StarDestroyer.Net BBS

When the asteroid in TESB shears off the bridge tower of the Star Destroyer, how much energy resulted from the impact?

TrekWarsie wrote:When the asteroid in TESB shears off the bridge tower of the Star Destroyer, how much energy resulted from the impact?

That's a pretty neat trick, to shear off the whole bridge tower before the captain is even knocked off his feet. How exactly did it accomplish that?

It was about 70 kt of kinetic energy.

basic ke = m* v^2

However, that is one fucked up scene because there is no debris from the tower if it was torn loose, no bright flash if it was vaporized, and like Wong said the captain was still there (though it may just have been we saw the same scene twice from differnet places)

While we are working on calc stuff, if I have just the velocity and energy, how can I find the real mass of the object from the relativistic ke equation? I've forgotten how it breaks down.

I'm surprised Mike didn't mention that physical impacts are far more complex sorts of interactions than a beam weapon and that the bridge tower, if destroyed, might have been harmed due more to the force/momentum of the impact than its kinetic energy.

Besides, since they were in a holonet conference at the time it occured, teh shields were down. And how well armored do you expect the bridge tower to be, neccesarily?

Ender wrote: While we are working on calc stuff, if I have just the velocity and energy, how can I find the real mass of the object from the relativistic ke equation? I've forgotten how it breaks down.

RKE = mc^2 * (gamma - 1),
gamma = 1/sqrt(1 - (v/c)^2) as usual.

The bridge can be seen through the explosion, and it doesn't look very damaged. But that may be old news...

ClaysGhost wrote:

Ender wrote: While we are working on calc stuff, if I have just the velocity and energy, how can I find the real mass of the object from the relativistic ke equation? I've forgotten how it breaks down.

RKE = mc^2 * (gamma - 1),
gamma = 1/sqrt(1 - (v/c)^2) as usual.

Mikes page says it's

RKE = ((m/gamma)-m)c^2, a google search confims that, not your formula.

And I figured out how to re arrange it on my own, thanks anyways.

Ender wrote:

ClaysGhost wrote:
RKE = mc^2 * (gamma - 1),
gamma = 1/sqrt(1 - (v/c)^2) as usual.

Mikes page says it's

RKE = ((m/gamma)-m)c^2, a google search confims that, not your formula.

I think that Mike's gamma and the one I use must be reciprocals of each other, because otherwise the formula you quote would always produce negative RKE ( sqrt( 1 - (v/c)^2 ) <= 1 ), amongst other problems. With that known they are identical, since you can pull the m out of that bracket.

Dooey Jo wrote:The bridge can be seen through the explosion, and it doesn't look very damaged. But that may be old news...

Oh its old news, and its an old question, but we can still bring it back for the memories. Admittedly it took up until about a year to a year and a half ago before we could finally confirm that the shields were down and shortly before then when we discovered the intact bridge.

CmdrWilkens wrote:

Dooey Jo wrote:The bridge can be seen through the explosion, and it doesn't look very damaged. But that may be old news...

Oh its old news, and its an old question, but we can still bring it back for the memories. Admittedly it took up until about a year to a year and a half ago before we could finally confirm that the shields were down and shortly before then when we discovered the intact bridge.

The funny thing about that is that the information had been out there since Heir to the Empire came out. I just happened upon that bit when I was relaxing one day.

Ender wrote:

CmdrWilkens wrote:

Dooey Jo wrote:The bridge can be seen through the explosion, and it doesn't look very damaged. But that may be old news...

Oh its old news, and its an old question, but we can still bring it back for the memories. Admittedly it took up until about a year to a year and a half ago before we could finally confirm that the shields were down and shortly before then when we discovered the intact bridge.

The funny thing about that is that the information had been out there since Heir to the Empire came out. I just happened upon that bit when I was relaxing one day.

I remember that someone brought it up (I think on SB) and Connor and myself ended up going into about a three page discovery trek to get to the answer..complete with pic caps from the SWE.

CmdrWilkens wrote:

Ender wrote:

CmdrWilkens wrote: Oh its old news, and its an old question, but we can still bring it back for the memories. Admittedly it took up until about a year to a year and a half ago before we could finally confirm that the shields were down and shortly before then when we discovered the intact bridge.

The funny thing about that is that the information had been out there since Heir to the Empire came out. I just happened upon that bit when I was relaxing one day.

I remember that someone brought it up (I think on SB)

Yes, that person would have been Redneck Jedi - Me. I also guessed that star destroyers were powered by hypermatter also later confirmed by the ICS.

Ender wrote:

CmdrWilkens wrote:I remember that someone brought it up (I think on SB)

Yes, that person would have been Redneck Jedi - Me. I also guessed that star destroyers were powered by hypermatter also later confirmed by the ICS.

I remember that time now...just as the ICS was about to come out and the world came crashing down around Trekkies everywhere.

Let's all gear up for another "you can see the bridge tower!" "no you can't!" debate!