Poke Ball physics.

[Azureth]

Has anyone actually spent some time thinking how it could POSSIBLY work?

I understand the whole "turn into data" thing, but what powers the Poke Ball and what do other balls have that make them better? Also, how are Pokemon able to struggle to not be captured or just come out of their Poke ball whenever they want, such as Psyduck and Wobuffet?

It's also been shown if a Pokemon doesn't want to go in it's Poke ball they don't have to, so even if a trainer does "catch" a Pokemon it can still leave if it wants as far as I can tell.

What has been shown has been terribly inconsistent.

Curious if anyone has put any deep thought into it.

 

[Numbers]

I'll try to explain it as I see it.

As a pokémon is "caught" I believe that it's genetic data and individual composition is recorded digitally and sort of "locks" the pokémons' matter into the ball. Then it'll be able to restore that matter when releasing the said pokémon, and when the pokémon returns to it's ball its new composition is recorded to restore upon the next release.

A lower level Pokéball (a budget version) is worse and will do it slower, making the struggling pokémon's matter move around in the ball and break the weaker forces of the ball. (If the device "knows" [records] the composition of the pokémon it will be able to "know" what to hold.)

A higher level Pokéball will do it with less time and effort simply as it's more technologically advanced. The Master Ball does it instantly.

Some specific types (like Net ball, Level ball, Heavy ball) will work better on specific types of pokémon because they're already pre-set to specific characteristics of pokémon that they're supposed to catch, thus reducing the time it takes to record by taking a sort of "data shortcut" as they're "pre-filled" with some data. The Dusk ball probably is set to certain characteristics of pokémon living in the dark and in caves, for example.

In the games the balls will break if it'll fail to catch the targeted pokémon. I'd say it's because it will experience a fatal energy overload from the too strong and vital struggling of the pokémon and make the energies unstable. That's why you need to weaken the target pokémon first. In the anime, however, the balls are more protective against the struggling forces and won't break if they fail to capture a pokémon.

Also anime-wise, some pokémon can go out of their ball at will. I'd say they struggle enough so that the ball gives in and will release them, and as they're in full energy and can struggle out of the "seal" of the device.

And about if a pokémon doesn't have to enter a Pokéball if doesn't want to:

It's simply the choice of the trainer to not make it's pokémon uncomfortable doing what it doesn't want to do. And if it's still forced to enter it it can struggle out at will. Then why do more powerful pokémon decide to stay within the Pokéballs, like legendaries? Because they've gained respect for the trainer after being defeated and caught. They know that their immense strength has been curbed and that they've been bested by someone who is above them in skill and "strength".

This.
I was actually curious as to what people had to say on this topic and I think this is a great explanation.

 

[Destiny Bond]

it doesn't really matter. not all things in these games really need an explaination. But yeah its still kinda interesting about how those things work. However, I don't get the fact of the pokedex, recording everything that you catch. how does it know that you've caught that pokemon or something?

 

[Haberdasher]

it doesn't really matter. not all things in these games really need an explaination. But yeah its still kinda interesting about how those things work. However, I don't get the fact of the pokedex, recording everything that you catch. how does it know that you've caught that pokemon or something?

Assuming Poke Balls function using a data system similar to the one posited by MartianOddity, the Pokedex could simply work by syncing with your Poke Balls and collecting the data from the caught Pokemon as you catch them, or something along those lines.

 

[jasonresno]

I spent many childhood hours rolling this very question in my head, haha. First off we have to even figure out how the hell Pokemon are converted into data just by touching the balls. That sort of technology itself is impossible so it sort of stops the bridge of logic right there, I think.

 

[Spinor]

...Hey, Happiny can pick up frozen rivers, so why not this:

PokeBalls are made by aliens and imported from Mars. You don't know because the "Made in Mars" text is inside the PokeBall, which only Pokemon can see, but Pokemon can't read.

 

[Chamomile13]

I do like MartionOddity's explanation. But really, there's plenty of things that don't make sense with the Pokemon games and anime. Starting with "why doesn't Team Insert-Noun-Here just shoot the protagonist?" I mean, sure, killing kids is crossing a pretty big line and all, but this is a kid who's repeatedly thwarted your schemes, costing you incredible amounts of money and probably getting a few of you hauled off to jail in the process. Eventually, you'd think a bunch of criminals who're already abusing and maiming Pokemon for fun and profit would decide that killing a kid isn't too much, considering the kid in question.

So the answer to pretty much any how or why in the Pokemon world is "because it's more fun this way."

 

[Andrew McKenzie]

My theory is not too unlike MartionOddity's theory.
I always saw that the Pokemon itself was converted into a form of energy that was stored in the Pokeball.

The Pokeball, I viewed as portable tool that could both store and convert the energy and Pokemon in 3 ways.

1) The Pokeball, unused, can be used to convert a weakened or willing Pokemon into the energy and store it inside the Pokeball.

2) Any Pokemon that has been converted into energy by the tool has been somehow
changed so that it cannot be captured by another Pokeball. This is part of the tool's
design, so that it can't capture other Trainer's Pokemon.

3) The Pokeball being used to store a Pokemon can now be used to convert a Pokemon
from energy back into its natural state to call it forth for battling and opposingly,
convert it back into energy to call it back into the ball and finally, converting the
Pokemon from energy back into its natural state before it was captured, thus releasing it
and allowing another Pokeball and trainer to capture it.

I always viewed it like that since the Pokemon seems to be turned into a form of energy.
At least, in the animé.
In the manga, you can clearly see the Pokemon INSIDE the ball, somehow, shrunken maybe.

As for the games, I'd say it uses the energy theory but also allows for
those Pokeballs to converted into data for storage on the PC System.