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

[@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

[@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.😉👍

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@kentuckysmoose]

The editor had a blast making this one

[@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

[@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

[@ughettapbacon]

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

[@d.c.8828]

Praise be to Georgie!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@vic5015]

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

[@AndrewD8Red]

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.

[@AndrewD8Red]

@@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.

[@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.

[@mjwbulich]

Umm...ask the inhabitants of Alderaan. Super insensitive, bro.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@AndrewD8Red]

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

[@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.

[@a_man_named_daaave]

So I started building a deathstar for nothing?! Damn, my wife was right

[@jasontoddman7265]

Well, if you scaled it down a mite and fired it at Russia and China, you'd probably be declared a hero and elected President.

[@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.

[@felipecampos3045]

I find your lack of faith disturbing

[@fsj197811]

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

[@padawanmage71]

Well this clinches it: Simon is a Star Trek snob 😂 If you know nothing about Star Wars, how can you look your nose down on it? Star Trek is just as much Sci-fi Fantasy as Star Wars. If not, explain to me the principles behind Vulcan Mind Melds, soul transference, Telempathy, Telekinesis, telepathy, etc. ALL being in Star Trek. Next thing we’ll see is Simon explaining how the planet killer in ST IS possible. 🙄🙄

[@jokerjoker007]

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

[@AlucardNoir]

Four Death Stars? there were only two... and that planet thing in the movie that shan't be named. Where's the fourth?

[@andrewlookenbill9308]

I think they were counting those hidden star destroyers that were in the last movie that should not be named. Didn’t they have super lasers mounted on bottom or something? Freaking Disney.

[@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

[@Wolf3685]

No debate...Star Wars is a sci-fi fantasy, not hard SciFi like The Expanse X-wings fly like f-16s in space...sound in space... engines always on without constant acceleration and requirements for opposite thrusting for slowing down I love Star Wars, but it's completely fantasy in execution

[@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

[@KiithnarasAshaa]

One of your core mistaken assumptions is that the death star (or any of the "Lasers" in Star Wars) are Light-based devices. This is false. They instead (speculatively) use (somehow magically-self-confined) streams, beams, and blobs of extremely hot plasma. Typical starfighter and capital ship "laser" systems lob these bolts of plasma at fairly high speeds, adding a kinetic factor to the (implausibly) densified and heat-retaining plasma. The Death Star "Superlaser" propels this even faster, up to significant fractions of the speed of light. Plasma has the unique property that it is able to be manipulated by electrostatic and magnetic fields, allowing smaller "reactor" tubes to be combined safely away from the parent structure (albeit with truly staggering magnetic fields). This also means that the plausible energy density of this hypothetical plasma stream is much higher than a speculative laser system and can actually, in theory, reach the desired energy. Keep in mind that the energy output of the sun is its total light energy emitted in all spectra, but condensing a plasma stream so tightly that the entire stream is simultaneously undergoing fusion is going to significantly increase its energy output. Deuterium-Tritium fusion has an energy density of 3.38 x10^8 MJ/kg, so lobbing streams of self-confined actively-fusing plasma is...more likely to have the desired result. However, even here, the binding energy of a planetoid is so utterly massive that even if you were to throw _billions_ of _tonnes_ of this plasma at at planet every _second_ it would still demand doing so for 277 hours, or a little under two weeks. Even using some form of Antimatter plasma (whether it is self-fusing or not is irrelevant) would only bring this down to a little under an hour (for a total of 3.6 trillion tonnes of Antimatter Plasma in order to shatter a planet thusly). The only plausible weapon to be able to output these power levels on an even speculatively economical scale would be a Nicoll-Dyson Beam built around an O-type, or possibly a very bright B-type star. These hypothetical megastructures weaponize the output of a star, turning them into giant lasers and particle beams instead of generating power from their stellar output, and the sheer magnitude of O-type stars' energy output makes the output of our own Sun look like a pitiful glowing ember by comparison. Bonus points if this output stream of light and stellar wind can be redirected through an artificial wormhole of some kind in order to deliver the energy to the intended target in a matter of weeks or days instead of centuries or millennia. Update: Actually, at these scales, a hypervelocity kinetic impact is _more_ plausible than either. It would just need to be _very_ heavy and _very_ fast. A trillion tonnes at .95c seems to work out pretty well for feasibility. Celestial bodies in this mass range are fairly abundant, small moons and large asteroids in the ~15km range. The kinetic energy of such a body would pretty easily defeat the gravitational binding energy of rocky planets, and it isn't infeasible with various sci-fi hand-waveyness to accomplish. At these speeds, the mass-energy of fusion reactions and even antimatter reactions is dwarfed by the sheer quantity of kinetic energy. Basically, what I'm saying is that the Death Star should have been a massive accelerator cannon that shot asteroid-sized chunks of metal at planets near the speed of light.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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*

[@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.

[@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.

[@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?

[@carlchapman4053]

People keep rejecting the simple idea of 'throw something heavy really, really fast' idea but most people don't realise that almost all power on earth is based on better ways to boil water to power a steam turbine, our entire world civilisation is based on improving the Victorian Steam Engine!

[@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.

[@noahbackes4935]

Would it be possible to destroy a planet with a small black hole (1 cm in diameter, for example) by simply shooting at the planet and consuming it? If it is possibel it seams easyer.

[@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".

[@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.

[@ryanhatesgirls]

I love the media offline screen, so relatable

[@Winston7T7]

Such a great channel!

[@Shanbo26]

I should point out, that a planet is typically billions of years old. If there was a one a billion chance of Earth being destroyed in a year, then there the chance that it would already have happened would be around 99%.

[@A13X_H_22]

Star Trek is fantasy too but Simon hates to recognize reality

[@capnstewy55]

Thank you fact Boi. You are the magical sword bearing spacefaring wizard we need.

[@Thx1138sober]

Actually, Star Wars is not fantasy or Syfy, Star Wars is just dead. Thank You, Disney!

[@boneshaman8912]

With the way the government prints out money... I'm sure the cost wouldn't be an issue.

[@Alex.The.Lionnnnn]

At no point in Star Wars did they say that Alderan wasn't comprised of 90% TNT. 🤷‍♂️

[@I.am.Sarah.]

Even today I still have friends saying that we can destroy the Earth. I keep telling them all we can do is destroy the ability of Earth to sustain human life for a period of time, Earth would be fine and eventually have complex life again. They still think I'm the idiot.

[@Russo-Delenda-Est]

Yeah, a full scale nuclear war wouldn't even extinct humans, and we would have to literally crack the planet open to end all life, and that might not even do it, there's microbes miles down in the crust, and miles up in the atmosphere.

[@shaydowsith348]

Eventually the earth WILL be destroyed by the Sun when it becomes a Red Star and will literally envelop the earth.

[@difty0075]

would the colossus from stellaris work in real life? its much more complex than the death star, and i am courious to know if it would relly work thank you

[@erniemiller1953]

Since Disney took over, it is no longer fantasy. It is now, UTTER CRAP!

[@SmashBrosAssemble]

So Starkiller base did the right thing, absorbing the power of a Star.

[@SC1ENCEP1E]

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

[@GrievousReborn]

Four Death Stars I only remember two must be from the expanded universe which I only care about the Old Republic not anything post Return of the Jedi

[@eugenemartone7023]

Yes! 💯 Stat Wars is fantasy! If only someone could tell Disney

[@RiggsBF]

Please make a video about the ring world like in the halo games and the ringworld series.

[@ButWhyWasTaken]

12:00 Obviously you store antimatter in dilithium crystals, everybody knows that.

[@cugamer8862]

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

[@andreakimmel6651]

This isn't the science of fantasy. Its the science of sci-fi. Their for Star Wars is Sci-fi.

[@gamereditor59ner22]

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

[@squeaksvids5886]

The Death Star exists, it’s orbiting Saturn as we speak!

[@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.

[@I.amthatrealJuan]

Thanks for ruining it, Neil... I mean, Simon.

[@thexfile.]

"As if millions of nerds suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." 🤭

[@murf1627]

We have already figured out how to destroy a planet, put humans on it

[@marka380]

Sorry just have to say this. Simon star wars is not fantasy or sci-fi it is space opera

[@EAcapuccino]

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

[@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!

[@malcire]

Stop ruining Star Wars with basic science. :p

[@Sacrengard]

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[@gmoney4980]

Hey Simon... since you ruined Star Wars... do a video ruining Star Trek.. like how a Borg Cube is not plausible..

[@ThatWriterKevin]

There's a ton of videos on Star Trek stuff

[@Narco42]

They call them "lasers" in Star Wars but they aren't lasers. They are physical particles of energy.

[@RetroTaylor94]

When the hell did this channel spawn from the ether?

[@escott1981]

there were only 2 Death Stars. tho they were in 4 movies

[@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.

[@KasatkaVR]

But if you only use the laser to apply enough energy to start a Nuclear Fusion inside of earth, to fuse other Elements together like Oxigen, Silicat or other Things below iron, Maybe you need than less Energie because of the Energie provided by the Nuclear Fuison?

[@whom382]

TIL there were 4 death stars not 3.

[@treavy1]

Actually light does has mass my friend Sam it s disproving Einstein light has mass but at a margin of percentage why does light curve around a black hole simple cuz light has mass

[@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.

[@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.

[@gordol66]

Did "they" ever say what the weapon actually is? Is it a laser? Is it a particle beam? Is it a plasma gun? These would all behave differently and have different properties. Also, if it is a laser, then why would there be any recoil when a laser shoots a beam of electromatic radiation and not physical projectiles? And if it is shooting something physical that would cause recoil, THE HAVE GRAVITY CONTROL! The ultimate counter to recoil!

[@Russo-Delenda-Est]

Lasers have recoil, it's just not much because of the lack of mass. We actually have plans in place to accelerate ships with lasers, by firing a ground based or orbital laser at the sails of a ship, propelling them forward and removing the need for chemical rockets. Also, look up Shkadov thrusters (Issac Arthur has great videos on this stuff), basically turning the sun into a ship with mirrors, reflect all it's light in one direction, and it will be pushed in the opposite direction.

[@ThatWriterKevin]

Literally explained in the video why a laser with that high of an output would have recoil

[@Luckmann]

The fact that you think it's a laser is the reaason I opened up this video just to downvote it.

[@stargazer5784]

In the novel it was described as an antimatter weapon. Written by Alan Dean Foster, if I remember correctly.

[@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.

[@antpearson9676]

I'm not sure about the possibility that a super high powered laser could destroy a planet. But, one thing that I am sure about is this. If Simon Whistler was on the planet when it exploded. There is no doubt that he would survive and carry on making videos. Simon we kneel You are ubiquitous Ant p uk teacher retired

[@shaydowsith348]

Don't forget the cameraman. The cameraman survives the heat death of the universe, after all...

[@antpearson9676]

@@shaydowsith348 pml thanks

[@mattrg320]

im sorry but can someone fill me in on where and when the 3rd and 4th deathstar were made?

[@ThatWriterKevin]

If I recall the ones in the original trilogy are the 2nd and 3rd and there's a prototype that technically counts as the first as it was eventually used later?

[@matthewpepper902]

Yeah because a "matter replicator" isn't magic lol

[@HikuroMishiro]

Don't tell the trekkie nerds their stuff is just as 'space fantasy' as Star Wars is, they'll have to reach for their inhaler.

[@LL-yt7xv]

Nicoll-Dyson beams!! You could cleanse the galaxy with one!!!

[@Russo-Delenda-Est]

I find your choice of the word "cleanse" disturbing. Not glass, not purge, not even annihilate, but cleanse? 🤣 damn, it's like some kind of final solution to the Alien problem.

[@yourguard4]

I tryied to estimate the binding energy of the earth by splitting it in half and accelerate one half to escape velocity. I also ended up with around 10^33 Joule :P

[@joshuaperry8729]

Can someone tell me why star wars is fantasy not sci fi?

[@johnschort7634]

Because it involves the magic of the force. But I would call that magic psychic powers an include it in science fiction, because psychic powers have been studied by honest scientists, even though most, if not all of them dismiss it as pipe dreams. That is dreams that seem real if you are smoking opium.

[@jrfish007]

So simple Simon, use the Tardis! Duh

[@pacoramon9468]

This guy is in every KZbin video, even megaprojects.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.