# Let's discuss the destruction of Alderaan from Alderaan's perspective **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778 "2009-06-15T00:03:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/61 "2009-06-22T07:26:39Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > they still DID intend to a bomb Japan, the fracker was expensive as hell, so WHY not use it? They could have reprocessed the uranium in Thin Man aka Little Boy to make several plutonium bombs. I’m pretty sure that was a known argument at the time against using it. \*\*\* Ponder ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/62 "2009-06-22T09:07:22Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > To fanwank even further, it would be reasonable if it had to wait days, weeks or months between firings. Geez, I mean how many planets do you need to go around vaporizing and how often ? I call bullshit : the second death star was firing at Rebel capital ships every few minutes or so during the battle of Endor. AFAIK, the second DS wasn’t much of an improvement over the first, tech wise. Although they probably figured out a different reactor cooling method, like the fiendishly clever “bend the fucking vent somewhere along the way” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/63 "2009-06-22T12:05:26Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I call bullshit : the second death star was firing at Rebel capital ships every few minutes or so during the battle of Endor. AFAIK, the second DS wasn’t much of an improvement over the first, tech wise. Although they probably figured out a different reactor cooling method, like the fiendishly clever “bend the fucking vent somewhere along the way” 😛 But the energy output requirements for blowing up ships is so much lower than for blowing up planets!! It’s like magnitudes of magnitudes of difference. So the regeneration required after the little potshots is much, much shorter. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/64 "2009-06-22T16:18:40Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Although they probably figured out a different reactor cooling method, like the fiendishly clever “bend the fucking vent somewhere along the way” 😛 Hijack, Re: DS2: “Hey, instead of a torpedo-sized vent that goes all the way to the reactor, let’s build it so they can fly a _ **Correllian Freighter** _ all the way down to it !” …or could they fly down there only because it was still under construction?? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/65 "2009-06-22T16:49:24Z")
> [@labtrash](#): > > …or could they fly down there only because it was still under construction?? Naw, I’m pretty sure it was a fully operational battle station. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/66 "2009-06-22T21:37:08Z")
It was fully operational, but there was still a chunk missing. They got the guts working first, and then intended to complete the superstructure related to storage, Stormtrooper training faciliites and quarters, droid reprogramming/de-wussing, etc. Someone will have to review the movie to see if it’s clear where the Rebels enter and exit. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/67 "2009-06-30T00:45:40Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > 46 posts in, and nobody has calculated the energy output needed by the DS’s main weapon to completely vaporize a planet in seconds? I’m severely disappointed in y’all. [It’s been done.](http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ds/) > [@](#): > > The accomplishment of the complete disruption of an Earth-like planet sets a lower limit to the destructive capability of the Death Stars’ prime weapon… > > Alderaan is probably a typical habitable planet, with much the same dimensions and composition as our Earth. An approximation for its gravitational binding energy can be obtained according to the density structure profiles of the Earth or Venus. An approximate figure for the binding energy of Alderaan, assuming Earthlike composition and mass of 5.9 x 10[sup]24[/sup] kg, is: > > ``` > U = 2.4 x 10[sup]32[/sup] joules. > > ``` > > It should be noted that this is simply the minimum energy required to destroy a terrestrial planet. The Death Star’s maximum capability is much greater. > > The duration of the superlaser strike on Alderaan was about 0.21s (although it took slightly more than a second for the weapon to build up energy before the beam was released). Therefore the power of this beam, which needs to exceed the power dissipation rate of any deflector shields of the target, is at least of the order of 10[sup]32[/sup] W. > > …According to The Death Star Technical Companion, the Death Star was capable of generating sufficient energy for a full planetary disruption in a single day. Thus the main reactor was capable of generating energy beyond the station’s continual running needs at a base rate of at least 2x10[sup]27[/sup] [w]atts. > > This power is approximately five times the continuous output of the Sun. It is vastly in excess of any artificial power source known to any other major fictional universe… ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/68 "2009-06-30T08:54:44Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > It was fully operational, but there was still a chunk missing. They got the guts working first, and then intended to complete the superstructure related to storage, Stormtrooper training faciliites and quarters, droid reprogramming/de-wussing, etc. > > Someone will have to review the movie to see if it’s clear where the Rebels enter and exit. It was nowhere near complete, the hull was clearly unfinished, which means that many of the fitting out would not have been done. It could not move either. They seem to have concentrated on building the main cannons and reactors. That is something they could have done quickly,using spares from the first station. For a real life analogy, a bit like the French battleship _Jean Bart_ during operation torch, her main gun battery could and did fire, and that was it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778/69 "2009-06-30T15:53:13Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > [It’s been done.](http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ds/) To put it another way, how much mass would have to be converted into energy to power the Death Star’s main weapon? The sun converts something like four million tonnes of mass into pure energy every second. The Death Star’s size and mass would have to include a considerable fuel reserve. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-discuss-the-destruction-of-alderaan-from-alderaans-perspective/499778.md?page=3)