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Is it ever explained how a Poké Ball works? I know that you throw it a
Pokémon, and if it is weak enough, you catch it. But is the process ever
explained? Does it work on humans? Do most Pokémon like being held in a Poké
Ball?


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pokemon
How does a Poké Ball work?


A pretty clear answer is given
[here](http://pokemon.wikia.com/wiki/Pok%C3%A9_Ball).

To summarize it,

The Pokemon is absorbed into the Poke Ball, and will try to fight back unless
it likes the trainer. That is why the Pokemon needs to be weakened: if it is
too strong, it will break free. If the Pokemon does break free, the Poke Ball
will break and become unusable.

It was programmed to not catch humans, though it sometimes might accidentally
catch other things it is thrown at, such as the rice ball Ash throws a Poke
Ball at once.

The Pokemon becomes loyal to the trainer once they are caught, and they will
generally follow the orders of the trainer.

To quote the page:

> The inside of a Poké Ball is "designed to be as comfortable for the Pokémon
> residing within", although this is not necessarily true. The Pokémon inside
> may simply be sleeping, or completely unaware of its own existence. Pokémon
> are, however aware when inside their Poké Ball — by calling their name, the
> Pokémon will emerge from its Poké Ball almost immediately.

Edit:

Not all Pokemon will stay in their Poke Ball, however. Pikachu refuses to stay
in the Poke Ball, and in the game Pokemon Yellow, Pikachu follows behind the
player. Pokémon Soul Silver/Heart Gold let the first Pokemon in a party follow
the player.

The Pokemon are shown to be transferred on data chips when being moved to the
Pokebox, and only one Pokemon can be stored in each Poke Ball.


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The mechanics in _Pokémon Legends: Arceus_ give us an explicit explanation for
how a Poké Ball works, so a new answer to this question is necessary. In this
game, rudimentary Poké Balls are made from only a tumblestone and an apricorn.
The [apricorn](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Apricorn) is simply a
tough fruit that is hollowed out, though what the
[tumblestone](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Tumblestone) is and what
it does is a bit of a mystery. The tumblestone is presumably used to make the
latch, the air hole on top of the ball, and all other mechanical-looking
components. As far as I can tell, apricorns have appeared in previous games,
but tumblestones have not.

The real wonder of this new game, though, is what it tells us about the
Pokémon themselves. Early on in the game, it is stated that Pokémon have the
mysterious power of being able to become smaller. Knowing this, we can
determine that Poké Balls need not be some kind of wonder technology, because
the tough part (the shrinking) is done by the Pokémon! And since presumably
humans do not have this ability to shrink, that explains why they can't be
caught by Poké Balls.

The quote from Professor Laventon is as follows:

> You'll recall, of course, that Pokémon possess the strange power to shrink
> themselves down. With the Poké Balls we craft, we can make use of that power
> to catch them!

There's still some question of how it works exactly. Do the Pokémon simply
shrink into the ball because they're surprised, or does the tumblestone or
apricorn stimulate them to do so somehow? How do the Poké Balls open and close
like that?

But even with all these questions, this would seem to be the most complete
explanation for how Poké Balls work, as far as I'm aware. There's the capture
net thing in the _Adventures_ manga, but that doesn't really explain much.

Some fans are kind of partial to the theory that Pokémon get turned into
energy or data or something, because of the bright light when Pokémon get hit
by Poké Balls (I never liked this theory, to be honest). Under this new
explanation, I would presume all the light seen when a Pokémon is hit and
captured is due to light and heat being released during the miniaturization
transformation.

Another cool thing about this new explanation from _Pokémon Legends: Arceus_
is that it can be used to neatly explain why you can't capture a fainted
Pokémon. If turning small is a conscious process, then a Pokémon would need to
be conscious to be put into a Poké Ball. Alternatively, when knocked out, the
Pokémon might turn small so that a trainer is unable to find them. It doesn't
seem an incorrect notion, as some Pokémon in _Pokémon Legends: Arceus_ such as
Chancey run away from the player and eventually disappear, and this is
presumably because they're shrinking to get away.


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