Back to the real science behind how flux capacitors work in the future

Flux capacitors are an important part of the Doc Brown Time Machine; this is how it works.

By Sckylar Gibby-Brown | publishing 33 seconds ago

It was a day of fate when Doc Brown fell from the toilet and hit the head on the sink, and the image of the wake-up assistant capacitor was burned into the brain. That was the moment when it all started, a key incitement incident that Doc had in the future franchise.

Flux capacitors, how does this weird mechanism make Doc and Marty McFly time-out travel?

Let’s enter the real science Back to the future.

What is a flux capacitor?

So, what exactly is a flux capacitor? This weird little box contains a flashing light attached to the Y-shaped tube and is installed in Doc’s famous travel DeLorean. In fact, the Delorean Time Machine relies on flux capacitors because it is a key component that allows time travel.

While back to the future movies never explicitly explain how flux capacitors work, we can make some good guesses based on the information we have. For example, the words “flux” and “capacitor” themselves give two pretty good tips, for example in the field of physics, where “magnetic flux” refers to the amount of matter, such as electricity, flowing on the surface of an object, while “capacitor” is a device designed to store electrical charges.

Doc’s invention stems from enough science that even if no engineer invented time travel (as far as we know), many engineers developed their own flux capacitors as a homage to the movie.

In theory, flux capacitors act as a power reservoir of large amounts of energy, especially 1.21 gigawatts (equivalent to 1,210,000,000 watts). When a speed of 88 mph is reached, this energy will be directed through three light rods, causing microwaves to travel in one direction and converge in the center.

The flux capacitor connected to the flux band located outside Delorean will then release an astonishing 1.21 GW of power, thus transitioning through the wormhole at 88 mph. However, for DeLorean to generate wormholes, it must first capture and unravel two black holes, a feat that requires the intersection of quantum mechanics and classical mechanics.

Back to the future using spherical space-time continuity

In the later time travel theory, in the context of future movies, the space-time continuum must be spherical, because when Marty and Doc jump into DeLorean for time travel, they essentially leave a space in time and can reappear in the exact same space, only at different points in time.

That’s alone why the flux capacitors of DOC actually don’t work properly. In fact, there is nothing like sitting on a rotating planet that keeps pushing the spinning planet in space.

How to power flux capacitors

For argument, it can be said that the flux capacitor actually has a chance to work. If so, how will it power? Fortunately, these movies give a good explanation to answer this (as long as we take advantage of the incredible pause).

While the regular DeLorean will run on regular unleaded gasoline, the Time Machine needs something more efficient to kick the flux capacitor to the high gear…plutonium. While the Doc’s time machine is not a nuclear (it is electrical according to the DOC), it requires a nuclear reaction to jump to the wormhole creation that initiates time travel. In fact, it is not just a temporary one, it also requires a way.

As we mentioned, the flux capacitor requires 1.21 gigawatts to run. Let’s take some time to think about the actual intensity. For example, the U.S. Navy used a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier using only 194 megaWatt, so anything in real life is almost close to the power of the time machine that Doc needs.

Fortunately for Doc and Marty, the 300 million volt lightning bolt has enough fists to make the flux capacitor work, and that’s how they solve this problem in the movie.

Can flux capacitors really work?

So, can flux capacitors work in real life? So far, no scientist has been as smart as Doc Brown and launched time travel. However, true flux capacitors have been invented.

According to Engadget, the real-life flux capacitor is a new form of electronic circulator that can regulate the directional flow of microwave signals, providing potential breakthroughs for quantum computing and advancement of radar technology.

It is mainly used to enhance the performance of WiFi and mobile antennas. But with enough research, maybe one day our real-world scientists will be able to figure out how to use it like Doc and go back to 1955.