Are light sabers possible? Could the Death Star really vaporize a planet the size of Earth? Take a look at the science behind the fiction with a video from the American Chemical Society's Reactions series. Physicists sound off on the possibility of some of your favorite movie moments and describe the research that proves or disproves the phenomena in the Star Wars universe.

Concepts

plasma, lasers, photons, science fiction, star wars, heat

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Show the video during a lesson on states of matter or energy
• Have students pick other fantastic phenomena from the movies to examine from a scientific standpoint

Classroom Considerations

• Talk for a moment about plasma if pupils are less familiar with that state of matter

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Clips from the movie make the video appealing to all ages
• The narrator skillfully words the scientific explanations so no physics degree is required for understanding

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.9-10.2