It’s an energy that lets you control people’s minds and… make things float. So where do midi-chlorians fit in?
by STEPHEN KELLY by STEPHEN KELLY (@StephenPKelly) Stephen is a culture and science writer, specialising in television and film.
In Star Wars: A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Force as, “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” It’s a more poetic explanation than the one in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which suggests that every Jedi has a bad case of worms. Or, to be more precise, that they get their powers from microscopic cellular beings called midi-chlorians.
“The idea that a parasite living in a creature could change or determine the way the host behaves is a very real thing,” says Patrick Johnson, author of The Physics of Star Wars. “And in theory, that small creature could give the host the ability to do things that they might not otherwise be able to do.”
A theory that makes more sense to Johnson, though, is that the Force represents some kind of sophisticated control of electromagnetic fields.
“The fundamental basis of electromagnetic fields is that everything that has a charge (such as protons and electrons) creates an electromagnetic field around it,” says Johnson. “And depending on how these particles interact, they can either attract or repel one another.”
This could explain how Jedi such as Ahsoka Tano – the hero in the new series Star Wars: Ahsoka – are able to move objects around, says Johnson. “So, for instance, if I’m hanging upside-down in an ice cave on Hoth and I need my lightsaber, in theory I could make my hand very positively charged to attract the electrons on one side of the lightsaber and pull it towards me.”
But, even if this were possible, it would also require you to be able to focus on a specific object. “Otherwise, you would end up attracting all kinds of things,” says Johnson.
One of the most powerful elements of the Force, however, is how it can be used by the Jedi to control others’ minds. How do electromagnetic fields play into that?
“In terms of Jedi mind tricks,” says Johnson, “our brains have neurons that communicate with one another using electrical signals. Theoretically a Jedi with knowledge of brain chemistry could exert ver
