What is Digg?117 Comments
- btipling, on 10/12/2007, -2/+37The author of that article could probably find lucrative employment in the Empire.
- matthawaii, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29The author probably wouldn't have put that dumb hole that leads right to the core either!
- matthawaii, on 10/12/2007, -6/+27Over 2 billion people died on Alderaan, all in the blink of an eye.
One of the coolest effects in Star Wars. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19I hear the author of this once said "Calculating this is SO much better than kissing a girl...Or at least what I imagine kissing a girl would be like."
IS that true for your guys reading it too? - antron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Probably just as interesting is the analysis of the destruction of Death Star II over Endor and the ensuing environmental disaster.
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/holocaust.html#disaster
The rebels really were terrorists. - ani-pockdotnet, on 10/12/2007, -8/+22maybe-
but what I didn't get is why they didn't use light saber headed missles (ie guided lightsabers). In the series, light sabers could cut through anything right? seemed like all those red lasers they shot at each other was a waste...
wonder if they made mini light sabers for cutting fruit ^^ - matthawaii, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16I guess it should have read
'Exactly how powerful "WAS" the Death Star' - addisonj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15if memory serves me right, The Real World is when seven strangers are picked to live in a house and find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real...
- richmc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Joules are such are unfriendly way of expressing energies.
Now taking 1 calorie = 4185 joules*
means it would take 8.84E+28 calories to destroy a planet.
Which in turn equals 1.58E+26 big macs (where 1 big mac = 560 calories)
*am not completely sure on the accuracy of whether 1 calorie = 4185J, as I am use to seeing kcal here in the UK, but i think in the US the calorie is equivalent to the kcal, although i believe the standard definition for a calorie is 1 cal = 4.185J also called a small calorie - ArcticCelt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13"It's a movie. Get a life!"
Ho man you must be so cool to tell other people to get a life! (If by cool of course I mean annoying boring prick)
It's an article about having fun with maths, physics and a beloved work of fiction. Why do you post here if you don't give a crap? Why don't YOU get a life? - SaintStryfe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14matt: The lightsabre is a eligant weapon for a more civilized time, according to Ben Kenobi in Epsiode 4. Gotta think of it like this: THe Jedi are NOT combat mongers. THe RPG geek in us may want to keep a side arm, but the Jedi are a peace keeping force, they're talkers and only use physical force in the most extreme needs. They don't need a long-range weapon. IN most places, anyway, they didn't need it, the Galaxy worked with the Jedi. Remember: The events we see in the movies happen in the span of 40 years, the Galactic Republic before it lasted thousands of years. it worked for a long, long time.
So, hey. I over think these things, I just do'nt use math. - matthawaii, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Good point...but from the title.....in a galaxy far far far, a long time ago.
- an0nym0us, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9In other news, Death Star Mark II is nearing completion...
- jarcoal, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10i thought i was pretty nerdy, but damn this is crazy
- Alegis, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Exactly, Jedi are keeper of the peace and try to avoid violence (like Jedi Mind Trick for example).
The nice thing about the lightsaber is that it completely fits the image, it reflect bolts/damage. They don't start it. The reflection combined with force powers is their long-range power. - matthawaii, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/wallpapers/pumpkin_field_1024.jpg
What are the orange things? ;) - MaxTheSheep, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Also, if you played the video games, (namely KOTR), you would know that lightsabers are built with crystals that are very rare, so to mass produce lightsabers you would need ALOT of those crystals.
- Ensnared, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"In the end, Trek wins."
Only if R2-D2 doesn't participate. - EmileVictor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I've got to do this in physics class.
Ka-boom! - Grimdotdotdot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6No, it looked like a small model being blown up with a sparkler.
Are we talking about the same film? - ciphex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6i can't believe i read this whole thread.
- lordcat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8He didn't bother to touch on the idea of superheating the core of the planet, thus vaporizing the core itself, causing a massive outward force as the liquid turned to gas, followed by a drop in gravitational forces as as the density of the rapidly drops. We're dealing with a 'focused beam of light' here... so it could easily be focused on the core of the planet (not the surface itself) to superheat the planet from the inside out... and as most of us know... superheating the inside of an object (and forceing the core to change state) while leaving the shell untouched can easily lead to the sort of destruction that will spend debris flying in all directions... with nothing left of the original mass...
You ever notice how you're supposed to puncture wrappers/skins/etc before you cook food? ever have a potatoe or tvdinner explode because you didn't? same idea.. - fjoggen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5This is quite basic calculus and usage of Newton so you should have learned to calculate this in high school, assuming you had physics classes.
The difficult part is to set up the formulas and to understand what you have to do. I remember we had to do a lot of similar calculations, however it was usually about rockets escaping earths gravitation and not earth escaping it self..... - Dracos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Answer: yes.
Why? Because physics do not apply in Star Wars. Lucas likes it that way. - zBard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"3.7E32 J explosion is equal to 88 trillion gigaton yield in TNT units. "
Taking that value ---
(Hiroshima = 15 Kiloton .) 6 million billion times the power of Liitle boy.
(Earthquake measuring 8.0 = 1 gigaton ) 88 trillion times that of an earthquake .
(the body that caused the Chicxulub crater in Mexico is estimated to have released = 190,000 gigatons of TNT. ) 450 thousand such craters would take out Alderaan
disclaimer = numbers are from the back of my head and may be wrong . - Nova79, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3U - N - I - C - R - O - N will destroy and eat the DEATH STAR and the BORG and ALIENS and John Travolta........and we'll view it on the ALL new video iPod coming soon.
- Grimdotdotdot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4One - but it would take a long time.
- Jarasmen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Nah, why deflect them with a lightsaber? Using actual projectiles would allow the Jedi to Force Push them Neo style. Or even turn them back. Bad idea for the attacker imo, especially since, as conventional ammo depletes pretty quickly (Han Solo is not Rambo), while with a blaster you can keep up rapid fire for some time. Maybe, just maybe, if you shoot long enough the Jedi will get tired or something.
- habitue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This page only calculates the minimum energy needed to blow apart a planet. On another page, he calculates how much energy it would take to blow apart the planet at the speed shown in the movie. Aparently it has a magnitude of 10^38 Joules, which he states is about as much energy as the sun produces in 8000 years. The deathstar must be using some crazy energy source that's more efficient than nuclear fusion, since it puts out way more energy than the sun and is the size of a small moon.
- spamzor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That's a LOT of energy! Holy jesus!
- Eeqmcsq, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33.7E32 joules? 3.7E32 joules?!? Great Scott!
- EricAnderton, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Oops:
"Objects larger than a few meters will impact upon the surface. Pieces which are the size of starships will land with explosions comparable to thermonuclear detonations. Pieces which are several kilometres wide will flatten vast tracts of forest, cause tremendous groundquakes, create craters up to hundreds of kilometres wide etc. Big impacts will inject vast amounts of dust and soot into the atmosphere."
Kind of changes that whole ending sequence with the debris burning in the atmosphere, whlie the Ewoks party down, doesn't it? - Durinthal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"No such device exists in The Real World."
You only say that because it was in a galaxy far, far away. Other galaxies have feelings too, you know! - TylerDurden0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If it was a work day, they were killed. As far as the labor union, they were on Mos Eisely having a drink.
- aoeuhtns, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3haha, you'd need ten times the mass of our planet in TNT get this energy
- TylerDurden0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No problem. Here goes: it's really ***** powerful.
Class dismissed. - SoAnIs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Wrong. From the same site http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/
Try looking at numbers.
Then again, Star Trek is much more realistic, the energy levels needed for star wars are insane. I'll stick with WH40k for my trek-owning races. More plausible. - TheSource, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The Real World can also be found at various times on MTV...
- Ensnared, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Nah, it would probably just make the bullets melt on contact with the lightsabers rather than be deflected. Means they'd have to run up to the shooter and slice him instead of directing his own blaster-bolt back at him, but that seems more like a minor nuisance than "trouble" for anyone using the Force ;)
- astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3
Movie (good one at that!) + Too Much Time on ones hands = Needs to get a life! - spoonard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ever wonder what would happen if someone started using ballistic weapons in Star Wars? I think the Jedi and the Sith would both be in trouble...
- matthawaii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I heard it was OSX!
- vtwin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3It's like asking: Could Superman fly?
- xNaquada, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1More importantly...Did the deathstar run Linux?
- CaspianXI, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"what level of physics is that? Must be 300 level courses"
The author of the article used escape velocity and work/energy, which are commonly taught in University Physics I (PHYS 160 at my university). Note that this is university physics, not college physics (university physics requires calculus II)
Some of the integration the the author used are not taught in PHYS 160, but are from Calculus II (MATH 114).
So, this material really isn't incredibly complex -- to figure this stuff out, all you need is 2 semesters of calculus, and one semester of calculus-based physics. - matthawaii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't think most people can fathom how much energy that is.
- TylerDurden0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How about Rikki Lake? Haw, haw, haw!
- CutRock, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Planet: A nonluminous celestial body larger than an asteroid or comet, illuminated by light from a star, such as the sun, around which it revolves. In the solar system there are nine known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Asteroid:Astronomy Any of numerous small celestial bodies that revolve around the sun, with orbits lying chiefly between Mars and Jupiter and characteristic diameters between a few and several hundred kilometers. Also called minor planet, planetoid.
A Planet can be very small, I wouldn't doubt that even today we could blow up a planet in it's most minimal size.
PS: The death star is fake, it can't blow up anything. - steelphantom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2We did stuff with escape velocity and planets in my first-year physics class last year semester. Sadly, we didn't discuss the Death Star.
- ZekeSulastin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yes, because if we don't have a cure for cancer, the entire world will come to an end! We must spend ALL resources on it!
Lighten up. This is just some guy having fun. This isn't his day job, ffs. Or are you also against all creative works? Those minds could be doing something 'productive' too ... -
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