How Does Repulsorlift Technology Work in Star Wars?

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Repulsorlift technology in Star Wars is largely considered fictional and operates on concepts like anti-gravity, which do not align with known physics. The discussion emphasizes that while creating sci-fi technology, it's important to establish its capabilities and limitations for consistency in storytelling. Many contributors suggest that the technology can be treated as "sci-fi magic," allowing for creative freedom without strict adherence to scientific principles. The conversation also touches on the differences between Star Wars and Star Trek, highlighting how each franchise approaches world-building and technology. Ultimately, the focus remains on narrative rather than scientific accuracy, with the understanding that imaginative leaps are essential in science fiction.
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I am working on another star wars project but i need to know how a repulsorlift works ... any ideas?
 
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TheQuietOne said:
I am working on another star wars project but i need to know how a repulsorlift works ... any ideas?
Pretty much the same way most sci-fic "technology" works ... magic.
 
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( I wish) but sadly magic won't work here. I am attempting to creat a ( working) model of a Podracer. :eynman:
 
TheQuietOne said:
( I wish) but sadly magic won't work here. I am attempting to creat a ( working) model of a Podracer. :eynman:
There are no actual physics you can use, that we know of today so magic is about all you are left with. I seriously doubt we ever will know of any that would do that stuff --- it's anti-gravity pure and simple.

Just do some hand waving and say that anti gravity has been discovered. It's the story that's important. You can't do "hard" sci-fic with anti-gravity since it does not appear to be even an extrapolation from known technology.
 
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Make it up, works for a lot of authors. Use "elastic magnetic field repulsion", no charge.
 
Star Wars is very much Soft-SF, but even in Hard-SF a lot of the time you just have to make up how things work. But that doesn't matter, it's not the important bit by far. the important thing is that when you make something up figure out its capabilities and its limits. Even if you don't explicitly write it into your story or setting for good worldbuilding you need to have consistency.
 
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I forget where I read it, but one author said "It's not making stuff up, it's predicting future technology." I guess that worked for him, and the readers don't seem to mind much.
 
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An Idea I use is the interfacing and interaction of multiple universes for advanced technology. The hyper drive magically (and you are stuck with magically) creates or opens an area of another universe within its components. That universe has different physical laws from this one. Antigravity repulsion and FTL are the product of that universe and this universe interacting.
 
TheQuietOne said:
I am attempting to creat a ( working) model of a Podracer.

Sorry. As explained, it's fictional, as is the technology behind it.
 
  • #10
I loved that Sibulba's podracer sounded like a Buzz Bomb. (Vergeltungswaffe 1, or V-1 Vengence Weapon from WWII.)
 
  • #11
Noisy Rhysling said:
I loved that Sibulba's podracer sounded like a Buzz Bomb. (Vergeltungswaffe 1, or V-1 Vengence Weapon from WWII.)

Did you notice they used the same sound effect for Wonder Woman's powers in Batman V Superman?
 
  • #12
It's on cable already?
 
  • #13
Noisy Rhysling said:
It's on cable already?

Oh no, I do the DVD.
 
  • #14
It works by bouncing microscopic transparent basketballs between the floating object and the ground.
 
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  • #15
Ryan_m_b said:
Star Wars is very much Soft-SF, but even in Hard-SF a lot of the time you just have to make up how things work. But that doesn't matter, it's not the important bit by far. the important thing is that when you make something up figure out its capabilities and its limits. Even if you don't explicitly write it into your story or setting for good worldbuilding you need to have consistency.

And when you're considering technology, you need to have some idea how engineers think, and not go with stuff, just because it's cool.
 
  • #16
ComplexVar89 said:
And when you're considering technology, you need to have some idea how engineers think, and not go with stuff, just because it's cool.
Ahem. We are talking Star Trek here.
 
  • #17
Noisy Rhysling said:
Ahem. We are talking Star Trek here.

No we aren't.
 
  • #18
Algr said:
No we aren't.
From this distance...
 
  • #19
Noisy Rhysling said:
From this distance...

Star Wars, Star Trek. It's like confusing quantum physics with Einstein.
 
  • #20
Algr said:
Star Wars, Star Trek. It's like confusing quantum physics with Einstein.
More like saying that apples and oranges are the same thing because they are both fruits.
 
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  • #21
Thank you
 
  • #22
Algr said:
Star Wars, Star Trek. It's like confusing quantum physics with Einstein.
I saw the original Star Trek and the original Star Wars. Burn me at the stake for heresy, but they're both mediocre.
 
  • #23
Noisy Rhysling said:
I saw the original Star Trek and the original Star Wars. Burn me at the stake for heresy, but they're both mediocre.

::Gathers up logs::
Does anyone have lighter fluid?
 
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  • #24
Algr said:
::Gathers up logs::
Does anyone have lighter fluid?
I think you will find this handy.

angrymob2.gif
 
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  • #25
How'd you do that?
 
  • #26
TheQuietOne said:
How'd you do that?

sci fi magic :wink:
 
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  • #27
TheQuietOne said:
How'd you do that?
It's a combination of two gifs. A friend did it for me.
 
  • #28
davenn said:
sci fi magic :wink:
Oops. Sorry.

It was sci fi magic.

mini-wink-glasses.gif
 
  • #31
how about this use some kind of emitters to spew out particles( like microwaves or something close to that) to the ground that bounce off the sand then goes back up to hit the pod making it look like it floats
 
  • #32
My mom probably won't let me take apart a microwave.
 
  • #33
TheQuietOne said:
My mom probably won't let me take apart a microwave.
It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

"I never said. I was never here."
 
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  • #34
ComplexVar89 said:
And when you're considering technology, you need to have some idea how engineers think, and not go with stuff, just because it's cool.
Not really. There's far more popular, successful SF franchises that operate on the Rule-of-Cool than there are that meticulously work out the rules/science behind their tech.
 
  • #35
I have to agree that Star Wars and Star Trek are vastly different things. The huge fantasy leap that a lot of sci fi space stories use is the introduction of all kinds of materials and elements that do not really exist.

I think maybe that the best bet at this point for imaging the tech of the future would require a very indepth and up to date understanding of quantum physics and string theory as well as the higher dimensional models. and then making wild imaginative leaps from there. At least if you want to try and keep it within the bounds of some vague notion of possibility. The hippies were right all along anyway. It's all vibrations man.

The thing that star wars seems to really fail on to me is the construct of the world around the characters. This becomes more and more evident as the movies progressed. the sense of the economy, especially as regards the fact that that they have all that technology and yet most of the worlds we see are like barren deserts with no manufacturing base and no middle class. IDK, the force awakens just seemed terrible, pointless and boring to me.
Star trek has the advantage of being a tv series. With a tv series you can explore many more dimensions of the reality you are portraying, spend much longer developing characters, and have much more drawn out storylines. I feel that essentially with the level of effects available to tv now, the movie as a medium has almost no point to it. Well, except the MCU stuff. Those have been pretty great.
 
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