How much does the TARDIS weigh?

[Demonland]

Count Zero's entry in the avatar contest this week got me thinking: How much does the TARDIS weigh?

We've often seen the TARDIS moved from one place to the other. The picture above was taken from the First Season episode Marco Polo which is set in the 13th Century. How the hell did they lift the TARDIS? They didn't have heavy machinery and I doubt a couple of sherpas could lift it. So does the whole bigger on the inside bit transfer to weighs more on the inside?

Thoughts?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Romana mentioned its mass in one serial, I believe, but I find it hard to believe considering its dimensional transcendental properties.

I'll see if I can find the number.

Edit: Here we go. In Full Circle, Romana claimed that the TARDIS' weight (not mass) in Alzarius' Earth-like gravity was 5 × 10^6 kilograms, which would suggest that the TARDIS interior is finite.

 

[Demonland]

Wow! That's very heavy!

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh, sorry. The 6 is suppose to be an exponent. In the preview window, it was still an exponent, but I guess it didn't translate.

 

[Demonland]

How the hell did they get it up on that cart? And that poor horse/donkey!

 

[Peacemaker]

Romana mentioned its mass in one serial, I believe, but I find it hard to believe considering its dimensional transcendental properties.

I'll see if I can find the number.

Edit: Here we go. In Full Circle, Romana claimed that the TARDIS' weight (not mass) in Alzarius' Earth-like gravity was 5 × 10^6 kilograms, which would suggest that the TARDIS interior is finite.

This actually brings up an interesting question with respect to the TARDIS' weight.

On the one hand, the Marshmen can carry it at this weight. On the other, it's obviously heavier (assuming Alzarian gravity is comparable to our own) than the average police box. So, how does the outer plasmic shell of the TARDIS relate to the interior continua (note, I'm using Chris Bidmeadisms here ) when it comes to weighing the TARDIS. On the one hand, you'd expect it to be as heavy as the average police box since the interior and exterior are in different dimensions - think of the Doctor levitating in the zero cabinet as an analogy. Yet, on the other, it's not - as when the Doctor lost his concentration. Perhaps this has something to do with the dimensional bridge itself. Hmmm, I'll have to look this one up in the TARDIS databank...

Edit: Rabbits! It just says something about see Main Door: Opening Of and "Watch out, Tegan this is a fake message, love and kisses, the Master's Boy, Adric."

 

[Sci]

I rather imagine that the TARDIS weighs as much as an empty police box.

 

[Who_Trek]

I assume it weights as much as they need it to for that episode.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

There are quite a few stories where it it is carried, or lands on a surface that would buckle under a great weight. It's safe to assume it weighs very little. The interior, after all, is in another dimension.

 

[Starkers]

I'm with AdmiralGarak and Sci on this, I don't think the exterior of the TARDIS weighs very much at all (obviously enough to stop it getting blown over in a gale though )

 

[Winterwind]

Agreed. It's just been moved by too many people too many times too easily to weigh a great deal.

 

[wamdue]

I'm with AdmiralGarak and Sci on this, I don't think the exterior of the TARDIS weighs very much at all (obviously enough to stop it getting blown over in a gale though )

I will go with that, its been moved by people plenty of times in the new series, one example being The Fires of Pompeii, & Utopia.

 

[Rarewolf]

even the short attendants in The End Of The World could move it.

 

[Stevil2001]

Romana mentioned its mass in one serial, I believe, but I find it hard to believe considering its dimensional transcendental properties.

I'll see if I can find the number.

Edit: Here we go. In Full Circle, Romana claimed that the TARDIS' weight (not mass) in Alzarius' Earth-like gravity was 5 × 10^6 kilograms, which would suggest that the TARDIS interior is finite.

And in Castrovalva, we're told that jettisoning 25% of the TARDIS will result in 17,000 tons of thrust, which points to a total mass of 68,000 tons. Which is about 12 times as much as the figure given in Full Circle.

 

[Sci]

Romana mentioned its mass in one serial, I believe, but I find it hard to believe considering its dimensional transcendental properties.

I'll see if I can find the number.

Edit: Here we go. In Full Circle, Romana claimed that the TARDIS' weight (not mass) in Alzarius' Earth-like gravity was 5 × 10^6 kilograms, which would suggest that the TARDIS interior is finite.

And in Castrovalva, we're told that jettisoning 25% of the TARDIS will result in 17,000 tons of thrust, which points to a total mass of 68,000 tons. Which is about 12 times as much as the figure given in Full Circle.

68,000 tons? Hmm. Given the emergency in "Time Crash," I always figured that the TARDIS had the same mass as Belgium.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Romana mentioned its mass in one serial, I believe, but I find it hard to believe considering its dimensional transcendental properties.

I'll see if I can find the number.

Edit: Here we go. In Full Circle, Romana claimed that the TARDIS' weight (not mass) in Alzarius' Earth-like gravity was 5 × 10^6 kilograms, which would suggest that the TARDIS interior is finite.

And in Castrovalva, we're told that jettisoning 25% of the TARDIS will result in 17,000 tons of thrust, which points to a total mass of 68,000 tons. Which is about 12 times as much as the figure given in Full Circle.

68,000 tons? Hmm. Given the emergency in "Time Crash," I always figured that the TARDIS had the same mass as Belgium.

Given the information in Full Circle, Castrovalva, and "Time Crash," I wouldn't be surprised if somehow, for whatever reason, the TARDIS' weight fluctuated on its own.

 

[Stevil2001]

And in Castrovalva, we're told that jettisoning 25% of the TARDIS will result in 17,000 tons of thrust, which points to a total mass of 68,000 tons. Which is about 12 times as much as the figure given in Full Circle.

68,000 tons? Hmm. Given the emergency in "Time Crash," I always figured that the TARDIS had the same mass as Belgium.

Well, after Castrovalva the mass of the TARDIS would be down to 51,000 tons!

 

[Cyke101]

And we must always remember that mass and weight are two different things

 

[federationpolicyadvisor]

I think I've seen times when the TARDIS was immovable as well as times when it can easily be moved. I think it depends on whether or not it is "anchored." If the Doctor sets the parking brake or whatever, then the TARDIS can't be moved. Without the anchor, I think the TARDIS weighs what you'd expect a Police Public Call box to weight.

I like the episode "Father's Day" when the TARDIS interior vanished because of a paradox and it was just an empty box on the inside. It implies that the exterior is not particularly special and that it only serves as an interdimensional bridge to the interior. I think that's kind of implied in the last episode of seaon 4 or season 30 when the doctor implied that the exterior was just an ordinary police box in the face of super-advanced Dalek tech.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I always figured that the TARDIS had the same mass as Belgium.

AAA! Watch your language!