Post created by: Holly
In Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force in order to hone his jedi skills. In the process, Yoda shows Luke the power of the Force by lifting Skywalker’s spacecraft, an X-wing, that was submerged in swampy water. The X-wing slowly lifted out of the water and was moved a couple meters above the surface of the swampy lagoon. Through knowledge of fluids, we can calculate the buoyancy force of Skywalker’s X-Wing while in the water.
The mass of the X-Wing is estimated to be 10,000 kg and the volume is calculated to be 378.2 m^3 based on measurements given by Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki. Assuming the lagoon is freshwater, the density of the water is 1000kg/m^3. The gravity on the planet Luke and Yoda were on, Dagobah, is .9g.
Using this formula:
F = (1000kg/m^3)(.9g)(378.2m^3)
F = 340 kN
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