Newton’s axioms in Star Wars

Something I was wondering about: according to Newton’s 3rd law every action has its reaction. So, if I push something, I have to cope with the same force I am pushing it with acting on me, too.

But that should also apply when I am using the Force (I am pushing someone remotely), i.e. when I use the Force to throw or push something, the thing exerts a reaction.

Where does this force go? Onto the user? That would be impossible, especially when Yoda lifts the X-Wing out of the swamp (weight of the X-Wing >> assumed real (not Force-enhanced) strength of Yoda)?

Or are the Jedi using a supporting place where they can target the reaction of the moved object, i.e. guiding the reaction force to this place? In this case the Jedi would have to look first what their supporting place is, because if they are using something unstable it could happen that it collapses. Or (best explanation) did I simply miss something?

Answer

There's a nice wikipedia article on how the Star Wars physics is wrong not just for the fictional lightsabers and hypothetical planets, but even the physics of sub-lightspeed spacecraft. Specifically, the Millennum Falcon always make banked turns, even though this is just something planes do because they fly in an atmosphere.

When the physics isn't correct even in scenes that should have conformed to known physics, it's no surprise that the Star Wars magic is out of alignment with Newton too.

In fact, why not add violation of Newtons third law in the x-wing lifting scene to the wikipedia article?

Comments

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