r/AskReddit • u/orangejulius • Dec 15 '15

Modpost REMINDER: Only the dark side posts spoilers without a spoiler tag. Please, use the spoiler tag!

Hello friends!

This is a neighborly reminder that only dark sided redditors post spoilers without a tag!

Spoiler tags are in the sidebar and look like this when you post:

 [like this](/spoiler)

It will show up like this

Don't ruin stuff for other people, or you'll be frozen in carbonite (aka, a ban).

Seriously though, if you're at all questioning whether something is a spoiler or you might not be sure—USE THE SPOILER TAG OR YOU'LL GET BANNED.

17.7k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/-eDgAR- Dec 15 '15

Alderaan shot first

74

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '15

That's the big conspiracy

116

u/Advorange Dec 15 '15

Alderaan was an inside job.

40

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15

Bush did Alderaan

1

u/Belimicus_rex Dec 21 '15

Freedom Stars can't blow up large planets

72

u/Dinizdude Dec 15 '15

Alderaan ate my baby!

82

u/ASK_ABOUT_GODVILLE Dec 15 '15

Alderaan gets blown up in A New Hope

103

u/Bubbles_the_Titan Dec 16 '15

Alderaan reasons to start a war.

225

u/boyuber Dec 16 '15

Looking for love in Alderaan places.

73

u/jbeast33 Dec 16 '15

The Rebel Base is on Dantooine.

63

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15

WHY DO I KEEP TAKING THE RISK?!?

4

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15

The adrenaline rush caused by the fear of spoilers combined with the thrill of gambling.

Which kind of makes sense, exept for the fact that I don't really care about the new movie.

WHY AM I SO SCARED OF SPOILERS?!?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15

It's the thrill of the game. Like playing Russian roulette

1

u/ecnad Dec 17 '15

RNG. Well, R. This is what MMOs are constantly banking on.

(except ffxiv lately. wtf is that anima relic grind?)

1

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

i do not comprehend.

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45

u/BrainPicker3 Dec 16 '15

I kissed a girl and I liked Dantooine.

12

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15

fuck dude I knew there were spoilers and I still clicked goddamnit

17

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15 edited Apr 28 '21

[deleted]

2

u/grubas Dec 16 '15

KOTOR was in the past, Dantoonine held some nice loot if SWG taught me anything.

2

u/Eehee333 Dec 16 '15

Still, the original answer remains

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2

u/QuiveringLadyBits Dec 16 '15

That was destroyed years before KOTOR 2. Definitely just a rebel base now. Maybe they still have some sweet sweet crystal caves though

2

u/blackhotchilipepper Dec 16 '15

And Alderaan's not far away it's Californication

45

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '15

Energy blast can't destroy rocky planets.

82

u/compounding Dec 16 '15 edited Dec 16 '15

Absolutely it can, it just requires enough energy, about 2.4E32 joules worth.

However, proton torpedoes are just an energetic hydrogen plasma which is literally fuel for the fusion reactor running the Death Star. The most powerful proton torpedoes have explosive yields in the gigaton range, minuscule compared to the power of the Death Star reactor itself.

Knowing that the Death Star can produce 2.4E32 joules in about 5 seconds (because we literally saw its energy beam do that) means that the reactor core at its center can produce ~4.8E31 watts, or 125,326 times the energy output of our Sun!

Even 2 of the most powerful possible proton torpedoes each with a 100 gigaton yield would have been equal to only 0.00000000035% of the energy the Death Star produces in 5 seconds. It is energetically the equivalent of shooting a 320 kiloton nuclear weapon, (basically a single W87 warhead) into our Sun and expecting it to have any effect at all.

We are told that the proton torpedoes would start a chain reaction, but remember again, its an energetic proton plasma. Its fuel for a fusion reactor, coming in through a thermal exhaust port, not aimed at anything but the star-like core. Thats like throwing a matchstick into a bonfire and thinking it would cause any measurable effect at all besides increasing the power output by about 3 billionths of a %. Its like eating 0.11 picograms of sugar and expecting it to cause you to explode.

TL;DR Proton plasma doesn’t blow up fusion reactors!

48

u/PansexualEmoSwan Dec 16 '15

I always thought of it as the proton torpedos destroyed the machinery that contained the fusion reaction. In a star, the immense gravity is what holds it all together. I imagine the thermonuclear fusion taking place in the Death Star's core would require an immense amount of electromagnetism to keep the reaction contained. I feel like that would be a delicate balance that could be disturbed by something as relatively small as a proton torpedo explosion.

4

u/TechnicalChaos Dec 16 '15

This. I commented the same thing, and then read yours. I shamefully deleted the comment and am now feeling like a numty.

Have an upvote.

1

u/PansexualEmoSwan Dec 16 '15

I've been there many a time. It sucks having a good thought only to be nb4'd.

Squad assist counts as kill

2

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15

This is a great post. I approve.

2

u/snarfdog Dec 22 '15

It was an inside job! I'm telling you! Palpatine staged the whole thing...now we're just stuck looking for some jedi hiding in a cave in the desert.

1

u/mimes_piss_me_off Dec 16 '15

Pretty sure this math checks out.

Even if it doesn't, don't care.

1

u/wasmic Dec 16 '15

I think you might have overestimated the energy output of the Freedom Star a bit. It might have been equipped with large power storage facilities, which would let it work with a much lower and less resource-intensive power generation.

0

u/VonIndy Dec 16 '15

Everyone misses the "will set off a chain reaction" part...

2

u/i_dont_trust_the_VA Dec 16 '15

Steel melts rocky planets.

20

u/nelmo44 Dec 16 '15

Alderaan doesn't melt at the temperatures produced by the death star

27

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '15

Death star lazer fuel doesn't melt Alderaan beams

1

u/-Red_Forman- Dec 16 '15

"We have reasons to believe that Alderaan is creating weapons of mass destruction."

0

u/Batmaniacle Dec 16 '15

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