1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from House 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: toff Works dot Com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer here 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,959 Speaker 1: at House to Parks and I love all things tech 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 1: and welcome to Part two of How the Death Star Works. 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: In this episode, I'll talk about the main purpose of 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: the Death Star, which was to act as a super 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: weapon to keep the systems in line. According to grand 9 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: Moff Tarkins cheerful strategy, sometimes called the doctrine of Terror 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: or slightly less dramatically, the Tarkan doctrine. This reflected Tarkan's 11 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: belief that fear and domination would keep the more rebellious 12 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: systems in the Empire in check, and the Death Star 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: would be the ultimate tool to bring about that fear 14 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: and domination. The Death Star was no slouch for weaponry. 15 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: For one thing, it had multiple vehicle bays with everything 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: from Thai fighters. The original Death Stars supposedly had twenty 17 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: Thai fighters ready to take off at a moment's notice. 18 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: It also had a T E T S or ad 19 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: ADS if you prefer, and a T S T S. 20 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: In fact, according to the Death Star Technical Companion from 21 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: West End Games. The station house some seven thousand, two 22 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: hundred starfighters total, four strike cruisers, three thousand, six hundred 23 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: assault shuttles T eight s and an equal number of 24 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:27,839 Speaker 1: A T S T S and one thousand, eight hundred 25 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: sixty drop ships for troops, which is a lot. Now, 26 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: I want to talk just about one of those because 27 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: it's my favorite vehicle in Star Wars. That's the Thaie 28 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: Fighter or a twin ion engine fighter that was the 29 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: standard starfighter for the Empire during a New Hope and 30 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: in several films after that. It was the basis for 31 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: future starfighters and bombers like the Thai bomber of the 32 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: Tie advanced the Thaie Interceptor. According to various source books, 33 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: your standard Thai fighter measured about seven and a half 34 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: meters or twenty five feet tall. It was six point 35 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: four meters or twenty one feet from side to side 36 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: and six point three meters or a little less than 37 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: twenty one ft front to back. In the world of 38 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: Star Wars, the Thai fighter is all about performance as 39 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: an attack vehicle. The ships have no shields, there's no 40 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: hyper drive, so they have to be carried in larger 41 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: ships for interstellar travel. They don't even have life support 42 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: according to some source books, which is why the pilots 43 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: are in those big, fully enclosed suits. But we have 44 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,839 Speaker 1: seen characters inside the cockpit of Thai fighters who are 45 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: not in fully enclosed suits pilot them. They're able to 46 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: breathe without the aid of a special suit, so I 47 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: suspect that idea of them being without life support is 48 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,519 Speaker 1: not completely cannon. They also had no landing gear or 49 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: any moving parts at all. The end universe explanation for 50 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: that is that it made the ships have less mass, 51 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: which made them more maneuverable and made them cheap to 52 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: turn out on a mass scale. The lack of shields 53 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: also gives insight into the Empire's philosophy regarding the expendability 54 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,920 Speaker 1: of its military force. Now, in our last episode, I 55 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: talked about ion thrusters and how they work. Such an 56 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: engine could move around the starship like a tie fighter, 57 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: but it would be a really poor choice for a 58 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: starfighter due to the very slow acceleration rate. It would 59 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: take a long time VERTI fighter to accelerate to attack 60 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: speed if all it had to rely upon where ion engines. 61 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: This comes down to simple physics shooting out sub atomic 62 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: particles or or even atomic particles or molecular molecular particles 63 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: that only transfers a tiny amount of momentum to something 64 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: the size of a StarCraft, so you're not gonna get 65 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: up to speed very quickly. Back to the Death Star, 66 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,839 Speaker 1: the station itself was really well armed all on its own. 67 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: Part of the exterior of the Death Star is the 68 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: big concave section that houses the stations super laser emitter. 69 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: In addition to this massive laser, which I'll talk about 70 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: more in a bit, the Death Stars armament included tractor beams, 71 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: turbo lasers, super blessed or nine twenty, laser cannons, and 72 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: ion cannons. And I think starting at you know, looking 73 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: at all these different ones would be really helpful. So 74 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: let's let's take them turn by turn. I'm gonna start 75 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: with ion cannons first. These are a cool idea and 76 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: ion cannon in Star Wars fires out charged particles a 77 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,880 Speaker 1: k A ions. So an ion is an atom or 78 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: molecule that holds a net electric charge because it either 79 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: has more or fewer electrons than it has protons, So 80 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles and protons are positively 81 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: charged subatomic particles. So if you have an equal number 82 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: of each in an atom or a molecule, your net 83 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: charge is neutral. But if you have more electrons than protons, 84 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: the particle will have a negative charge. If you have 85 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: more protons than electrons, then you get yourself a net 86 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: positive charge. So in star wars, ion cannons fire off 87 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:57,040 Speaker 1: beams of these charged particles. Whether they're positive or negative, 88 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: I don't know, And the intent is to disrupt the 89 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:04,479 Speaker 1: electrical systems at the target. So ion cannons do not 90 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: cause direct physical damage typically, rather they disrupt electrical systems 91 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: like shields, which allows other weapons to do the heavy blasting. Now, 92 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: this isn't that different from something that does happen in 93 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: the real world called an electromagnetic pulse. There are actually 94 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,280 Speaker 1: electromagnetic pulse weapons or e m p s. Now e 95 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: MPs don't have to be weapons. There there are natural 96 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:32,840 Speaker 1: phenomena out there that will generate electromagnetic pulses, but they 97 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: are also created through stuff like nuclear weapon detonations. We 98 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: didn't know this necessarily when we were first building nuclear weapons, 99 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: but we found out about it. These pulses can overload 100 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: electronics with a voltage surge from electromagnetic energy, which effectively 101 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 1: can fry electronic circuits if the force is strong enough 102 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: and the circuits are not protected. The larger the circuits 103 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: you're using here, the more likely you're going to see 104 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: an impact. So if you're talking about a relatively simple, 105 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: small circuit, it may not have enough of a voltage 106 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: surge to cause any damage. Also, if it's an operation, 107 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: it's more likely to to be damaged than something that 108 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: has turned off. So any MP blast over like a 109 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 1: power grid could cause massive damage that. That's essentially one 110 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,840 Speaker 1: gigantic circuit, and you've got a lot of big conductors there, 111 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:28,280 Speaker 1: and a powerful e MP blast would definitely cause a 112 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: massive surge through that system. Now, we don't have ion 113 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: cannons in the real world, though there have been experiments 114 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,159 Speaker 1: with particle beam weaponry, which would fire charged particles at 115 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: high velocity at a target. Such weapons would have been 116 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,839 Speaker 1: tested with the possibility of using them in anti missile 117 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: defense systems, for example, with the intent of rendering missiles 118 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,919 Speaker 1: useless or blowing them up before they reach their intended target. Essentially, 119 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: these weapons deliver billions of charged particles at high velocity 120 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: to targets to disrupt their atomic or molecular structures. It 121 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: technically delivers kinetic energy to the target, which is the 122 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: same as a conventional weapon like a gun or a rifle, 123 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: only the bullets in this case are on the atomic 124 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: or molecular scale. There are some challenges to designing these 125 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: since they tend to fire charged particles and particles with 126 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: a similar charge will repel each other. So inside a 127 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: particle accelerator, for example, you've got these really powerful magnets 128 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: that generate a magnetic field that keep those charged particles 129 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: focused in a tight beam. They can't wander because you're 130 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: using this other very massive magnet to keep them in line. 131 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 1: But if you were to fire the beam outside of 132 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: those magnetic fields, then the fact that you have all 133 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: these similarly charged particles, they're gonna push against each other 134 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: and the beam would spread out rapidly, and that would 135 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: reduce its effectiveness. Plasma weapons are sometimes referenced as a 136 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: possible alternative when it comes to energy based weapons, but 137 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: these come with their own restrictions. Plasma is a conductive gas, 138 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: meaning there are free roaming electrons in the gases. The 139 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: most plentiful form of matter in the universe. It's typically 140 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: low density stuff and at very high temperatures it's it's 141 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: the stuff of stars. But it's not ideal for any 142 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: sort of distance weapon, as the gas will expand and 143 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: disperse outside of containment. If you have a high pressure 144 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: plasma gas and you release it into the general environment, 145 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: that high pressure is going to cause the gas to 146 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: expand as it enters the lower pressure environment, and it 147 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: starts to become less cohesive. It starts to lose energy rapidly, 148 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: so you would have trouble finding a way to direct 149 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: the plasma to a target at a high enough speed 150 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:40,079 Speaker 1: and coherence for it to actually do anything. Plasma does 151 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: work great in short range applications, such as plasma torches. 152 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 1: We can use powerful electrodes to ionize gas as it 153 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: passes through a nozzle and create a very powerful cutting 154 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,280 Speaker 1: tool this way, but it's not going to become the 155 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: new long range weapon for space. Now I've got more 156 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: technology I want to discuss before I hit the really 157 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: big topic lasers, and that's tractor beams. The tractor beam 158 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: plays a big part in a New Hope, as the 159 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: Empire uses it to immobilize and capture the millennium falcon. 160 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: So could such a thing actually exist? While I'll tell 161 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: you right after we take this quick break to thank 162 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: our sponsor, So what exactly is a tractor beam? While 163 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,319 Speaker 1: a tractor beam is some form of energy that can 164 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: draw objects closer to the source of the beam, which 165 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: defies common sense as typically if you send anything out 166 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: toward an object, it tends to push that object away 167 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: rather than pull the object closer. But we do have 168 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: experiments that mimic the tractor beams we see in science fiction, 169 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,719 Speaker 1: but they only work on a teen Italianese scale. So 170 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 1: optical trap traps and optical tweezers are kind of in 171 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: this category. They use beams of light to immobilize or 172 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: manipulate very small objects such as individuals cellular components, in 173 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: a noninvasive way. So if you needed to move things 174 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: around within a a an organic cell, but you didn't 175 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: want to cut into the cell, you might use optical 176 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: tweezers to isolate a particular part of the cell and 177 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: move it to where you needed it to be. But 178 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: these methods are more about pushing a particle around, not 179 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: pulling it towards the source of the energy, so it's 180 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: really again, tweezers is the right term for it. It's 181 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: not like you are magically latching on and harpooning it 182 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: and pulling it towards you. But there are some that 183 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: are closer to the concept of tractor beams. Bessel beams 184 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: can draw a particle towards the source under specific circumstances. 185 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,320 Speaker 1: A bessel beam is a type of laser beam that, 186 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: rather than forming a single coherent beam, manifests as a 187 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: series of concentric circles surrounding a central dot. So think 188 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: of your typical bulls eye target like in a dartboard. 189 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: The center the bull's eye is the dot of the laser, 190 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: and then the concentric circles around that dot represent the 191 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:08,599 Speaker 1: various circles of light around that laser dot. So the 192 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: light of the dot is not diffracted, and diffraction is 193 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: the spreading of waves around obstacles. This happens with sound, light, 194 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: and other electromagnetic radiation, as well as with subatomic particles 195 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: in motion because they display wave like properties. But the 196 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: dot in a vessel beam comes from those concentric circles. 197 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: So let's say you've got a very tiny object, and 198 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: the object's size is actually smaller than the larger of 199 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: the concentric circles in this vessel beam, and you direct 200 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: a vessel beam towards this object, you would think that 201 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: the little dot on the center of the vessel beam 202 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: would just touch the the surface closest to the beam, 203 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: and that would be that. But in fact what will 204 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: happen is as long as there's at least one concentric 205 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: circle that's larger than the object, the dot will actually 206 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 1: reform on the back side of that object rather than 207 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 1: on the front side of it. Uh, the considering circles 208 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: will allow for this to happen, and you can actually 209 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: use that to pull or manipulate an object to come 210 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: toward the source of the energy to Physicists named David 211 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: Grief and David Ruffner demonstrated this back in by using 212 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: a pair of vessel beams and a lens that caused 213 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 1: the two beams to overlap, and that way they could 214 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: generate enough power to actually move stuff. They could direct 215 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 1: the beams at an object and use a strobe like 216 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,719 Speaker 1: pattern of turning the beams on and off, and that 217 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,319 Speaker 1: doing this would cause the dot to reform on the 218 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: back of the particle and create enough force to push 219 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: the particle towards the source of the beam. So could 220 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 1: we ever build a vessel beam big enough to tow 221 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: a spaceship? No, and that scale the lasers would require 222 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: an enormous amount of energy, more than what we could 223 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: easily generate. And if we could generate that force to 224 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: create or that inner g rather to create a vessel 225 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,599 Speaker 1: being powerful enough to do it, it would just burn 226 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: up the target. It would be such an intense laser 227 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 1: beam that the the energy it would be imparting to 228 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,439 Speaker 1: the object would actually cause it to catch fire, as 229 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 1: opposed to pulling it toward you. If it did pull 230 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: it towards you, you would suddenly be pulling a an 231 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: object that was currently on fire towards you, which is 232 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: not ideal. It turns out, if if there's an object 233 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:31,199 Speaker 1: on fire, my first advice is don't go toward it. 234 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 1: Move further away. Now, if we found a way to 235 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: create a similar device using a different energy intensive source, 236 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: a macro sized tractor beam could be possible. In theory, 237 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: other options would be to create some sort of gravitational 238 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 1: or electromagnetic pull on the object, But to use a 239 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: gravitational beam would require warping spacetime itself, which we can't 240 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: yet do, and which would require again enormous amounts of 241 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 1: either mass or energy in order to warp this face 242 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: time matter or spacetime continuum sufficiently, and that's not something 243 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: we could do. Electromagnetic fields would be easier to generate, 244 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,680 Speaker 1: so you could create an electromagnetic field to attract spacecraft 245 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:15,560 Speaker 1: towards you, but it would also be pretty easy to 246 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,199 Speaker 1: avoid because if you just made your spacecraft I'll stuff 247 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: that wasn't magnetic, you wouldn't really be affected, though your 248 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: electronic systems might be at least temporarily affected. So if 249 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: it were a normal permanent magnet kind of approach, it 250 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: wouldn't really affect your electronic systems too much. But if 251 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 1: it were an alternating current approach where you've got a 252 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: varying electromagnetic field, it would be back to that electromagnetic 253 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: pulse issue I talked about earlier. Now this brings us 254 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: to lasers. The Death Star has tons of lasers. Most 255 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: of them are for the purposes of defense, but there's 256 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: the really big one that's for the purposes of blowing 257 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 1: up planet's real good. So how do these work? And 258 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: would such a super weapon really be able to blow 259 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: up a planet. Well. First, lasers are devices that create 260 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. That's what laser means. 261 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: To create a laser, you first need a special substance 262 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: to serve as your lazing medium. This can come in 263 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,240 Speaker 1: lots of different forms. Some lasers use crystals, some use 264 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,920 Speaker 1: special types of glass, some use certain gases. But in 265 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: any case, you have this lazing medium and then its 266 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: job is to absorb energy, typically from either a powerful 267 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: electric current or from another laser. So as you direct 268 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: this energy toward this lasing medium, the electrons inside that 269 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: medium get excited. It's a party. They begin to push 270 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: out from their normal energy state around the nuclei of 271 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: their respective atoms, so they start to occupy higher energy 272 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: states that normally they wouldn't be able to be in. 273 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: But when you stop pumping energy into the medium, that 274 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: allows those electrons to return to their normal rest energy state, 275 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: the lowest one that they would occupy around their respective 276 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: nuclei under normal conditions. However, all that energy you pumped 277 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: into the medium has to go somewhere, right, you have 278 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: to have the law of conservation take effect. Energy can 279 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: be neither created nor destroyed, but it can be converted 280 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: from one form to another. So you pumped this lasing 281 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: medium full of energy, the electrons have taken that and 282 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: they've gone into higher energy states. You remove that source 283 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: of energy, the electrons come down. They have to give 284 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: off that energy somehow, So in this case, those formally 285 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: hyperactive electrons release all that excess energy in the form 286 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: of photons, the basic particles of light. The type of 287 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: medium will determine the color of the emitted photons. So, 288 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: for example, ruby lasers amid a dark red beam, no 289 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: big surprise there, Helium cadmium lasers will blast out blue beams. 290 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 1: Green beams might come from a neodymium doped atrium aluminum 291 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: garnet laser. What the heck is that, Well, it's a 292 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: crystal in which a small amount of triplele ionized neodymium 293 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,360 Speaker 1: replaces about one percent of the utter um ions in 294 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: a host crystal. And the reason I bring it up 295 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: is that the super laser of the Death Star is green, 296 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 1: although they don't use that as their lasing medium. See 297 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 1: in the world of Star Wars, special weapons like lightsabers 298 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:17,640 Speaker 1: and the Death Stars super laser depended on these fictional 299 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:22,199 Speaker 1: materials called kaiber crystals, which are attuned to the force, 300 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 1: which is that mystical power that binds all things together. 301 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: So the Death Star super laser is kind of magic, 302 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:32,920 Speaker 1: I guess, But like I said in the last episode, 303 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: Star Wars is really more of a fantasy than a 304 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:39,399 Speaker 1: science fiction story. The Death Star uses eight lasers aimed 305 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,440 Speaker 1: at a focal point to create the super laser. It's 306 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: the combined laser that the Empire uses to blow up planets. 307 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: And how powerful is that laser? According to Dr Patrick Johnson, 308 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: who wrote the physics of Star Wars, it would have 309 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: to be a real whopper. Now. Dr Johnson does not 310 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,719 Speaker 1: calculate how much energy the laser would need to destroy 311 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: a planet, because real world physics don't work the way 312 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: we see the events unfold in Star Wars. Hitting a 313 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,880 Speaker 1: planet with a laser, even a super powerful one, would 314 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: not make it explode, as if the entire planet were 315 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:12,960 Speaker 1: made out of T and T. You could heat up 316 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 1: the planet considerably, effectively killing off all life on that planet. 317 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: And if you kept a powerful enough laser on a 318 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,360 Speaker 1: planet long enough, you could start to melt the planet, 319 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: but you wouldn't cause it to explode into a billion pieces, 320 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,400 Speaker 1: and that makes sense. It's similar to how you can 321 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: burn wood using a magnifying glass and sunlight. It takes 322 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: a little bit to heat up the surface enough to 323 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 1: start the process, so it doesn't instantaneously happen. If you 324 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: have a really powerful magnifying glass and you have a good, 325 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: uh good angle on the sun, you can start burning 326 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: wood very quickly. But even then you're talking about heating 327 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: up a substance to the point where it starts to burn. 328 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:56,159 Speaker 1: Even a super powerful laser would not instantaneously cause a 329 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,719 Speaker 1: planet to explode. Now, Dr Johnson did say that if 330 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: you wanted to create a laser capable of packing the 331 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 1: same punch as the most powerful collision we know about, 332 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,160 Speaker 1: you'd have to match the blast that Jupiter received when 333 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: fragment g from the Shoemaker Levi comet hit the planet's surface. 334 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,400 Speaker 1: That impact was equivalent to one point one two times 335 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: ten to the twenty seven power jewels of energy. One 336 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,199 Speaker 1: jewel is equivalent to one three thousand, six hundred of 337 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: a what hour, and Dr Johnson points out that with 338 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,679 Speaker 1: one point one two times ten to the twenty seventh 339 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:34,640 Speaker 1: power jewels, you're talking more energy than all of humanity 340 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,000 Speaker 1: would be able to use over the course of three 341 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,479 Speaker 1: million years if you rely upon the use rates that 342 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: were recorded in two thousand thirteen. So three million years 343 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:47,679 Speaker 1: of using energy the way we did in thirteen, and 344 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: you would approach the amount of energy that was that 345 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,680 Speaker 1: was represented by this collision on Jupiter. And even that 346 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:57,920 Speaker 1: is not the same as what it would take to 347 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: destroy a planet. Right, that's not even a full a 348 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,880 Speaker 1: full charge of this Death Star laser. It can't be 349 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: if the if Jupiter still around, unless I checked it is. 350 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: Then you would have to assume that whatever the Death 351 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: Stars laser packs, it's got to be higher than that. 352 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: So that means it's got to be more than the 353 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: energy that we would use over the course of three 354 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: million years. It's also equivalent, by the way, to the 355 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,879 Speaker 1: total amount of energy our Sun emits over the course 356 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,360 Speaker 1: of three minutes. And I don't mean the energy that's 357 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:30,479 Speaker 1: coming to Earth. I mean all the energy coming out 358 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: of the Sun for three minutes. That's a lot of energy. 359 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 1: So again makes the Death Star pretty unrealistic, but fine 360 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: for a fantasy. So when we come back, we'll talk 361 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: about the Death stars weak point and the super weapons. 362 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: The bad guys built to replace the Death Star once 363 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: it done got exploded. But first, let's take a quick 364 00:20:50,359 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor. So ventilation shaft. What the 365 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: heck was that about? Well, as we learn in Rogue one, 366 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: one of the engineers who worked on the Death Star 367 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,120 Speaker 1: created this vulnerability on purpose. He was compelled to work 368 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:14,679 Speaker 1: on the station by the Empire, and he managed to 369 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:18,400 Speaker 1: sneak in a severe design flaw that apparently no one 370 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: else Q aid during the entire construction process, which speaks 371 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,800 Speaker 1: poorly on the Empire's quality control system. I would say 372 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: the engineering question was galen Urso, the father to jen Urso, 373 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,160 Speaker 1: that's the main protagonist of Rogue One. Galen Urso's design 374 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: had a ventilation shaft running from the exterior surface of 375 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: the Death Star directly down to the very core of 376 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,480 Speaker 1: the hyper matter power reactor, and a direct hit on 377 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 1: the ventilation shaft would send energy down to overload this reactor, 378 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,880 Speaker 1: causing a catastrophic chain reaction within the reactor core, which 379 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,080 Speaker 1: would lead to the destruction of the Death Star as 380 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:59,360 Speaker 1: the reactor would explode in an uncontained massive explosion. This 381 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: is similar to a nuclear meltdown in some ways, and 382 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 1: a nuclear meltdown. You go with a controlled nuclear reaction 383 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: which then turns into an uncontrolled one. Technically, that usually 384 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: means that the dampening techniques you would use to restrict 385 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: nuclear activity within a reactor would fail, and so these 386 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,640 Speaker 1: reactions would continue to happen and they would accelerate, and 387 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: a nuclear reactor would then therefore get really really hot 388 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: and a lot of radiation would be released. It typically 389 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,159 Speaker 1: wouldn't explode, but things might start to melt if it 390 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: got hot enough, and uh, the containment system could fail, 391 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: and that could release a lot of radiation in the process. 392 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: This has happened a couple of times, or radiation has 393 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 1: been vented into various areas um or has otherwise been 394 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,400 Speaker 1: able to leak out from a nuclear facility. You still 395 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,439 Speaker 1: wouldn't see a massive explosion, really, You would just have 396 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,440 Speaker 1: a lot of very deadly radiation leaked into the environment, 397 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: which is pretty darn bad all by itself. But the 398 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: Death Star, of course, relied on hyper matter, which apparently 399 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: is extremely volatile, So I'm going to give this one 400 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: a pass. Now, some quick discussion about the successors to 401 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: the Death Star, the Death Star to Son of Death Star, 402 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: which we saw in Return of the Jedi was similar 403 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: in many ways to its predecessor. Like other elements of 404 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: Star Wars, there are major discrepancies regarding the death Star 405 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: to size. I'm talking about huge discrepancies. So some sources 406 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: state it had a diameter of a hundred sixty kilometers. 407 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: That was the same size that I used when I 408 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 1: was making all my calculations for the first death Star. 409 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: And again there are other accounts that say the death Star, 410 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: the original one had a diameter of a hundred twenty 411 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: or a hundred forty kilometers, so that one also had 412 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: a lot of disagreement. But other sources say the second 413 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:54,159 Speaker 1: death Star was much much bigger, at nine hundred kilometers 414 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: in diameter. That would put the circumference of the death 415 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: Star to at five thousand, six hundred fifty two kilometers, 416 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 1: which means it would be about half as large as 417 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: our moon, whereas, of course the first death Star was 418 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: one the size of our moon, so it would be 419 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: much much bigger if in fact those numbers are the 420 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,439 Speaker 1: official ones, but it's really hard to track down what 421 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: the official official term was. So it had similar armaments 422 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: and vehicle complements as the original Death Star, just presumably 423 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: more of them. The new design did not have that 424 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: thermal exhaust part of its predecessor. It specifically was designed 425 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: to not have that same weakness. Instead, it was using 426 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: millions of smaller ports all across the surface of the 427 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,920 Speaker 1: Death Star Too, and they were measuring just millimeters across. 428 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,880 Speaker 1: That would cut off access to the station's core from 429 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: the outside once the station was completely built, but during 430 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: the events of Return of the Jedi, the Death Star 431 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: too is still under construction. So while there's no thermal 432 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: exhaust port, there are these big honking gaps in the 433 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,160 Speaker 1: extern all hall of the Death Star that a ship 434 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,160 Speaker 1: the size of, say the Millennium Falcon could fly through 435 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 1: to get access to the station's core. So the Death 436 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: Star two's defense was boosted by a ground based shield, 437 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: a deflector shield. The Death Star too was presumably in 438 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: geo stationary orbit above the forest moon of Indoor, which 439 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 1: had the Imperial Shield generator on it. Geo stationary orbit 440 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: means that you are in an orbit high enough where 441 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: you are consistently over the same point on the ground 442 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: of whatever body you are orbiting. So if there were 443 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,160 Speaker 1: a satellite and geo stationary orbit above Atlanta. It means 444 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 1: the satellite would always be directly above Atlanta even as 445 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,680 Speaker 1: the Earth continued its rotation, So we presume that the 446 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 1: Death Star two was the same way in order to 447 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 1: have this projected shield consistently wrapping around the Death Star. 448 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: To shields, by the way and the star Wars universe 449 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: are energy shields which use some sort of energy field 450 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,160 Speaker 1: to deflect incoming attacks. There were deflector shields that could 451 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: deflect energy fire and others that could deflect physical or 452 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: kinetic based attacks. A lot of ships would have both 453 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,199 Speaker 1: for energy attacks. That might be something similar to a magnetosphere. 454 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,680 Speaker 1: Earth has a magnetos sphere that protects us from much 455 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: of the Sun's more harmful radiation. The magnetosphere deflects charged particles, 456 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: which prevents them from hitting the Earth and causing massive 457 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: problems for the biological critters we have here. When we 458 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,520 Speaker 1: send people to space, we actually have to include shielding 459 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: to help protect them against such radiation as they travel 460 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: outside the protective magnetosphere. Presumably, deflector shields are somewhat similar, 461 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: though their specific mechanism hasn't really been explained. And then 462 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: there's star Killer Base. We'll just cheat chat about this 463 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: for just a moment. This is the super weapon that 464 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: appears in the Force Awakens. It is an ice planet, 465 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,439 Speaker 1: a roving ice planet. It's actually mobile, and it serves 466 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: as the housing for this weapon, which could send a 467 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: powerful laser across the galaxy to destroy entire star systems. 468 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: The weapon would run on a dark energy that is 469 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: plentiful and poorly defined, as is the want with star Wars. 470 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 1: The planet would harness this energy using nearby stars and 471 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,160 Speaker 1: pour all the energy into the planet's core, which would 472 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: continue to contain the energy until the weapon was ready 473 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:27,080 Speaker 1: to fire. They would essentially breach the containment field to 474 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: allow this energy to escape in a big blast, and 475 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 1: through the firing process it would be converted into something 476 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: that they called phantom energy, which does not exist. But 477 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: it could actually tunnel through hyperspace, thus traveling across the 478 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: galaxy to its target, and even moving faster than the 479 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: speed of light, because again it's using kind of a 480 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 1: wormhole approach. It's not traveling the entire distance from Star 481 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: Killer base to the target. It's using hyperspace to kind 482 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:58,160 Speaker 1: of leap frog to that position. And it was strong 483 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: enough to destroy multiple planets in a single firing, which 484 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,640 Speaker 1: suffice it to say, is way beyond anything we can 485 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,399 Speaker 1: do and relies upon physics that do not exist in 486 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: the real world. So there's not really any way I 487 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: can tackle this except to say that we do have 488 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:17,400 Speaker 1: a concept about civilizations that are capable of harnessing all 489 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 1: the energy coming out of a star, which comes from 490 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: the Cardassi of scale. This describes civilizations by how much 491 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,439 Speaker 1: energy they can harness relative to their surroundings. So a 492 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:32,200 Speaker 1: Type one civilization on the cardasshe of scale would be 493 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: able to harness all the power coming to its planet 494 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,960 Speaker 1: from its nearby star. So in our case, we would 495 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: be a Type one civilization if we harnessed all of 496 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: the energy that the Sun was shooting at us, specifically, 497 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: like all the energy hitting the Earth. If we could 498 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: harness all of it, we would be a Type one civilization. 499 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: We can't do that. We lose a lot of the 500 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: energy that is coming from the Sun. Uh. Some of 501 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 1: it gets reflected off, a lot of it gets lost 502 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: is heat. We're not harnessing all of it, so we're 503 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: not truly a Type one civilization. Yet a type to 504 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 1: civilization would be able to harness all the energy coming 505 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: out of a star entirely, not just the stuff hitting 506 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: our planet. So if we were a type two Kardashian 507 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: of civilization, we would be able to harness all the 508 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:19,640 Speaker 1: energy coming out of the Sun, not just the stuff 509 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,800 Speaker 1: that's directed our way, and we would need something like 510 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 1: a dicen sphere to do that. And I'll have to 511 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: cover a dicensphere in a future episode and explain what 512 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: that is and how that would in theory work. And 513 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: then the types of the kardashi of scale civilizations go 514 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 1: all the way up to Type five, which would be 515 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 1: a civilization so powerful that would be capable of manipulating 516 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: reality itself. And boy, how they would I like to 517 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,480 Speaker 1: see that happen. But I have a feeling if such 518 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: a thing were even possible, it's nowhere close to ever 519 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: being something that humanity is going to see. However, that 520 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: does conclude our episodes on the Death Star, the most 521 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,960 Speaker 1: powerful weapon in the galaxy, and and the hubrists of 522 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 1: the Empire that allowed such powerful weapons to be destroyed 523 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 1: thrice over. And it was fun to look into this. 524 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: I enjoyed being able to use Star Wars to talk 525 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:14,200 Speaker 1: a little bit about tech and physics, and that's always 526 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: a blast to be able to use some pop culture 527 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: to talk about other stuff. If you guys have suggestions 528 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,440 Speaker 1: for future episodes of tech Stuff, whether it's an episode 529 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 1: topic like uh technology or personality and tech, or a 530 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:29,840 Speaker 1: company in tech that I should cover, or maybe there's 531 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 1: someone you would like me to speak with an interview 532 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 1: of some sort, or maybe a guest host. Let me know. 533 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: Send me an email. The address for the show is 534 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or draw 535 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: me a line on Facebook or Twitter. 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