Power of Antimatter

[U.S.S. Enterprise]

People here seem to think that Federation ships simply can't generate the power to take on Imp ships, since Imp ships are powered by "hypermatter" , and Federation ships are powered by antimatter. But in one of the Star Wars books, one of Han Solo's friends at the Imperial Academy blows up a whole moon with a small antimatter bomb. It took the whole death star to blow up a planet. If hypermatter is so powerful, why didn't they jsut use a small hypermatter bomb to blow up Aldeeran?

[Ghost Rider]

1. They NEVER said the size of the Moon

2. They never told you the mechanics of said BOMB.

3. By your contention why didn't the rebels use an anti-matter device to win any battle...I mean if such a thing could destroy moons, why not ISD's, Death Stars, anything...I mean hell...what's stopping them?


You do understand basic physics right?...because if not you truly are ranking up there with gimp.

[TheDarkling]

Wasnt that a comic?

If you want power behold the awe inspiring might of UBER ANTIMATTER.

One gram is equivalent to 120 trillion terajoules.

Fear the power.

(Hmm im evil arent I? )

[jegs2]

People here seem to think that Federation ships simply can't generate the power to take on Imp ships, since Imp ships are powered by "hypermatter" , and Federation ships are powered by antimatter. But in one of the Star Wars books, one of Han Solo's friends at the Imperial Academy blows up a whole moon with a small antimatter bomb. It took the whole death star to blow up a planet. If hypermatter is so powerful, why didn't they jsut use a small hypermatter bomb to blow up Aldeeran?

And your point is.............

[Evil Jerk]

That's it, these forums are officially under attack by the Army of Trolls, Idiots & the Ones-Who-Have-No-Brain.

[jegs2]

That's it, these forums are officially under attack by the Army of Trolls, Idiots & the Ones-Who-Have-No-Brain.

It started last night with two individuals spewing empty arguments about how the globes atop ISD's were shield generators. They seem to have dragged this crew along with them.

Wise man say, "The world will never run out of, or short on, idiots."

[Sea Skimmer]

*Trolls detected in grids 7, ROE Warning Red Weapons free!*

Another stupid troll post. It does indeed appear an invasion is underway.

[Slartibartfast]

What's the size of the smallest sized moon in the Sol system, btw?

[His Divine Shadow]

But in one of the Star Wars books, one of Han Solo's friends at the Imperial Academy blows up a whole moon with a small antimatter bomb.

Yup, thats the power of SW for you, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, it was probably a highly dense and concentrated antimatter bomb though and the moons size is not known either.

[Slartibartfast]

But in one of the Star Wars books, one of Han Solo's friends at the Imperial Academy blows up a whole moon with a small antimatter bomb.

Yup, thats the power of SW for you, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, it was probably a highly dense and concentrated antimatter bomb though and the moons size is not known either.

You know, they could just use antimatter as a fuse

[His Divine Shadow]

3. By your contention why didn't the rebels use an anti-matter device to win any battle...I mean if such a thing could destroy moons, why not ISD's, Death Stars, anything...I mean hell...what's stopping them?

Well gee, maybe capships already throw around such energetic weapons in battle?

Come to think of it, has it been shown anywhere that SW firepower would not be enough to destroy small moons?

Or even planets for fleets(actually the quote I gave in another thread should prove that)?

[Ghost Rider]

I know

but since he's exclaiming that suddenly SW having Anti-matter bombs of this destructive level...I'm amazed he didn't exclaim that a Anti Matter spread would destroy an ISD upon first strike

[Smalleyjedi]

from the han solo trilogy, apparently his friend just took a gram of antimatter and placed it on the moon. When it was released, the explosion destroyed the moon. This can't be based on any real science, just an author putting in a "cool plot device."

[Ender]

Do we even know the size of the bomb? After all, if he had a teraton of AM...

[Ender]

woops

[Sea Skimmer]

from the han solo trilogy, apparently his friend just took a gram of antimatter and placed it on the moon. When it was released, the explosion destroyed the moon. This can't be based on any real science, just an author putting in a "cool plot device."

Course you could call a fractured 1 meter rock a Moon

[Singular Quartet]

from the han solo trilogy, apparently his friend just took a gram of antimatter and placed it on the moon. When it was released, the explosion destroyed the moon. This can't be based on any real science, just an author putting in a "cool plot device."

And this person managed to get this book published under Lucasbooks, how?

[Ender]

from the han solo trilogy, apparently his friend just took a gram of antimatter and placed it on the moon. When it was released, the explosion destroyed the moon. This can't be based on any real science, just an author putting in a "cool plot device."

And this person managed to get this book published under Lucasbooks, how?

Probably same way KJA did.

[RedImperator]

People here seem to think that Federation ships simply can't generate the power to take on Imp ships, since Imp ships are powered by "hypermatter" , and Federation ships are powered by antimatter. But in one of the Star Wars books, one of Han Solo's friends at the Imperial Academy blows up a whole moon with a small antimatter bomb. It took the whole death star to blow up a planet. If hypermatter is so powerful, why didn't they jsut use a small hypermatter bomb to blow up Aldeeran?

There's nothing really all that special about antimatter except that it's an extremely efficient explosive when in contact with matter (it should be noted that an eqivilant amount of regular matter ALSO becomes an extremely efficient explosive), with an accompanying burst of gamma rays. SW power levels have been calculated based on the observed effects of their weapons and engines, plus a few EU statements, not what type of fuel they use, and their observed effects are orders of magnitude more powerful than any observed ST ship's.

[Singular Quartet]

from the han solo trilogy, apparently his friend just took a gram of antimatter and placed it on the moon. When it was released, the explosion destroyed the moon. This can't be based on any real science, just an author putting in a "cool plot device."

And this person managed to get this book published under Lucasbooks, how?

Probably same way KJA did.

Point.

[Connor MacLeod]

He's referring to "Dark empire." The incident is where Mako Spince, an Academy buddy of HAn Solo's stole a gram of anti-matter from a physics lab for use in a practical joke. He ended up accidentally blowing up the "mascot moon" of the academy.

"He [Mako] stole a gram of anti-matter from the school physics lab and used it to blow up the Academy's - 'mascot moon' - a barren rocky sphere, in high stationary orbit over the academy, emblazoned wiith the Academy's official seal!" [Excerpt from the Dark Empier trade paperback]

"high stationary orbit" over the Academy would suggest geostationary orbit... which would be around 36,000 km for an earthlike planet. 1 gram of antimatter is 9e13 joules, or about 21.5 kt. The moon would have to be large enough to see the symbol from the planet, presumably

Using Mike's "asteroid destruction calculator" we can estimate that the moon could be no larger than 275 meters or so in diameter... so it might be possible to dismiss the "having to see the seal from the planet" part, since thats the one that doesn't work (or one could assume one could see it using visual enhancement gear.) I don't think it would work otherwise


Or, if we wanted to be really nasty, we could use this as proof that SW antimatter is as unreasonably energetic as what Trekkies claim for TOS antimatter

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

What's the size of the smallest sized moon in the Sol system, btw?

Two quick examples: Deimos and Phobos, which orbit Mars, are both under 15 km. in size. Furthermore, all the gas giants have some moons under 50 km.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

He's referring to "Dark empire." The incident is where Mako Spince, an Academy buddy of HAn Solo's stole a gram of anti-matter from a physics lab for use in a practical joke. He ended up accidentally blowing up the "mascot moon" of the academy.

"He [Mako] stole a gram of anti-matter from the school physics lab and used it to blow up the Academy's - 'mascot moon' - a barren rocky sphere, in high stationary orbit over the academy, emblazoned wiith the Academy's official seal!" [Excerpt from the Dark Empier trade paperback]

"high stationary orbit" over the Academy would suggest geostationary orbit... which would be around 36,000 km for an earthlike planet. 1 gram of antimatter is 9e13 joules, or about 21.5 kt. The moon would have to be large enough to see the symbol from the planet, presumably

Using Mike's "asteroid destruction calculator" we can estimate that the moon could be no larger than 275 meters or so in diameter... so it might be possible to dismiss the "having to see the seal from the planet" part, since thats the one that doesn't work (or one could assume one could see it using visual enhancement gear.) I don't think it would work otherwise :)


Or, if we wanted to be really nasty, we could use this as proof that SW antimatter is as unreasonably energetic as what Trekkies claim for TOS antimatter :D

Actually, it's something more like 1.80E+14 joules, since the gram of antimatter annhilates an equal quantity of matter (the total amount is two grams total.) This is something like 43 kT. This bumps up the size of the asteroid moon to around 350 meters in diameter. This makes it 10X bigger than our ISS, but it's angular size is still only 0.0097 degrees (0deg33'25.51".) For reference, the Moon has an angular size of 0.5 degrees. You'd need a telescope that could magnify up to 51X in order for it to look as 'big' as the Moon. In order to actually see anything on it, you'd need a telescope that could magnify 510 - 765X (Assuming 10 - 15 times beyond the basic value . . . like looking at the Moon with a pair of binoculars.) So you'd need really hefty visual enhancement gear. Short story, the writer of the book is an effing idiot.

[greenmm]

from the han solo trilogy, apparently his friend just took a gram of antimatter and placed it on the moon. When it was released, the explosion destroyed the moon. This can't be based on any real science, just an author putting in a "cool plot device."

Must be.... 1g antimatter, assuming 100% efficiency in the explosion, equates to a 21.5 kT (kiloton) warhead.

By that logic, all those megaton-class weapons tested back in the 50's and 60's should have cracked the Earth's crust in 2.

Survey says.... Plot Device (TM).

[Laughing Mechanicus]

since Imp ships are powered by "hypermatter"

yes, godamned Science-Fiction writers making things up .