The Gravitational Force of a Hollow Mass

by Patrick Wormsley

Submitted : Spring 2014

In this paper we test Sir Isaac Newton’s shell theorem using specifications taken from the first Death Star, from George Lucas’s 1977 film Star Wars. We make a gravitational field calculation based on the Death Star being a solid symmetric sphere and compare it to an integral calculation based on the Death Star being a hollow sphere with all of its mass as a shell. If the results match then it would confirm the shell theorem and open the door to many other possibilities in many different fields.

[ Back ]