Can Wall of Force stop shockwaves?

Question

In this setting, siege weaponry has advanced much faster than infantry weapons, leading to an invention of gunpowder and cannons; however guns have not been developed properly.

In an invasion of an orcish stronghold, an orc had run into the powder magazine, and the wizard decided to throw a fireball in there, causing the magazine to catch on fire. The wizard had no idea it was a powder magazine, due to a poorly placed drow darkness spell. The drow dropped the spell after the fire was thrown. The wizard, in order to save themselves and the allied forces in the stronghold, decided to encase the gunpowder with a wall of force.

Can wall of force stop a shockwave and the explosion? If so, then wouldn't it stop sound as well? What about light? (This I think so physics-ly but not game-ly, but stopping sound makes sense).

Answer 1

Yes, it can stop shockwaves

As per Wall of Force's spell description:

Nothing can physically pass through the wall.

Shockwaves are vibrating air, and since air cannot pass through the wall, there is no shockwave that would extend outside it.

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As for light, it seems the intention is to allow it to pass through the Wall, my basis is that it doesn't cause an effect similar to the Darkness spell, and the wall is invisible- not opaque.

Answer 2

Yes, it would block and contain the sound and the shockwave. It won't stop the explosion, but would contain it. The Wall of Force is transparent, so there would be a bright flash. Depending on the size of the explosion, if the Wall of Force was a hemisphere over the top, rather than a sphere with full containment, the explosion and shockwave could still propagate through the ground, making a crater and blowing material, sounds, and shockwave out under the Wall of Force.

Also, I would agree that a Wall of Force is impervious to oxygen, and that thus you could eventually suffocate people inside it, although its size and duration, compared to how many people can fit inside it, mean that this will rarely be an actual issue. I remember working this out once long ago, and determining that a sealed 10' cube room has enough oxygen to keep a person conscious for about 40 hours.

Answer 3

No, it wouldn't stop shockwaves

A typical wave in physics transfers energy and not matter. (You can test the idea by filling a bucket with water and placing a cork inside. When you create a wave the cork moves up and down but not along the direction of the wave.)

So as mentioned before in the spell's text.

Nothing can physically pass through the wall.

Nothing physically passes through the wall. All the shrapnel will be stopped but the energy of the wave will be propagated.

1. The Wall of Force will receive an amount of energy from the shock wave.
2. This will cause the wall to vibrate (Real walls that are destroyed by shockwaves are destroyed because they can't endure this vibration)
3. The vibration will be transferred to the air on the side of the wall not facing the explosion

So the wave goes on and hits whatever is in it's way. But there is no shrapnel.

The above of course is true if the Wall of Force can vibrate and does not absorb an infinite amount of energy as well.