I mean arguably all of physics is based on fields. And fields determine the trajectory of particles, which is more colloquially what we call a “force” acting upon those particles.
So in the most literal sense, practically everything we can describe in the universe is a ‘force field’. Not a satisfying answer, I know.
But you probably mean in the sci-fi sense of a thin geometrically constrained field that strongly affects particles within its limited boundaries but not those outside of it. That I’m less sure of. There are certainly the quantum mechanics 101 hypothetical problems where you assume a particle in a box with infinite energy barrier at the edges. But reality doesn’t play nice with infinity so whether such a thing can exist is much more murky. You can certainly have high (but not infinite!) energy there. But then you run into the whole issue of quantum tunneling which means a certain fraction still goes through. [AFAIK there’s no avoiding that.]
I’m pretty sure a fraction still goes through Stat Trek shields too. If not, then why do sparks shoot out of the terminals and things catch fire when shields are still holding?
I always assumed that was because the shield was failing and so to maintain it they have to divert excess power to it, which fries their systems. Or, another interpretation is that impacting the shields causes a power feedback which drives excess power to it unintentionally, and again leads it to frying/sparking.
I mean arguably all of physics is based on fields. And fields determine the trajectory of particles, which is more colloquially what we call a “force” acting upon those particles.
So in the most literal sense, practically everything we can describe in the universe is a ‘force field’. Not a satisfying answer, I know.
But you probably mean in the sci-fi sense of a thin geometrically constrained field that strongly affects particles within its limited boundaries but not those outside of it. That I’m less sure of. There are certainly the quantum mechanics 101 hypothetical problems where you assume a particle in a box with infinite energy barrier at the edges. But reality doesn’t play nice with infinity so whether such a thing can exist is much more murky. You can certainly have high (but not infinite!) energy there. But then you run into the whole issue of quantum tunneling which means a certain fraction still goes through. [AFAIK there’s no avoiding that.]
I’m pretty sure a fraction still goes through Stat Trek shields too. If not, then why do sparks shoot out of the terminals and things catch fire when shields are still holding?
I always assumed that was because the shield was failing and so to maintain it they have to divert excess power to it, which fries their systems. Or, another interpretation is that impacting the shields causes a power feedback which drives excess power to it unintentionally, and again leads it to frying/sparking.