Force field
Encyclopedia
A force field, sometimes known as an energy shield, force shield, or deflector shield is a concept of a field tightly bounded and of significant magnitude so that objects affected by the particular force relating to the field are unable to pass through the central axis of the field and reach the other side. Commonly depicted as an impenetrable wall of energy.
group in Seattle has been experimenting with using a bubble of charged plasma to surround a spacecraft, contained by a fine mesh of superconducting wire. This would protect the spacecraft from interstellar radiation and some particles without needing physical shielding.
Likewise, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
is attempting to design an actual test satellite, which should orbit Earth with a charged plasma field around it.
Plasma window
s have some similarities to force fields, being difficult for matter to pass through.
Diamagnetic levitation has been demonstrated to produce a force field strong enough to enable a frog to hover in mid-air.
Workers at a 3M factory in South Carolina in August 1980 encountered an "invisible electrostatic wall" in an area under a fast-moving sheet of polypropylene film that had become electrically charged to a voltage that "had to be in the Megavolt range". This phenomenon was a result of Coulomb's law
.
The concept goes back at least as far as the 1920s, in the works of E.E. 'Doc' Smith and others; and William Hope Hodgson
's The Night Land
(1912) has the Last Redoubt, in which the remnants of humanity shelter, protected by something very like a force field.
The abilities and exact functionality of energy shields vary; in some works (such as in the Star Trek
universe), energy shields can stop, or mitigate the effects of, both energy and particle weapons (e.g. phasers) and normal projectiles, both natural and artificial. In the various series, shields
function primarily as a defensive measure against weapons fire from other ships; these shields also generally block the use of transporters
while active. Also, inside ships, force field generators can seal off ship atmosphere from the vacuum
of space, as in the case of a hull breach caused by an attack or explosion. Within the Stargate
franchise universe, force fields function in much the same way.
In the Star Wars
universe, deflector shields are standard issue on most ships and perform a function similar to that of their Star Trek counterparts. Unlike Star Trek, multiple kinds of shielding are required to guard against different weapons and interstellar debris.
franchise, the Mass Effect
trilogy, StarCraft (series)
, Haegemonia, Earth 2150
(and its sequel, Earth 2160
) and the Halo
franchise.
Dune series, set in speculative fiction setting, personal shields have been deployed that can stop objects with high kinetic energy. As well, when struck by an energy weapon, the subsequent violent reaction makes both the shield and emitter explode. In response to this, many have returned to using melee weapons, slowed before strike to penetrate the shield. On Arrakis
shield technology is avoided, as it tends to attract the local fauna (sandworms
) and drive them into a killing frenzy.
In Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe, personal shields have been developed by scientists specializing in the miniaturization of planet-based shields. As they are primarily used by Foundation Traders, most other inhabitants in the Galactic Empire
do not know about this technology.
In Asimov's short story Breeds There a Man...?
, scientists are working on a force field (defined as "Energy so channeled as to create a wall of matterless inertia,") capable of protecting the population in case of a nuclear war. The force field demonstrated in the end is a solid hemisphere, completely opaque and reflective (apparently in both directions).
In David Weber
's Empire from the Ashes
series the home system of the Imperium/Empire is protected by a system wide shield.
The ability to create a force field is a popular superpower
in comic book
s and associated media. While only a few characters have the explicit ability to create force fields (for example, the Invisible Woman
and Violet Parr), many can emulate it with other powers, such as Green Lantern
's energy constructs, Jean Grey
's telekinesis, and Magneto
's manipulation of electromagnetic fields.
Scientific research
A University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
group in Seattle has been experimenting with using a bubble of charged plasma to surround a spacecraft, contained by a fine mesh of superconducting wire. This would protect the spacecraft from interstellar radiation and some particles without needing physical shielding.
Likewise, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council . It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at Chilton near Didcot in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom...
is attempting to design an actual test satellite, which should orbit Earth with a charged plasma field around it.
Plasma window
Plasma window
The plasma window is a technology that fills a volume of space with plasma confined by a magnetic field...
s have some similarities to force fields, being difficult for matter to pass through.
Diamagnetic levitation has been demonstrated to produce a force field strong enough to enable a frog to hover in mid-air.
Workers at a 3M factory in South Carolina in August 1980 encountered an "invisible electrostatic wall" in an area under a fast-moving sheet of polypropylene film that had become electrically charged to a voltage that "had to be in the Megavolt range". This phenomenon was a result of Coulomb's law
Coulomb's law
Coulomb's law or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of physics describing the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. It was first published in 1785 by French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb and was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism...
.
Television and film
Science fiction and fantasy venues postulate a number of potential uses for force fields:- A barrier to allow workers to work in areas that can be exposed to the vacuumVacuumIn everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
of space, keeping the atmosphere inside while allowing certain other objects to pass through. - Emergency quarantine of an area afflicted by a harmful biological or chemical agent or occupied by enemy forces.
- The extinguishing of a fire by forcing the reaction to use up all the available oxygen in the confined space.
- As a shield from damage by natural forces or enemy attack.
- To create a temporary habitable space in a place not usually suited to sustaining life.
- As a security method to direct someone in a particular direction for capture, or to confine a captive in a particular area.
The concept goes back at least as far as the 1920s, in the works of E.E. 'Doc' Smith and others; and William Hope Hodgson
William Hope Hodgson
William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his...
's The Night Land
The Night Land
The Night Land is a classic horror novel by William Hope Hodgson, first published in 1912. As a work of fantasy it belongs to the Dying Earth subgenre...
(1912) has the Last Redoubt, in which the remnants of humanity shelter, protected by something very like a force field.
The abilities and exact functionality of energy shields vary; in some works (such as in the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
universe), energy shields can stop, or mitigate the effects of, both energy and particle weapons (e.g. phasers) and normal projectiles, both natural and artificial. In the various series, shields
Shields (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek fictional universe, shields refer to a 23rd and 24th century technology that protects starships, space stations, and planets from damage by natural hazard or enemy attack...
function primarily as a defensive measure against weapons fire from other ships; these shields also generally block the use of transporters
Transporter (Star Trek)
A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern , then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter...
while active. Also, inside ships, force field generators can seal off ship atmosphere from the vacuum
Vacuum
In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
of space, as in the case of a hull breach caused by an attack or explosion. Within the Stargate
Stargate
Stargate is a adventure military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Stargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a hit, grossing nearly...
franchise universe, force fields function in much the same way.
In the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
universe, deflector shields are standard issue on most ships and perform a function similar to that of their Star Trek counterparts. Unlike Star Trek, multiple kinds of shielding are required to guard against different weapons and interstellar debris.
Video games
While the explanations of how force fields were developed, how they are powered or their precise function are as varied as there are computer video games that use them, the concept of force fields as a defensive measure from enemy attack or as a form of attack in and of itself is a popular one. By no means a complete listing, some video games that employ the concept of force fields include the Command & ConquerCommand & Conquer
Command & Conquer, abbreviated to C&C and also known as Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy computer game developed by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and published by Virgin Interactive. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a...
franchise, the Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
trilogy, StarCraft (series)
StarCraft (series)
StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series centers on a galactic struggle for dominance between three species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the insectoid Zerg, and the enigmatic Protoss—in a...
, Haegemonia, Earth 2150
Earth 2150
Earth 2150 also known as Earth 2150: Escape from the Blue Planet is a real-time strategy game, originally published in 2000 by SSI and the Polish developer Reality Pump and a sequel to the largely unknown Earth 2140...
(and its sequel, Earth 2160
Earth 2160
Earth 2160 is a real time strategy computer game, the third in the "Earth" series and developed by Reality Pump studios. It is a direct sequel to Earth 2150...
) and the Halo
Halo (series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
franchise.
Literature and graphic media
In Frank Herbert'sFrank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
Dune series, set in speculative fiction setting, personal shields have been deployed that can stop objects with high kinetic energy. As well, when struck by an energy weapon, the subsequent violent reaction makes both the shield and emitter explode. In response to this, many have returned to using melee weapons, slowed before strike to penetrate the shield. On Arrakis
Arrakis
Arrakis — informally known as Dune and later called Rakis — is a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. Herbert's first novel in the series, 1965's Dune, is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and it is...
shield technology is avoided, as it tends to attract the local fauna (sandworms
Sandworm (Dune)
The sandworm is a fictional form of desert-dwelling creature from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. They first appear in the 1965 novel Dune, considered to be among the classics in the science fiction genre, and are iconic of the Dune series.In the series, the sandworms called Shai-Hulud...
) and drive them into a killing frenzy.
In Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe, personal shields have been developed by scientists specializing in the miniaturization of planet-based shields. As they are primarily used by Foundation Traders, most other inhabitants in the Galactic Empire
Galactic Empire (Asimov)
In Isaac Asimov's Robot/Empire/Foundation series of novels, the Galactic Empire is an empire consisting of millions of planets settled by humans across the whole Milky Way Galaxy. Its symbol is the Spaceship and Sun logo.-Author's creation of the empire:...
do not know about this technology.
In Asimov's short story Breeds There a Man...?
Breeds There a Man...?
"Breeds There a Man...?" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the June 1951 issue of Astounding and reprinted in the 1967 collection Through a Glass, Clearly and the 1969 collection Nightfall and Other Stories.-Plot summary:Elwood Ralson, a brilliant but...
, scientists are working on a force field (defined as "Energy so channeled as to create a wall of matterless inertia,") capable of protecting the population in case of a nuclear war. The force field demonstrated in the end is a solid hemisphere, completely opaque and reflective (apparently in both directions).
In David Weber
David Weber
David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and "a passel of dogs"....
's Empire from the Ashes
Empire From the Ashes
Empire From The Ashes is a science fiction novel written by David Weber.Published in 2003 by Baen Books, it is an omnibus re-issue of Weber's Dahak trilogy, including Mutineers' Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance and Heirs of Empire....
series the home system of the Imperium/Empire is protected by a system wide shield.
The ability to create a force field is a popular superpower
Superpower (ability)
Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...
in comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s and associated media. While only a few characters have the explicit ability to create force fields (for example, the Invisible Woman
Invisible Woman
Susan "Sue" Storm Richards is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961, and was the first female superhero created by Marvel in the Silver Age of Comics...
and Violet Parr), many can emulate it with other powers, such as Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
's energy constructs, Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
's telekinesis, and Magneto
Magneto (comics)
Magneto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the central villain of the X-Men comic, as well as the TV show and the films. The character first appears in X-Men #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
's manipulation of electromagnetic fields.