The Death Star Costs $15.6 Septillion

[redeemer09]

but remember the death star had many other weapons and could lower its main laser to the point it destroy a huge area of the planet

 

[redeemer09]

but remember the death star had many other weapons and could lower its main laser to the point it destroy a huge area of the planet

 

[KapnKerfuffle]

All that steel...
and yet no guard rail for the poor bastards standing in the Death Star laser tunnel when it fires:

Death Star superlaser technician 1: [after blowing up Alderaan] So, anyway, I says, "Forget the dental plan, forget sick leave. I just want a railing. You know, one railing right here!"
[points to the edge of the platform they're standing on]
Death Star superlaser technician 2: Yeah, I know. I've almost fallen over that thing so many times. So what'd they say?
Death Star superlaser technician 1: Get this: they said they're worried we'd be leaning all day.
Death Star superlaser technician 2: They said that?
Death Star superlaser technician 1: Yeah.
Death Star superlaser technician 2: Well, none of this will matter when we're famous singers.

 

[Haliwali]

The Death Star Costs $15.6 Septillion

By far your greatest find Keane! The person who figured this all out wins my award for the best waste of time ever!

I wouldn't give the guy that did those calculations THAT much credit. It was a pretty lazy attempt. Granted I didn't think of it first so I'm kind of jealous.

Still that thing about this just being a bare bones assessment of the cost is a huge understatement (that is unless all you're after is a big hulk in space with no purpose).

Hey, had they covered the exhaust port, which was about 2m across, about the size of a womp rat, the Death Star would have been the ultimate weapon!

You can't effectively "cover" an exhaust port though. Ever tried stopping up the exhaust on your car? Bad things happen. The Imps had it ray shielded against lasers, so the only option to attack it was with torpedos. Torpedos by thir very nature aren't very accurate. The apparent odds of getting the torpedos in there were astronomical (hence why the computer targeting failed the first time). Besides, Jedi were all but extinct during this time so the designers weren't thinking about Jedi abilities.

They fixed the exhaust port problem, with the second Death Star by having millions of super tiny exhausts instead of one big one. It would have been the perfect weapon had they finished it.

Anyway back to my point, if you wanna take everything into account you would probably have to take that $15.6 septillion and square it.

I love these kinds of threads, because I can talk forever about anything Star Wars related.

Dude, that was all kinds of awesomeness covered with chocolate and a cherry on top. Easily the funniest thing I've read in quite some time!

Like I said, there are very few people on this board who can match my Star Wars (fictional) knowledge. Its sad at times, with all the time I've spent reading the Expanded Universe novels and on Wookiepedia, but its still something I'm proud of.

Hey, I gotta be proud of something right?

I'm sure I coujld at least give you a challenge.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Question - do those resources actually exist on earth? Steel is still a finite resource, as is the energy a planet destroying laser requires.

Also, the U.S. debt is nearly all the money on earth?

I remember reading somewhere that the energy required to completely vaporize the Earth (ala Alderaan style) would be equivilant to the amount of energy the Sun puts out in 10 years.

So alot...

According to Tesla, it would only take 5 Nukes to completely disintegrate the earth, if they were placed right. That seems a bit much.

Well of course they would have to be placed right, but if you just want to blow up a planet the size of the Earth willy nilly, thats about how much energy it would take. Also 5 nukes means five points of penetration whereas a "Laser" has only one point.

Also I believe that figure was achieved by thinking about meteor impacts, not about super lasers.

But as a laser lacks kinetic force, it could only destroy a planet by superheating the core until it actually dissolved the planet. Therefore, they should have been left with a floating ball of lava instead of an asteroid belt. Unless it wasn't a laser, but a tractor beam....

At what point did it become evident that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about?

Actually, due to the fact that there's no heat in space, it would be a floating ball of lava for roughly a blink of an eye. Then the immense vacuum would turn it into a floating ball of rock. Or it would split apart. Hrm.

Shall we experiment?

 

[Sweep117]

Alright, start passing around the collection tray folks. We can do this.

Was about to say that myself. Now, I'm a bit short on cash this month, so could I just owe you a couple of billions?

You're only a couple billion short? Can we be friends?

 

[matrix3509]

I'm sure I coujld at least give you a challenge.

Heh, if you want to, then by all means. Even though I claim knowledge, I'm not perfect. Its not like I'm sort of Zen Star Wars master or anything. I can't recite every name from the end credits like some fanbois can. I'd like to think I've transcended fanboy status to something even greater.

Meh, I can still dream can't I?

 

[Emperor Inferno]

I know a way we can cut costs down to 1%: SLAVE LABOR!

 

[matrix3509]

I know a way we can cut costs down to 1%: SLAVE LABOR!

But where will we find the wookies to build it for us? We could capture Peter Mayhew, but as far as I know, there is only one of him.

 

[Rhayn]

By the way, didn't Tesla die before the first nuclear test? How could he be so sure about the potential of 5 well-placed nukes to destroy the earth?

If he had access to the theoretical power of one nuke, I bet he could've figured out the potential power of 5 nukes placed so the shockwaves strenghten eachother. At least, that's how I belive he reasoned.

 

[GloatingSwine]

According to Tesla, it would only take 5 Nukes to completely disintegrate the earth, if they were placed right. That seems a bit much.

The problem is the gravitational binding energy. You could crack or fragment an Earth mass body with a lot less than 1x10^32 joules, but it would just be pulled back together by it's own gravity. (Wouldn't be good for anyone living there, but wouldn't blow the planet up either).

But as a laser lacks kinetic force, it could only destroy a planet by superheating the core until it actually dissolved the planet. Therefore, they should have been left with a floating ball of lava instead of an asteroid belt. Unless it wasn't a laser, but a tractor beam....

Actually, photons do have momentum. A very small amount each, but a laser weapon which could impart 1x10^32 joules would have a lot of photons. This is how they deliver energy when they strike an atom.

Also, remember that your laser is hitting a point on one side of the body, which means it will be heated unevenly, and the expansion stress forces as one side heats and expands and the other side does not would begin to tear it apart. (once again though, with a sufficiently massive object, gravitational binding energy is the threshold you have to overcome to actually blow the thing up).

On the subject at hand though, I very much doubt you could build an object as massive as the Death Star out of steel. It wouldn't have the tensile or compressive strength to withstand it's own gravity. As with Ringworld, you'd need some unobtanium to build it out of. (Larry Niven actually worked out that the tensile strength of Ringworld construction material would have to approach that of the Strong Nuclear Force)

Edit: Actually, there's another obstruction to building the Death Star out of steel. You have to try and move it. According to some of the extraneous fluff, the Death Star has a ring of 200 engines around it's equator, and assuming that each one of those is half a kilometre in diameter (generous, as they're invisible even in the surface shots around the equator trench in ANH), the bearing stress on each engine would be on the order of 80 terapascals. That's 300,000 times the tensile strength of construction grade steel).


On a lighter note, it's clear that the Death Star was build by the lowest bid contractor, and they cut corners on sensible safety measures like handrails at every possible opportunity.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Actually, due to the fact that there's no heat in space, it would be a floating ball of lava for roughly a blink of an eye. Then the immense vacuum would turn it into a floating ball of rock. Or it would split apart. Hrm.

Shall we experiment?

Neither. Objects do not cool quickly in space because there is no medium other than radiation for them to remove heat, and that's not very quick.

 

[Ranooth]

Ah but does this pay for the non-existent engines? If i remember correctly no one actually knew how the hell this things move.

 

[Slift]

According to Tesla, it would only take 5 Nukes to completely disintegrate the earth, if they were placed right. That seems a bit much.

Tesla was also WAAAAAY into his 'WTF' stage by then with his death beam and earthquake machine, take it with a grain of salt. I doubt that it'd take just 5 to DISINTEGRATE the earth into dust ala Death Star super laser. Even considering perfect placement and everything... I really doubt it.

But as a laser lacks kinetic force, it could only destroy a planet by superheating the core until it actually dissolved the planet. Therefore, they should have been left with a floating ball of lava instead of an asteroid belt. Unless it wasn't a laser, but a tractor beam....

At what point did it become evident that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about?

Just then with the whole 'ball of lava' considering superheating a planet core would probably result in an explosion of the same type as the Death Star produces considering it's not 'evaporating' from the outwards in, its a ball of metal (Or whatever Alderan's core was made of) being flash superheated to... well, really high temperatures in a second. That's more than enough (For my viewing at least) to explain why the planet explodes... Considering a flash vaporized ball of metal inside the core of the planet probably set of a chain reaction vaporizing lower level magma... thus the force of these now volatile gasses would indeed blow up the planet from the inside out. Kind of like a balloon being over inflated.

Don't quote me on the mathematics... It's my theory on science FICTION.

 

[KefZ_X]

Question - If we should come up with the funds and build this "Death Star" whos in charge?

 

[Ultress]

Don't know if it would save money just to instail the laser on Earth's moon but it's an idea. Well I'm of to the street corner to get some funds

 

[Caliostro]

I'll put in the 94 cents guys! Only $15,602,022,489,829,821,422,840,226 to go !

 

[Freedon Nad]

I think building stuff becomes much cheaper when you're running a bloody GALACTIC EMPIRE and can choke guys by thinking. Also, shooting lightning.

Isn't this a case of Stupid Jetpack Hitler (look it up in tvtropes.org, i don't know how to link-ify words)? They could have planetary bombardment cruisers. And big bombs. Like the ones they use for Exterminatus. Then again, Death Star can scare people by the price itself.