Yes I realize that the sourcing might not be the best, but it'll work I'd say. Since I'm pulling most of the information direct from the book (with some paraphrasing in between I'm sure) I thought it only right and fair to give these hard working people credit. I'd suggest this book to ANY X-men fan! It's wonderfully informative on all of the X-men and while it confused me in parts, it really is interesting to read. Hope you enjoy it. The book is available on Amazon.com if you'd like to order it or you can check your local book store.

The only big thing that shoots down this theory is that Shadowcat doesn't release tremendous amounts of energy (via explosions) when she changes from matter to energy and back again, so something in her genetic makeup would have to allow her to avoid this from happening.

Personally thinking maybe she is linked to other dimensions (as Belesco once stated to her and she proved during the Magik LS when she phased between dimensions) and could phase the explosions into those other dimensions, thus leading to no explosion in this dimension. Just a thought.

The other theory that "Science of the X-men" brought up was "Spintronics", which is based on a theory that actually works for electrons in controlled experiments. It's based on "Electrostatic repulsion" which is "the force that keeps subatomic objects from passing through one another. The electrons repel each other, like when you have two like-charged magnetic poles close together. But instead of positive or negative charge, the electrons have what is called 'spin'" (111). The spin is based on a random pattern of up and down and if Kitty could rearrange her molecules into an organized fashion so that it is "polarized" (basically) with the objects she is trying to pass through she could have her molecules get pulled through an objects (sort of like a molecular magnet) by controlling the spin on all of the particles of her makeup, the object she might be holding and whatever she is passing through. By reversing the polarity on air, Kitty could airwalk by making the air as hard as concrete. This would also explain why she fries electronic systems since she'd be polarizing the spin and drastically changing the conducting forces in circuts, making energy go crazy (112).

Those are the basics of what "Science of the X-men" had to offer, but it is in NO WAY comprehensive or complete (some of it stumped me for a few and would be hard to explain). If you want that you can buy the book because I don't believe in ripping hard working people off ;-). Really the theories are really interesting to read and they hit a lot of the X-men that could use some explaination. Also visit "Mutant Mantadis" if you want a really good website that helped to make the book possible. It's on the award's page or the links page.

My personal theory/take on Kitty's powers are actually pretty simple, but I'm sure a lot of scientists would argue against them, which is fine because I'm in no way a scientist. Personally, I think that Kitty's powers revolve around a pretty simple concept and that is telekinesis. I think it's a very specific brand of telekinesis but a brand of telekinesis all the same. She basically uses telekinesis to take her particles and "phase" them through an object.

Of course in theory this would also mean that she would be more powerful then say Rachel or Jean even in their pure form of mutantion (going with the theory that phoenix is an entity and not a genetic potential) because she not only affects the molecules of HER anatomy she also uses that telekinesis to rip apart the particles of OTHERS that she touches, their clothing, etc., and then phases all of that through an object only to reform it on the other side. She can also, now that she is at a natural state of intangibility, retain that state of phasing for as long as she wants on herself and anything on her person, so long as she has a reasonable amount of air. Messing up electronics would be due to her telekinetic "field effect" (biofeedback from her powers) screwing up the flow of electrons as the particles of the human beings/objects or whatever Kitty is phasing, pass through the electronics. This also means that she would be more powerful then say, Professor Xavier in that she can phase her molecules and others through the dimensional stream if the need arises (Magik LS is the source for that comment if anyone is wondering). She has also been known to get flashes from people she cares very very deeply for when they are in trouble (Illyana and Pete Wisdom are the only two examples) and this would lead me to believe that Kitty has an unexplored brand of empathy (perhaps) with a few rare people or the phasing process links her to a few rare people. Or the ability to phase into other dimensions makes her able to get flashes of what is about to happen, even if she is not aware of them in her conscious mind.

The telekinetic theory might not be the most complex, but it makes sense to me. I know that the other theories are probably much cooler to read about, but this one seems the simplest if we want to suspend belief and think about what would make a phasing ability work.

Of course, the real reason that Kitty can phase through walls was because Jim Shooter (thank you Jim for helping to create this wonderful character...even if you were later screwed by the company that you helped create her for) wanted a character that couldn't always use her powers to get her out of a jam and I guess between he, Byrne and Claremont they came up with the cool ability to be able to walk through solid objects. So we have a phasing ability born. And you would not believe how glad I am to this day that Byrne once knew a woman named Kitty Pryde and was inspired by her name...it helped to lead to the creation of a cool character...even if the woman has been far from pleased with the result (with good reason...check out "Pryde of the X-men" for an interview with the REAL Kitty Pryde for further details).

So there you have my theory and my husband's imput into making it make some sense in my mind.