Are gates wormholes one way?

[FarOutSpaceNut]

I seem to remember that being mentioned from SG-1 but I also think it is contradicted elsewhere in the Stargate franchises? When Gate A's DHD calls Gate B and establishes a link this is a one-way connection: once you step through, you can't just step back though? Do you just bounce off if you try? Or is it more like going up hill? In order to go back, you have to dial Gate A from Gate B, then step through?

It seems to me a slide is a more apt metaphor than a hole through an apple or a gate, which are bidirectional. But I guess "Starslide" doesn't sound very cool or particularly "spacey-timey-wimey" as Dr. Who once said....

[Arynne_Bookworm]

I’m pretty sure they’re one way, but I have no idea what would happen if you tried to go back through.

[JamesGarvinPhils]

I think you die if you go back through a wormhole. I was playing this Roblox Stargate game called Stargate Explorers and if you went back through the Gate you would die.

[McClance]

I think there was one episode where SGC sends a MALP through, but the gate at the other end is on its side, so they only get a brief connection before the MALP falls back in and is destroyed. I think it was "A Hundred Days" in Season 3.

[Xaeden]

Energy (e.g. radio waves) can pass through the wormhole in either direction, but that has never been the case for matter in any of the TV shows. This is a limitation imposed by the Stargate itself. Solid matter cannot survive a trip through a wormhole, so a person or an object is dematerialized by Stargate A and sent through the wormhole as energy. After the energy pattern is received by Stargate B's buffer, it is rematerialized. Existing energy appears to be allowed to pass freely into the wormhole without being processed by the Stargate's buffer, but if a person tries to walk into an incoming wormhole, they will vanish instead of being received/rematerialized at the other end.

That could be because the person passes directly into the incoming wormhole without being processed by the gate's buffer. In which case, the wormhole would obliterate the person's body and the only thing that would make it to the other end would be tiny particles.

However, O'Neill purposely put his hand into an incoming wormhole to keep the gate open in "Shades of Grey" (season 3, episode 18) and the risk of partially slipping back into an incoming wormhole right after rematerializing seems high, so I think it's more likely that matter is dematerialized and stored in an incoming Stargate's buffer without being transmitted. In which case, if someone does jump fully into an incoming wormhole it may be possible to recover their pattern the same way Carter used a DHD to save Teal'c in "48 Hours" (season 5, episode 14). It would have to be done before someone dials in or out though as the buffer is wiped as a new wormhole is forming.

The exact reason for the limitation has never been explained, but if it's a purposeful safety measure, wanting to prevent energy patterns from mixing together in transit would, I think, very likely be the problem the Ancients were trying to prevent.

[Asgard Flu]

It goes in one direction. I would compare it to something like a slipstream, when you enter it you're pushed along the stream to the target gate. Although physical matter particles can't go the other direction we do know that radio waves can, since the radio waves move at the speed of light I assume the speed off the radio waves can overcome the speed of the slipstream coming from the origin gate.