Force field (science fiction)

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For other uses, see Force field (disambiguation).

In science fiction and fantasy literature, a force field or protective shield is a barrier made up of energy to protect a person, area or object from attacks or intrusions. The idea may be based partly on the concept of a vector field, though in character it resembles the "warding spells," the defensive magic claimed to be used by the Druids and shamans of the ancient world. In the physical sciences, the term also has several specific meanings (see force field (disambiguation)).

Science fiction venues postulate a number of potential uses for force fields, especially in Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Babylon 5, Independence Day, and other science fiction works:

A barrier to allow workers to work in areas that can be exposed to the vacuum of space, keeping the atmosphere inside while allowing certain other objects to pass through.
Emergency quarantine of an area afflicted by some sort of agent (eg. poison gas) to prevent it from spreading.
The extinguishing of a fire by forcing the reaction to use up all the available oxygen in the confined space.
As a shield (in some cases large enough to cover an entire planet) to protect something 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.
For cell doors in jails and prisons.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, sections of the ship have internal force field generators that allow you to put up transparent energy walls that prevent any matter or energy from passing though them. This has been used for defense and sealing off parts of the ship where hull has been breached or destroyed.
As shown in The Lost Worlds of 2001, the monolith aliens had perfected the use of force fields to such a point that they were used as the hulls of their ships.

Fictional characters that possess the power to generate force fields include Susan Storm (a.k.a. Invisible Woman) of the Fantastic Four and a Disney character loosely based on her, Violet Parr of The Incredibles.

[edit] Research and development

The plasma window is a real-life technology that partially recreates the functionality of a force field, providing a separation between vacuum and gas that allows some radiation and energetic particles to pass through. However, there is currently only one scientifically valid method of creating a 'force shield': the use of electromagnetism to affect the movement of metallic objects. No power sources currently exist that could possibly create a field of sufficient strength to act as a protective device.