a bedroom, or even as big as a building. Most nuclear generators use steam and large turbines to create electricity.
A forcefield that can stop bullets or blasts would also use a lot of energy because it would have to at least match the energy of whatever it is stopping. But, before even addressing the power issue, another would be what type of field to use to protect someone or something. The earth’s magnetic field protects itself from solar wind, but finding a feasible, safe type of energy field to protect someone is another issue entirely.
It is doubtful that a true force field will be created anytime in the foreseeable future, but the military technology to protect tanks by tracking projectiles is a start on large scale force fields, just in a more brute force method. Overall, there are too many unknown technologies needed to make a force field possible today, or anytime soon.
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