Is It Possible to Destroy a Planet with the Death Star Laser?

Discover the science behind destroying a planet like the iconic Death Star. Learn about the challenges of generating enough energy, avoiding fatal recoil, and more. Explore potential solutions, from tethering the Death Star to a star, using antimatter bombs, to the most realistic option: crashing a large object into a planet at high speeds. Get ready for a mind-blowing journey into the physics of planet destruction.

[@Berengier817]

Saying a Death Star isn't possible is exactly what someone who was building a Death Star would say

[@lenny5774]

ROTF!

[@Jamii.pages.]

Hahaha....very true!!

[@scienceunbound460]

Shhhhh

[@agr8h2o]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Sir_Godz]

also someone who was secretly not secretly secretly writing a book on how to get away with murder

[@pauledge1621]

The heat issue was solved. A single thermal exhaust port a few meters wide at the end of the equatorial trench

[@Shatterpath]

🤣

[@renaissanceredneck3695]

It's totally not a design flaw that could lead to the destruction of the DS1, nope not at all.

[@commandoepsilon4664]

It was ray shielded too! Unfortunately someone forgot the particle shields but I'm sure that won't be an issue...

[@thetangieman3426]

Not much bigger than a womprat.

[@I.am.Sarah.]

@@thetangieman3426 All this time I thought he was saying "swamp rats" lol

[@tknispel]

Fun fact: The Death Star is fueled by the same magic crystals as Lightsabers. Which is how it's able to do what's literally, as you so eloquently put it Simon, the impossible ;)

[@lorettashepherd.]

Khyber crystals

[@davidlegrice4207]

@@lorettashepherd. Magic Khyber crystals

[@joecrazy9896]

Ain't the first time a setting in space uses a made-up recourse or just bending an existing one to explain how a weapon or ship works.

[@Name-ot3xw]

@@lorettashepherd. Khyber crystal shards, out there in the expanded universe exist weapons made from complete crystals, and by all accounts we don't want to fuck with those.

[@freyachobi]

As with the sabers the crystals aren't a power source, they're a focusing lense for energy to make the desired beam. Death Star had an engine room and reactor. Sequel trilogy literally syphoned energy from stars to fire

[@mortophobegaming6454]

With all the tech we can imagine to be realistic, the most advanced we come up with is still 'throw a rock' :')

[@devindiaz1085]

That's already the sum total of our current weapons technology. Throw rock. Advancement: throw faster.

[@Nemoticon]

It's not about how fancy you can be... the simplest solution is often the best.

[@joseirimia]

Check out the series of the three body problem by liu cixin. Fairly realistic and ground on physics, and in the 2nd book, the dark forest, there's a surprising spacewarfare method.

[@TheFallenFaob]

Or a large space ship that has been running away from a fleet chasing it for a few days

[@laral094]

I mean... if it ain't broken... I guess we sometimes have exploding rocks. But then that mostly is just a rock that destroys itself to throw smaller, faster rocks.

[@bradlevantis913]

Simon is absolutely thrilled he can rip on Star Wars for 15 minutes 😂

[@scienceunbound460]

No joke.

[@devindiaz1085]

Too bad he did it wrong lmaoooo

[@jamesporte55]

He had to learn how to say Alderaan! 🫣

[@i-love-comountains3850]

@@jamesporte55 I have an Alder tree I've named Anne. Is that not how it's pronounced?

[@Cartman8402]

And as a Star Trek Fan I envy him for that.😉👍

[@kentuckysmoose]

The editor had a blast making this one

[@davidhasbrouck7948]

This is why I like The Expanse so much. It tries to portray space warfare with an awareness of physics.

[@dragget]

@@johndaniels1197 like he said, Star Wars is not SF, it's fantasy.

[@dragget]

@@johndaniels1197 I said nothing about the quality.

[@rianmacdonald9454]

Yes, because it was set - like 200-300 years from now. So tech wouldn't be that advanced, hence the show is very grounded with modern physics aspect. A damn good show, really enjoyed that show.

[@gabortoth3644]

Based on our current knowledge and expected technology for the near future....Now tell me more about human technolgy in the year 5600....

[@tordjarv3802]

The engines in the expanse are ridiculously efficient, basically they would have to be hotter than the universe 1s after the Big Bang to have that ISP and thrust that they have in the books. The expanse focuses more on the political aspects of space colonization rather than the scientific ones

[@shinkicker404]

I actually really liked how the Death Star worked in Rogue One. Bit more realistic, visually impressive and arguably more terrifying.

[@Raygo.]

In what way did it work differently in Rogue One from the original Star Wars film?

[@zebjensen4251]

@@Raygo. in rouge one because they didn't use full power they only destroyed everything on the planet scareff rather then atomize it like in the og movie.

[@towmotornoises]

Rogue One is IMO the best Star Wars movie, it’s more grounded and the story as told from the point of view of non-force-using people is way more interesting. Because Jedi and Sith seem like unstoppable terrors to normal people

[@Raygo.]

@@zebjensen4251 That's right. But there was no difference in how the Death Star actually worked. They just didn't use full power. It was actually stated clearly that they could have destroyed the whole moon.

[@towmotornoises]

@@Raygo. probably referring to how they used it as a local orbital strike platform in the film rather than blowing up a whole planet

[@THExPOPEXIX]

I love the idea of the death star breaking into a swarm and becoming a dyson sphere in whatever system it wants to attack. even just harvesting the sun for a week would mess up any civilization in the system with all the light and warmth being stolen, then unleashed in a final strike or maybe not storing at all but just one long laser burn by focusing the star on one planet.

[@jimskywaker4345]

that's how starkiller base should have been done

[@Vastin]

At that point you might as well just unfold the entire thing into a micrometer thin mirror several million miles in diameter and just melt the surface of the target planet like ants under a magnifying glass. Super simple physics. No muss, no fuss. Still kind of a big engineering project tho.

[@deek0146]

You could also just nuke the planet with current day technology and wipe out 99% of life and make it uninhabitable for thousands of years. No need to destroy the entire planet other than that the screen writers thought it would look cool.

[@rikschaaf]

10:20 You can also counteract the momentum by also shooting an equally powerful laser in the exactly opposite direction. That would only double the required amount of energy.

[@aceundead4750]

It would also increase the heat within the death star problem

[@brianpembrook9164]

Just make it a remote station. No crew to get boiled.

[@jasontoddman7265]

Or you could have its engines - which it used to approach Alderaan in the first place - provide reverse thrust at the same moment the super-laser was fired. Also, they must have inertia-less drive (along with artificial gravity) to begin with or they couldn't accelerate the way they are shown to do in any of the movie to begin with; everyone and everything would just go splat against the rear walls once the ships started to move. But that would have to be the topic of its own video.

[@Alarcahu]

@@aceundead4750 Just add another thermal exhaust port

[@Lauren_C]

Or the opposing forces are so great, that they wind up crushing the underlying support material down to a singularity.

[@ryanhatesgirls]

I love the media offline screen, so relatable

[@ughettapbacon]

"The Planet is fine. The people are fucked." - G. Carlin

[@d.c.8828]

Praise be to Georgie!

[@ChattahoocheeRiverRat]

I'd love to see the same analysis of The Doomsday Machine in the Star Trek original series episode of the same name. It blew planets to rubble using a beam of "pure anti-protons, absolutely pure". Spock noted that it appeared to be powered by a "total conversion drive", which in ST lingo meant total conversion of matter into energy. It did digest the rubble of a destroyed planet for fuel. Also, the hull was solid neutronium, which would be interesting in and of itself, but I digress. What say ye, Simon?

[@RCAvhstape]

I love how one of the novels retconned the Doomsday Machine into a device built by a civilization to fight the Borg, and that it was the one thing the Borg were afraid of.

[@auricstorm]

I think shatner wrote that one. His books are wild, there's psychic prehistoric dolphins and a borg homeworld with a physical kill switch

[@ChattahoocheeRiverRat]

@@RCAvhstape Hmm. What was that book called? One thing - Spock had plotted the DM's course backwards, and said it had come from outside our galaxy. (Of course, it could have had to traverse the energy barrier, but that's another issue.) Did the book address that?

[@RCAvhstape]

@@ChattahoocheeRiverRat Found it: Vendetta by Peter David, 1991. I remember it being a pretty good read, one of my buddies back then agreed. Don't read the wiki page for it, it spoils it and also makes it sound lame.

[@coreybristow4128]

He will have to do alot of Google research because it's blatantly obvious he did watch any of starwars to research this episode

[@jokerjoker007]

Man, you’re one prolific creator. Thank you for your service 🫡

[@jimjam7830]

Probably my favorite Whistle channel at the moment. No offense to all his other channels, they're great. But this one's writing, editing, presentation and overall theme is 11/10

[@vic5015]

"An immobile planet-killing station tethered to a Star that uses the star for power." Iant that basically Starkiller base?

[@Raygo.]

Great stuff Simon! I look forward to your explanations of why the Wizard of Oz couldn't be real and how it would be impossible for a genie to actually fit inside Aladdin's lamp. Love the new thumbnail style where your smug mug beams and gurns however serious the topic. You don't win the internet, so much as mock it all the way to the bank. What a style!

[@Raygo.]

@@XNY_Music Oh well in that case I beg your pardon. We certainly don't want anything different to "all the big channels".

[@tal3546]

Don't forget King Kong. I mean I could buy into a team of great white hunters capturing a giant monkey and sailing it to America. BUt when it escaped and climbed up the Empire State Building with a blonde in its hand I was like, "Yeah, right..."

[@Raygo.]

@@tal3546 😲🥴 Be honest, you just wanna see Simon in a monkey suit clinging to the Empire State Building.

[@briananthony4044]

Note that a Genie, or Jinn becomes a whisp of smoke before entering their lamp. It actually exists in a different dimension to ours but can cross between dimensions when required.

[@Raygo.]

@@briananthony4044 Well... now I feel sheepish. I expect Oz and Kong fans will be along any moment to defend their franchises... before Simon gets to work on them.

[@fsj197811]

This episode was especially silly but I still enjoyed it and it made me laugh. Thanks for sharing.

[@werdsmyth]

The planetary (life) destruction sequence from Ender's Game is more how I imagined the Death Star would actually work. Which is also more like how the Death Star does work in Rogue One.

[@clairecelestin8437]

I like your take on this. My brother and I did the calculations on this a while back, and we started saying "yeah nope" when we realized that the energy requirements of the blast means that it has at minimum the rest mass of Mount Everest, and even in an energetic form like a photon, when 1/8 of it goes whizzing down the tunnel just a few meters away from those humans in that tunnel, the tidal force is going to be strong enough to do their pooping for them.

[@Andrew-pr9xv]

Random piece of trivia: even though destroying planets is viewed as a Star Wars thing, there have been more planets destroyed on Star Trek.

[@devindiaz1085]

the spiciest of takes

[@shaydowsith348]

ya, in the original series that doomsday device "the planetkiller" killed dozens of planets. The thing that looked like a tube-cigar that the one guy rode down it's throat.

[@thomasp506]

Star Trek is just as fantasy as Star Wars. Both rely on magical technologies like artificial gravity and faster-than-light travel. Star Trek even includes time travel.

[@shaydowsith348]

Time travel is technically in star wars too. In world between worlds.

[@Andrew-pr9xv]

@@thomasp506 Completely agree. The only reason I rate Babylon 5 as slightly harder sci-fi is because they keep their magic-science fairly consistent from episode to episode... Meanwhile, phasers work differently from one episode to the next.

[@taylorbutler5392]

That’s so funny because literally five minutes before putting on this video I was explaining to someone why Star Wars is Fantasy and not a Sc-Fi, but that in reality they’re not that different anyway! Both genres are sub-genres of speculative fiction, and share similar themes, tropes, and plots. I like Grr Martin’s explanation: “We can make up all the definitions of science fiction and fantasy and horror that we want. We can draw our boundaries and make our labels, but in the end it’s still the same old story, the one about the human heart in conflict with itself. The rest, my friends, is furniture.” I highly recommend reading his full interview on the subject, it’s so interesting!

[@GrievousReborn]

Star Wars is a combination of both anyway

[@Talenel]

Star Wars is fantasy with a coat of sci-fi paint. It apes the aesthetics of science fiction, while lacking everything that makes sci-fi, sci-fi. It doesn't have a science fiction plot, it's just a fantasy story that happens to be set in space. It's not even the cool kind of space fantasy that embraces the bizarre.

[@SgtSupaman]

Anyone that says Star Wars isn't science fiction is just ignoring the basis of what science fiction is. If the story tries to explain things with science (even if that science doesn't pan out in the real world, hence fiction), then it is science fiction. If the story leaves the explanation (or lack thereof) to magic, it is fantasy. It doesn't matter that you can't make a real Death Star or a real Lightsaber. Those things are described, in universe, as working according to science, and, thus, are science fiction.

[@adrianwebster6923]

@@cancermcaids7688 That is an overly narrow definition. Star Wars is science fiction in the broader and longer historical tradition of Flash Gordon, John Carter and Buck Rodgers and their predecessors. Very fantastical but still a branch of science fiction and fantasy. Dune straddles this line too but pulls in more grounded socio political elements.

[@TAP7a]

Star Wars is a science fantasy for sure. Doesn't even try to speculate about technology, it simply uses it to create a mechanically slightly different and aesthetically distinct background upon which typical dramas can unfold. If it did more with explicitly exploring how it's fantasy technology would affect people and society (not just producing source books with engineering-looking diagrams and funny labels) then it would qualify as a space opera, then if it were to move the story from melodrama to something more grounded it would become sci-fi. Tbh SW mainline movies are quite far removed from sci-fi

[@alexanderhilary]

How have I not come across this channel yet? I watch Whistler stuff all the time! Great video y’all

[@nmstranger]

I know right? Dude has more Channels than the Discovery Channel lol

[@alexanderhilary]

@@nmstranger I know there must be a huge team working on all this stuff. But this dude is one hell of a presenter

[@SC1ENCEP1E]

In Warhammer 40k lore a popular tactic is just to tractor asteroids in to a collision trajectory. Brutal

[@joecrazy9896]

Well, I would call Star Wars Science Fantasy than just Fantasy. Edit: 6:18 I mean, weird crystals as a power source isn't anymore ridiculous than any other alloy or power source another Scifi story would use to explain their technology. Not like I expect creators to give me actual formulas and schematics without having to make up something to explain how they are feasible in the setting.

[@sasukedemon888888888]

I agree

[@gronagor]

No! It is just fantasy in space. There is no logic. BUT, we love fantasy! Rather this than watching a war that takes centuries to fight.

[@Winston7T7]

Such a great channel!

[@Jiuhuashan]

Brilliant production and editing. Chef's kiss!

[@waynedieckmann9840]

The best breakdown ever!! I've watched a lot in the past 2 years

[@Michael75579]

You can get light beams to interact with each other, but you need huge energy densities to get a noticeable number of photon-photon events. CERN is among the few places on earth that can produce the necessary energy density and even then the interactions aren't obvious. All of which means that yes, the lasers from the Death Star would largely pass straight through each other.

[@Confron7a7ion7]

It's Science-fantasy, there's a whole genre for this already lol

[@Edward256]

Fun fact: Star Trek can also be considered Fantasy by some.

[@eaphantom9214]

This 1 is absolutely epic! Favourite yet! 😍

[@gamereditor59ner22]

Wow!! That answer my childhood question!! Thank you and keep it up!!

[@jaylinnell5251]

The superlasers on the Death Star 1 & 2 were powered by giant versions the same crystals used in the Jedi’s lightsabers. They produce massive amounts of energy on their own, and the bigger they are, the more unstable they are. Think of the super laser like a massive version of a lightsaber. Cuts through almost anything.

[@Feyawen]

Exactly. The Death Star isn't firing a "Laser," it's firing essentially a giant lightsaber. It's powered by a ton of Kyber Crystals. Just like the "laser" guns aren't lasers, they're blasters, they shoot a charge of energy, not a laser.

[@sonjavoorhees4759]

If that's the case it should have at most poked a hole through the planet probably making a pair of rather nasty volcanoes. Light sabers form of energy cannot carry too much heat or anyone hit by one would be a pink mist steam explosion.

[@myeka1273]

@@sonjavoorhees4759 Lightsabers are able to contain the energy more stably due to the technology in the hilt, the Death Star is that same energy but directed at one target and we see the results.

[@jimskywaker4345]

so could 2 super lasers block each other like a lightsaber duel?

[@BorderlineBinge]

Since we're doing Star Wars, I'd love a breakdown on the Holdo maneuver and how much damage it could actually do

[@scratweatherwax]

Already been done by the channel Because Science

[@BorderlineBinge]

@@scratweatherwax Seen it but would prefer this channel's take

[@whom382]

Also, I would like a Decoding the Unknown episode of why that maneuver isn't the default way of doing combat

[@brianwilson3458]

YES!!

[@sexylinoleum9488]

The holdo manover literally was just a relitivistic kill vehicle.

[@MrAlyxandyr]

A neat thing we'd thought up in a random discord was that is we utilized warp fields to curve the energy output of the laser generator around, we could get sum 0 momentum shift in the death star (because space thinks things are going straight through it, thanks bendy!) while still pointing it all in the right direction. Since the radiative heat would also curve this same path, that does solve that issue right up until it leaved the controlled warp region. Gotta love some good ol' fashioned sci-fantasy

[@Epsilonsama]

I wonder how many hours this dude is working with all the channels he is hosting. I'm sure there's a team of writers and what not and he mostly does the line read but even then that's a lot of work.

[@nephalos666]

With a single laser? No. With a whole armada of smaller but still superpowerful lasers? Yes, it is theoretically possible. Dr. Michio Kaku has a video on this very topic.

[@devindiaz1085]

where link cry emoji cry emoji

[@nephalos666]

@@devindiaz1085 I can't remember where it was at, but I distinctly remember him describing exactly how it could be done. Might not have been his sole video though. It might have been a collab with someone else on the subject. But he does talk about killing a planet with an armada of like... several thousand "small" ships armed with microwave lasers that could basically cook a planet's surface to death iirc. Boiling oceans, charring rock, cooking/burning away living matter.

[@shinystarmiestudios4179]

@@nephalos666 Actually the Empire can do that. It's called Base Delta Zero and it uses the Turbo Lasers (Powerful, concentrated plasma bolts) to melt the surface of a planet. If the Death Star could be replicated on Earth, it wouldn't blow up a planet, so much as evaporate it.

[@Edward256]

Sounds like The Vogon Constructor Fleet.

[@srinivasanalagesan1826]

Great job Kevin with the script. I really like to see a video about the "The Service Weapon" from "Control" game here, that'll be cool.

[@pyrodrayson3216]

Heh. That thing defines its own laws of reality though, so trying to argue it shouldn't be able to do what it does is a weird mix of moot and definitionally implied. XD

[@ButWhyWasTaken]

TBH I'm really glad you added a bit more personality into this channel, it felt kind of sterile before, seemingly never going off script and all. I know not every channel can be brainblaze but it's nice.

[@tristanswain7107]

On the basis of 'in a galaxy far far away, a long time ago' it does fit fantasy, but it does have sci fi elements. It also has space wizards - fantasy. Space ships, blasters etc -sci fi. Let's just say it's a hybrid

[@knotsure913]

no. lets not. to be sci-fi they would occasionally have to actually talk about the science. the science should sometimes drive the plot. This doesnt happen in star wars.

[@QBCPerdition]

At best, it is sci-fantasy.

[@nessc5825]

The novels inhabit the scifi-fantasy section of any book store or library no need to argue it’s allllll in harmony. Just enjoy the story

[@knotsure913]

where the books are placed.... the existence of spaceships.... these things do not a sci-fi make. Its in the name. the science has to be part of the plot, or its just plain old fiction. Alien wasnt scifi, it was horror/drama. Spaceballs wasnt scifi, it was comedy. both of those had space ships. science fiction is just that.... fiction involving science. Fiction in space isnt instantly science fiction just because theyre in space. science has to be a part of it.

[@knotsure913]

@@nessc5825 yeah. if anything, sci-fi is a subset of fantasy anyway. but words do have meanings.

[@ObservingLibertarian]

*Question:* "Is It Possible to Destroy a Planet with the Death Star Laser?" *Answer:* Yes, essentially there is no limit to how powerful a laser can be made given enough power and if you did, for some strange reason, make one powerful enough to breach a planets crust, mantle, core and inner core - and convert it's core and inner core into plasma and then rapidly expanding gasses, quickly enough, it would in fact explode. The power output required to accomplish such a goal would be an astonishing number - but ultimately doable. The real issue is - why? With a minuscule fraction of that level of power you could simply railgun a solid object at a planet and destroy it far more easily. Or hell, if you're just really - really - into lasers: you could destroy a planet by using a nice big laser to propel a sizeable asteroid, or perhaps even planetoid, towards said planet and destroy it that way and it would still consume a minute fraction of the power required to explode the core of a planet as described above. It's not that the death star effect is impossible to accomplish - it's just remarkably inefficient compared to so many other possible options which would be far easier.

[@judgeomega]

i thought there is an upper bound before you create a kugelblitz

[@housellama]

@@judgeomega that is correct. E=MC2 means that, as odd as it sounds, a laser produces gravity. While at some point, the laser would eventually just melt everything and probably cause some secondary explosions long before the energies necessary to generate a singularity were reached, you would still have major issues overcoming the binding energy with just light.

[@kevinarchambault3271]

Great effects on this video!

[@jamespace5033]

There were two death stars….maybe a third with Starkiller base, but that’s is. What’re did your research team find a four? I love your videos, keep it up.

[@TITANAS84]

The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of The Force

[@QuestionMan]

Neither is the ability to build a channel with snark, wikipedia, and the cadence of a cattle auctioneer.

[@lordMartiya]

Can I point out that literally every single point in this video has already been answered by the franchise at some point? Power requirements: SW ships are powered by hypermatter, a ridiculously energy dense fuel, with Disney adding the power amplification properties of the Khyber crystals. Superlaser: most laser weapons in SW are actually blasters that employ lasers as part of their mechanism, with blasters being a rather weird kind of particle weapons with a plasma stage (short version: first they have blaster gas, then they energize it into explosive and densely packed plasma, and then shoot it as a particle beam). Heat: there's literally dozens of exhaust ports. One of which was sabotaged to be a weak spot. Recoil: leaving aside the properties of blaster technology mean there's less recoil, they have artificial gravity. The fireball: the superlaser causes it due its operating mechanism. Alternative solution, a giant bomb: they have them, the problem is actually putting them in place, especially if the target has a planetary shield (like Alderaan, you can see it being defeated by the superlaser). Hence the Death Star. Relativistic kill vehicle: they already have that too, and one was used by accident during the Clone Wars (a large warship suffered damage that triggered the hyperdrive while the ship was pointed at a planet).

[@shinystarmiestudios4179]

I figured out that in reality, the Death Star wouldn't blow up Alderaan, it'd more melt, then evaporate Alderaan.

[@adamwu4565]

AKA "plot magic".

[@alexandergaus493]

..." is laughably absurd- so, let's go there!" THAT'S the spirit, that's why I always come back, nej- why I never even leave. Just living and waiting for the next video to be published by our boi!

[@toddlerj102]

Since business turned to brain, this is my new fave channel of simons. Don't get me wrong, I watch all of them, well okay I miss the gory criminalist ones, but with zillions of channels of simons, this is my new fave for sure 👍

[@ilajoie3]

Decoding the Unknown is mine

[@colinpratt7618]

There is a mistake at 9:50 in that the speed of light is 2.998 x 10^8 m/s, not 10^5, so the speed after firing, assuming no propulsion is used during firing would be only 100 m/s and the acceleration would be 2.1 G, unpleasant, but survivable. Incidentally, I would like to know what mass you gave the Death Star. Was it 10^22 Kg?

[@lenny5774]

All that and you "would to know"? ;)

[@colinpratt7618]

@@lenny5774 Thank you for letting me know, I had missed out the word, 'like'.

[@ThatWriterKevin]

Not a mistake, just different unit of measurement. Seeing as we had just said 300K km/s it made sense to use 10^5 km/s rather than 10^8 m/s which would potentially be more confusing

[@Mr_Yod]

@@ThatWriterKevin Actually a mistake, if you are using joules and want the calculations to be correct.

[@A13X_H_22]

Star Trek is fantasy too but Simon hates to recognize reality

[@EmeralBookwise]

I recall one explanation for how the Death Star works being based entirely on relativistic speed. They have hyperdrives in Star Wars that let them cross the entire length of the galaxy. The Death Star just weaponizes that tech by accelerating a planet's core until it rips itself apart from the inside out.

[@xX_Gravity_Xx]

If I see Simon in one more obscure place, I think I may just leave the internet entirely.

[@motc4944]

Thanks for the blueprint

[@andyfiggz7890]

This is the first time I was both excited and sad to watch one of you videos. Cause I know you are about to kill one of my childhood fantasies.

[@gmoney4980]

Superb editing again from this channel! Especially when it is against Simon's view of Star Wars. Lolz!

[@rhov-anion]

I just wanna say, whoever does the graphics is a LEGEND.

[@ItsHyomoto]

I feel the writers trolling Simon, but fact boi promised me content and by golly I'm gonna learn something about a fictional space station and a fictional laser!

[@dwhisper79]

Okay, clearly, we need a shirt that "This would be, well, extraordinarily fatal" - clear merch idea

[@cfv1984]

You could always just stream strange quarks at it until it blinked out of existence along with literally any matter it was in contact with. You'd just need to make sure to do this from very very far away

[@owobi_2991]

Okay, so what you're saying is. We need to build a dyson sphere that powers a mass driver or railgun / magnetic accelerator, that then fires teslas close to the speed of light. *Excellent*

[@FeelFREESuper]

Depends on what the laser was capable of doing. If it borrowed to the center of the planet the pressure build up would crack the planet. Or it could borrow in form a energy bubble in the center which expands outward.

[@Marcopiano07]

The Death Star dramatically powering up and then zooming backwards at 100 km/s instead of destroying the planet is a hilarious scene worth of a Space Balls remake or sequel XD

[@SgtSupaman]

To be fair, it would still destroy the planet. It would just liquidate its entire crew at the same time.

[@shaydowsith348]

Do It! DEEEEEWWWW It! (cackles in Sith)

[@savvminster4687]

gotta say i love this unhinged simon using provocative language with the beeps

[@sortofsmarter]

The amount of shear condescending sarcasm is rich...I love it

[@Highlander0689]

I know this video is about Star Wars, but it really puts into context how powerful Goku is.

[@jasontoddman7265]

Or Vegeta. Even before he met Goku he blew up a planet full of bug people.

[@emmanuellim5754]

Could the next video explore power armour of the adeptus astartes? Or is it possible to change a person into adeptus astartes?

[@KomradZX1989]

Until about 3 min in I swore I could see Simon wearing a bald cap… until I realized there was an eyelash on my screen 😂 You rock! Is there any topics you don’t cover???❤❤❤

[@RussellMillers]

Best star wars video ever!

[@Lauren_C]

13:06 Well, technically there is a terminal velocity, owing to the fact that mass cannot travel faster than light. It’s just really fast.

[@auricstorm]

Is there any way to macGuffin a chain reaction on a sub/atomic reaction? Energy then can come from each new nuclear explosion like in a run away fission thing

[@Andrew-pr9xv]

I've seen every episode of Star Trek, and I've never heard of the "Death Star."

[@keithhargraves7497]

Kyle hill did a very good video on this same thing. Its the death stars other fatal flaw very good video you should go give it a look after this one if your so inclined to do so, but very good video Simon whistler, love your videos for nearly 10 years now.

[@randallminchew6780]

You got my attention with Death Star Laser.

[@FallenRingbearer]

While not a headache...trying to imagine this did, indeed, make my head swim.

[@jasongalley604]

I love you did this video. I never actually took the time to think about the technical logistics of building a death-star station. interesting to say the least. Esp the gravity it alone would generate.

[@segaiuolo]

You made me want to rewatch Titan AE

[@Mr_Yod]

Damn Drej!

[@clintjohnmanuba6917]

A kugelblitz black hole can achieve it granted that you have enough mass to be converted to energy equal to that nonillion+ joules or so.Just use that black hole to efficiently convert that mass to energy and you just have to focus that energy into a planet shattering beam. Pretty viable if we can make one

[@djfrommmk]

Hi Simon, if you ever read these things. I subscribe to all your channels i think, no not a stalker lol. Keep up the good work, you make us laugh when you should but then keep it serious when you should as well. Thank you.

[@dreye3215]

A Dyson's Sphere could serve as a Death Star, it could generate the energy it needs over a week, and it would be too big to get pushed back. Plus, if it's already containing a star, it's probably heat resistant enough to not melt.

[@dr0g_Oakblood]

You'll be glad to know that there's a magical solution as well, the Death Star uses a massive amount of the Lightsaber-powering crystals to make the big "laser", in addition to its power core being on par with *multiple* sun-sized stars.

[@SpaceCowboyfromNJ]

Probably the most reasonable explanation would be the Deathstar's Beam causes matter of the target to have something like 40% (possibly even lower I am just guessing) chance of suddenly becoming antimatter. That would explain the explosion, as well as the seemingly missing mass after the planet is destroyed. It could also potentially drastically reduce the power consumption if there was some sort of energy field that randomly cause matter to become antimatter.

[@jan_phd]

It depends of the mass and the velocity. If the mass is as much as a steel BB and the velocity is close to the speed of light, then the BB will go right through the Earth.

[@crestdazoltral7705]

A kinetic impactor accelerated with the focused light of a star would be just the battery. It would just be a bit harder to discharge in a meaningful way than a pumped hydro station unless you really hate that planet two or three star systems over.

[@Sacrengard]

And over here we got Frieza destroying a planet with one finger lol

[@eaphantom9214]

Peter Cushing - Grand Moff Tarkin : You may fire when ready. Me : Commence primary ignition 0:00 - Playing ▶

[@adamwu4565]

One more wee point regarding the visual impossibility of the Death Star laser's portrayal: It actually has to be producing considerably MORE than just one gravitational binding energy of Earth's worth of energy. A somewhat simplified way to imagine the gravitational binding energy of a planet is to imagine that you are accelerating every individual chunk of material of that planet to escape velocity, so it flies off into space and never comes back down again. Earth's escape velocity is 11.2 km/s, and Earth's diameter 12 747 km. Which means, that, roughly, accelerating the material of an Earth-sized planet to escape velocity means all of that material is moving fast enough to cross one planetary diameter in about 1000 seconds. In other words, the debris ball produced by the planet exploding would expand fast enough to become double size diameter of the planet in 16 minutes. At that rate, it would take over an hour for the planet to fully disperse. And Alderaan blew up entirely in, what, 2-3 seconds of screen time? Which means that DS laser actually has to be outputting at least 1000 TIMES the gravitational binding energy of the Earth. Probably a good deal more....

[@AbeDillon]

Flashing enough core material to vapor to blow apart a planet would absolutely look like an explosion. That vapor would glow extremely bright.

[@FectacularSpail]

In the novel Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross, some planets used relativistic kinetic weapons as a strategic deterrent. They'd take decades to reach their target, but they were impossible to defend against, and would hit with several times the energy of the Chicxulub impactor.

[@cugamer8862]

OK, we have our numbers all. Now it's time to set to work and hit those goals.

[@SephirothsBIade]

Saying as we have infinite budget for this, and access to technology such as a dyson sphere, we would also have AI and supercomputers capable of handling the calculations needed to aim multiple dyson sphere's entire energy output to a specific point at a specific time. Given that these dyson spheres can redirect the entire energy output of a star in a direction, we would also have the ability to redirect this energy at other locations thus allowing convergence of the energy in the same direction. With enough of these, it should be possible to create a system that would generate more energy than what is needed to destroy a planet. The rear side of the death star is never visible on screen during firing, so we have leeway to claim all that energy was passed through the rear of the station solving the momentum issue, and the heat if the beams have been focused perfectly(and not a single spec of dust was in the path) I got nothing for how those beams converge and change direction at the station with the angles shown. That is extremely cool looking space wizard magic beyond everything else involved.

[@andrewharper1609]

This was a fun one. Technically Star Wars comes under the heading of a Space Opera (sci-fi that doesn't base its tech on known science and doesn't really explain it). Yes it has fantasy elements but it is set out in Space with starships.

[@RaderizDorret]

It's funny that you mention RKVs. In the novel "The Killing Star" by Charles Pelligrino and George Zebrowski, a full planetary bombardment by way of RKV is a major point in the plot.

[@NedstarYouTube]

Since the death star is powered by kyber crystals, even tho its called a "laser" I think it's probably made from the same stuff a lightsaber is, "MAGIC PLASMA" its way easier to think of it like that. But it's cool to see what would happen if we tried to make a death star irl.

[@KevinTuyau]

I postulate that the beam is quantum physics based energy. Multiple beams point to a centre then directed by a guide beam towards the planet. The particles pass through the Earth crust (Like muons). Once in the core, a chain reaction causes a pressure wave that pushes the magna outwards.

[@davidragan9233]

Just from the thumbnail, only was I could see it happening is the laser bores to the core and inject anti-matter. That would mostly be shock-wave damage, but yeah gravity would still be an issue. And like you stated while watching it you need a great deal of Anti-matter.

[@Maryfs1]

Love it!

[@lordalexandermalcolmguy6971]

Glad to hear your getting deeper into the sub atomic world Simon 💙

[@bernieburton6520]

So, basically a Super Railgun capable of firing a hundred ton bullet at 99.99% the speed of light.

[@commandoepsilon4664]

Maybe a hundred ton bullet with a solar sail propelled by a laser produced from a Dyson Sphere? That way you can slowly add to the energy of the bullet and don't need to deal with your super railgun flying off at 99% the speed of light.

[@Nipplator99999999999]

Funny how kinetic energy is often the most efficient vehicle for target neutralization and existence alterations.

[@housellama]

F=MA is horrendously effective.

[@Nipplator99999999999]

@@housellama but we will always be chasing the next "shock & awe" weapon system that will be deployed twice and retired for production and upkeep overruns, when a big heavy chunk of pointy metal accelerated properly does it cleaner. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the MK19 and it's very awe inspiring shockwaves, but I can never say that good ol' Ma Deuce designed almost 100 yrs ago wasn't more effective at reducing the devotion an enemy possessed.With the benefit of a stand-off range that prevented the ballistic return when using the MK19.

[@nigeltiernan1473]

So what’s the size in banana’s for easy reference for the power output please

[@chaostheory6143]

This galaxy had interstellar space faring races for over 32,000 years by the time The Death Star was built. I'm pretty sure they've had enough time to come up with solutions to not only the problems you suggest, but to problems that are thousands of years beyond the ability of our most brilliant scientists to even begin to think of.