Lit Can Force lightning hurt you if you're not grounded? Also does rubber provide any protection?

It depends on the source. Some EU has vastly overstated the power of lightning in the hands of certain characters.

 

It is a matter of intensity.

 

Wasn't Darth Maul once hit by Force Lightning, while in mid-air, and he fought it off?

 

Comparing 'Force Lightning' to actual, atmospheric lightning strikes on Earth is pointless. Obviously Force lightning is not going to be happening in accordance with that specific phenomenon pretty much ever, even if it were wholly electrical in nature. 'Force lightning' is a flavorful term, not a description of what tossing a brilliantly colored arcing plasma discharge from your fingers actually is as a matters of Star Wars physics.

Creating hot, colorful, electrical discharges that appear as flowing streams of plasmatic energy doesn't translate into lightning bolt. If anything, Force lightning as a visual phenomenon most closely resembles a fairly powerful Tesla Coil in action.

 

Come to think of it, the Death Star floors are metal...so what's stopping the lightning from traveling through the floor and going back to Palpatine to complete the circuit? If it was electricity anyway...

Actually scratch that, electricity always takes the path of least resistance, and air is far more resistant to electric currents than Palpatine's body...so any use of Force Lightning (if it were electricity) ought to fry the user first

 

Yea, but this is an example of EU power creep syndrome. Real lightning would fry Palpatine as well as has been pointed out. 2m are nothing when the voltage is so high.

 

Is this thread over yet?

 

Thank God someone else made that connection and said something...

 

I just joined this forum to ask a question, but as soon as I saw the title of this thread, I knew I was home.

 

Why is it pointless? There are tons of EU books and SW encyclopedias out there. Some give some really specific explanations -- like "Darth Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" mentions how Vader's suit has catheters to deal with his "waste." That's really getting into the nitty-gritty. Some source may have addressed this. In fact, I just read that Vader's suit is said to be lined with insulation to protect him from Force lightning. Insulation is what protects you from regular electricity as well. So, clearly real lightning and Force lightning have some similar properties.

 

Just ask Anakin.

 

Because it's a matter of picking the wrong physical phenomenon. A lightning strike is a single pulse electrical discharge, one stroke and counterstroke, between widely separated charge concentrations in the context of the immense energies of weather. Force lightning is a continuous stream of electrical discharges from one source to another across a modest distance (30m max if TOR is to be believed). If you want to compare Force lightning to standing in front of a high-powered Tesla Coil, well, that makes some measure of sense, but comparing it to atmospheric lightning is swapping the flavor text for the mechanics. Lightning is not equal to electrical discharge.

 

i'm standing right here you know

jeez

 

Even a large Tesla coil is lethal as it causes heart attacks.

 

Not to a Jedi:

 

That bit when they fly through the couplings always seemed weird to me. Obi-Wan seemed all concerned, and then they just fly through, and nothing happens to them, and there's no explanation -- at least in the film.

 

Green lightning works because Luke is the man.

 

I never got why Palpatine was deformed by Force lightning so soon and Luke was not.

 

probably because that was Palpatines true form. Also he was torturing Luke to start off and didn't kick up the intensity until he said " now,you will die"

 

The epic Episode 3 novel gives the way more logical explanation of that it was do to Mace using Vaapad to throw the force lighting back at Palpatine. If Palpatine could really fake his appearance, he would do so again as Emperor, just to avoid making it so easy for the Rebels to brand him as a monster.

 

I've read it several times. I'm well aware of what it saysin the novel ..

 

He already claimed his appearance was the result of the "Jedi attack". The Rebels can brand him as a monster from his actions alone.

 

He uses it as compelling evidence in the senate that the Jedi were traitorous and trying to assassinate him. It's part of why the Senate supports the Jedi purge. He couldn't very well go back to looking "normal" after he has publicly used his deformed appearance against the Jedi. Plus, I don't think Palpatine cared that he didn't look normal. He probably liked being able to walk around in his real Sith appearance.

(BTW, even the SWTOR has Sith become disfigured as they become more powerful in the Force.)

 

indeed..