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Hey peeps,

I am a longtime SW fan and board lurker here. Since most of the discussion here involves comparison between individual characters, I thought I'd change things up and look at SW technological capabilities instead.

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Power Generation




In ANH, the Death Star circumnavigates half of Yavin Prime in half an hour. Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds gives the gas giant a diameter of around 200,000 kilometers.

Distance: 320,000 kilometers
Time: 30 minutes
Final Velocity: 4 * 10^5 m/s
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Mass: 2 * 10^19 kilograms (rough conservative estimate)
Average Power: 7.6 * 10^26 watts

This being the minimum amount of power directed to the Death Star's engines alone.




In the same battle, the X wings circumnavigate Yavin Prime within minutes, and then deccelerate to the Death Star's velocity (in the opposite direction). The absolute maximum time this could have taken is 5 and a half minutes, because the events are framed between announcements of the Death Star's time from firing range being 15 and then 7 minutes, and around 2 and a half minutes, assuming no shot cuts, involve the fighters actually strafing the Death Star. So if we assume that all of the jump cuts to account for the disparity between in-universe and screen time take place during transit, and that the X wings can accelerate in both directions at around the equivalent rate...

Distance: 160,000 kilometers
Time: 2.25 minutes
Average Acceleration in both directions: 18000 m/s^2
Mass: 14000 kg (estimate ignoring reactor)
Work done each half: 4*10^16 joules
Average Power: 3*10^14 watts




Now, these figures result in rough, lower limit estimates (very rough...I did them on the spot, so let me know if you spot any errors) in regards to the amount of power present in SW engines alone. Being able to handle such ridiculous stresses would also imply significantly advanced materials science and whatnot.

Originally posted by Master Han
I did them on the spot,

Really? Impressive, most impressive.

Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
Really? Impressive, most impressive.

Well, only if there aren't any major errors I didn't spot...

Also, I've done these calculations before on other sites, but just redo them every time, so, not as impressive as you'd think.


I'm too lazy to do them now, but we also have:

Dooku's ship's leaving Geonosis in the time it takes Yoda to pick up his cane.
The Death Star's tanking Alderaan's explosion.
The famous Death Star firepower calculations.
The famous asteroid vaporization calculations.
Numerous EU sources.

According to the Incredible cross sections, the Death Stars main reactor produces power equivalent to the output of Hundreds of Super Giant stars.

This does deserve some respect.


Unfortunately, these boards aren't active enough to have 'fan' or 'respect' threads.

Originally posted by The Merchant
According to the Incredible cross sections, the Death Stars main reactor produces power equivalent to the output of Hundreds of Super Giant stars.

Right, although I'm trying to establish its capabilities independent of Saxton.