Superlaser effect question

[McC]

Hey gang, I was just doing some thinking about the superlaser, and a question occured to me: why would Alderaan explode from the superlaser hit? Why would it not, instead, get a very big hole through the middle? Can anyone explain this to me? I did a hunt through the archive board, but didn't come up with much. Thanks!

[Darth Wong]

Hey gang, I was just doing some thinking about the superlaser, and a question occured to me: why would Alderaan explode from the superlaser hit? Why would it not, instead, get a very big hole through the middle? Can anyone explain this to me? I did a hunt through the archive board, but didn't come up with much. Thanks!

In order to drill a hole through an object, you must evacuate mass from a columnar volume passing through the body of the target. If the energy input is too fast, inertial confinement keeps the mass in place long enough to transmit energy to the rest of the planet.

Plus, the planetary shield deflected the energy so that it didn't hit as a tight beam anyway.

[McC]

In order to drill a hole through an object, you must evacuate mass from a columnar volume passing through the body of the target. If the energy input is too fast, inertial confinement keeps the mass in place long enough to transmit energy to the rest of the planet.

Plus, the planetary shield deflected the energy so that it didn't hit as a tight beam anyway.

Well, right, the shield certainly altered what was going on. But suppose the Death Start shot at an unshielded planet...would the effect be the same?

Further, does your inertial confinement statement mean that the planet, in essence, blew itself apart due to the sudden expansion force being exerted on it? Sorry, I just don't quite understand what your statement means.

[Darth Wong]

Well, right, the shield certainly altered what was going on. But suppose the Death Start shot at an unshielded planet...would the effect be the same?

Hard to say, really. We've only seen it blow up one planet. The expansion pattern might be different. The type of debris might be different.

Further, does your inertial confinement statement mean that the planet, in essence, blew itself apart due to the sudden expansion force being exerted on it? Sorry, I just don't quite understand what your statement means.

OK, let me put it this way: the mass just can't get out of the way fast enough.

[McC]

OK, let me put it this way: the mass just can't get out of the way fast enough.

So the energy transfers to the other mass, or the excited mass pushes against the unaffected mass due to expansion forces and the planet shatters itself? Not sure which conclusion (if either) of those your statement suggests.

[Darth Wong]

OK, let me put it this way: the mass just can't get out of the way fast enough.

So the energy transfers to the other mass, or the excited mass pushes against the unaffected mass due to expansion forces and the planet shatters itself? Not sure which conclusion (if either) of those your statement suggests.

Both. The superheated mass at the impact site expands in all directions while simultaneously transferring heat to the rest of the target body through convection and radiation.

While it can nominally expand more easily away from the planet than it can expand toward the planet, it is still limited by inertia, and this inertial resistance rapidly exceeds the resistance of the planet's material the other way.

It's hard to model such a gigantic influx of energy to such a large mass; I don't know that anyone has ever even attempted to do such a thing, since there is no scientific or engineering need for such an analysis on a professional level.

[Connor MacLeod]

OK, let me put it this way: the mass just can't get out of the way fast enough.

So the energy transfers to the other mass, or the excited mass pushes against the unaffected mass due to expansion forces and the planet shatters itself? Not sure which conclusion (if either) of those your statement suggests.

Refer to his previous post:

In order to drill a hole through an object, you must evacuate mass from a columnar volume passing through the body of the target.

For thius to happen, the mass in front of you has to be "removed" faster than the energy is delivered. Usually this means a sustained beam or a series of smaller pulses.

If the energy input is too fast, inertial confinement keeps the mass in place long enough to transmit energy to the rest of the planet.

In this instance, energy is dumped into the target faster than it can "get out of the way" - therefore the energy can propogate through the mass quickly enough to prevent the "drilling"

[Angie the Chiss Lord]

Perhaps the super laser went through to the core causing a chain reaction in the core like a main reactor being hit would cause a chain reaction thus causing the mass to explode

[Ghost Rider]

Perhaps the super laser went through to the core causing a chain reaction in the core like a main reactor being hit would cause a chain reaction thus causing the mass to explode

Connor's final part of his post demonstrates why this isn't so.

[Tribun]

Perhaps the super laser went through to the core causing a chain reaction in the core like a main reactor being hit would cause a chain reaction thus causing the mass to explode

Please no more chain reaction theories!
We got more than enough of these.

[HRogge]

Perhaps the super laser went through to the core causing a chain reaction in the core like a main reactor being hit would cause a chain reaction thus causing the mass to explode

Unfortunately for you the core of a planet is a pretty stable thing.

[Angie the Chiss Lord]

it was just a thought

[HRogge]

it was just a thought

Sounds just like the "the DS induced fusion in the planet" farie tale...

Try this link:
http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tec ... #DeathStar

[Connor MacLeod]

Perhaps the super laser went through to the core causing a chain reaction in the core like a main reactor being hit would cause a chain reaction thus causing the mass to explode

First, reactors don't usually explode (They aren't bombs waiting to happen - bombs and fusion reactors are two very different sorts of object) Fusion reactors require a specific set of existing conditions to produce energy, and damage to the reactor can quite possibly disrupt that, nullifying its power-generating abilities.
The closest sorrt of "reactor" that comes to exploding would be an antimatter one, and its less the reactor itself exploding than the fuel it carries (because of its extreme reactivity.)

Second, as Ghost Rider correctly pointed out, the core of a planet is very stable (ie, it does not behave like a bomb either.) But even if it did, I doubt the core of the planet possesses enough energy on its own to scatter the planet's mass (to say nothing of what happened with Alderaan.) so regardless of how the energy is delivered, the basic fact is that the Death Star must be capable of delivering the energy.