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Have you ever seen it get pierced or even dented?
The novel "Lightsabres", from the Young Jedi Knights series, contains a sequence of events which helps demonstrate the mechanical strength of stormtrooper armour:

"Qorl stood inside the training chamber holding a wicked-looking spear in his black-wrapped left hand. His droid replacement gripped the gleaming shaft with enough force to dent the metal."
...
"He cocked his droid arm back - and hurled the deadly weapon ..."
"Norys slammed into the wall, his helmet ringing against the hard metal bulkhead. His vision sparkled with impending unconsciousness."
...
"He looked down at his chest in amazement and saw only a nick in the white armor where the spear had struck."

Amazing right? Then how, in all the movies, did the stormtroopers die if the bolts never penetrated the armor?

BUMP!!!!!!!!

'cos the EU often goes for a completely different style than the movies. In the movies, the main purpose of Stormtrooper armour is to make them look impersonal and menacing, especially to kids. It seems to offer no protective value. That's film logic.

Sorry to revive this, but I just want to point out that the stormtrooper's armor seems to do NOTHING to stop anything.

One hit from a blaster pistol kills them.
One hit from a rock knocks them unconscious
Considering the fact that the Tech level is hundreds of years ahead of us, you'd expect the armor to have nano technology, exoskeletons or at least a HUD that would give infared vision, etc.
heck, even some prototype armor being developed today is going to have these things...and they are planned to be released in just 20 or so years!
When you think about it, stormtrooper armor is less advanced than our armor today
this applies not only to their armor
their blaster seems to have a lower rate of fire, travel slower (its supposed to be a laser!) and has more or less the same range than today's guns. And yet the tech is supposed to be several hundred years in the future.
Also, the stormtroopers miss so often; when Han Solo engaged the Stormtroopers in the Death star and later on Endor, the stormtroopers were missing at close range and weren't bothering to re ajust their aim! Either their blasters aren't exactly top notch quality, or the Empire seriously needs to reevalute their training programs.

Theres a line in PoD which says "T14's lose calibration quickly if not carefully maintained. " I think, don't have the source on me.

Originally posted by mattatom
Theres a line in PoD which says "T14's lose calibration quickly if not carefully maintained. " I think, don't have the source on me.

That's right.

My theory; the bolt itself doesn't pierce the armour, but enough radiation gets through to cause organ failure.

Originally posted by chilled monkey
That's right.

My theory; the bolt itself doesn't pierce the armour, but enough radiation gets through to cause organ failure. ...I doubt radiation poisoning would be killing so many soldiers in Star Wars. But what exactly is radioactive about a laser bolt? It's superheated gas focused through a lens. Or something.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
...I doubt radiation poisoning would be killing so many soldiers in Star Wars. But what exactly is radioactive about a laser bolt? It's superheated gas focused through a lens. Or something.

A blaster (also called a gun) was a ranged weapon that fired bursts of particle beam energy called blaster bolts from a replaceable power cell. The most commonly used weapon in the galaxy, blasters' intense beams consisting of compacted high-energy particles and intense light could kill or paralyze their target, depending on their setting.

Does seem to be a laser. Reminds me of wave packets back from physics long long ago.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
...I doubt radiation poisoning would be killing so many soldiers in Star Wars. But what exactly is radioactive about a laser bolt? It's superheated gas focused through a lens. Or something.

A laser is a highly focused beam of light, i.e. a form of electromagnetic radiation. No gas or other physical matter there. Blaster bolts are superheated plasma (i.e. there is physical matter there).

And to answer your question, here is a quote from the RotS novelisation:

"the bolts flared between their blades until their galvening faded and the particles of the packeted beams dispersed into radioactive fog."

I always loved how the term "laser" was applied to Star Wars. Calling them plasma blasts would still sound cool.

The death by radioactivity theory is a bust. People hit by non-fatal bolts would be gain cancer and as Leia's wound was a burn tied up with a cloth... And as for Avis' OP, a spear and a wall aren't energy blasts, so I don't know what the hell he was getting at.

We very clearly see holes burnt through stormtrooper armor in the films. It is the heat and the impact that kill when it comes to lasers. I'm not sure why the RotS novelist wrote them as radioactive, because they shouldn't be. Technobabble for Star Wars lasers says it is super-heated gas focused through a lens. Plasma isn't radioactive.

If a storm trooper got shot in the say, hand or toe or something, would he die? Do the laser or plasma blasts kill a person instantly, or does that only happen to storm troopers? I seem to remember main characters not dieing from being shot, they only get a hole in their hand. Also, everyone who ever shoots, and kills a storm trooper must have incredile aim to hit in a lethal place. All the storm troopers seem to be hit in the chest, and they die. Would the super-heat of the bolt kill the trooper because of close proximity to the heart?

If the empire had kept producing clones, maybe they wouldn't be $hit shots. But such is GL...not sure why he'd go from military trained clones to half-wit conscripts...

as for the blaster bolts, im going with the whole heat burning through, and that the armour is made of plastic...

Originally posted by Anon E. Mous
If a storm trooper got shot in the say, hand or toe or something, would he die? Do the laser or plasma blasts kill a person instantly, or does that only happen to storm troopers? I seem to remember main characters not dieing from being shot, they only get a hole in their hand. Also, everyone who ever shoots, and kills a storm trooper must have incredile aim to hit in a lethal place. All the storm troopers seem to be hit in the chest, and they die. Would the super-heat of the bolt kill the trooper because of close proximity to the heart? Laser bolts are similar to bullets. SO yeah, if they got shot in the foot, they have a horrible-looking foot that doesn't work. Remember Leia getting shot in the shoulder?

When/which movie did she get shot?

Originally posted by Anon E. Mous
When/which movie did she get shot? ...
...
...
...............
Return of the Jedi.

...
I'm gonna go have a cold shower.

Sorry, I haven't seen any of the movies for at least a year.
I had a feeling that it was ESB or ROTJ.