Transcript Document
Glasgow University Astrosoc presents 30th Oct 2001 The Physics of Star Wars A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… The Physics of The Physics of Star Wars Spaceships Weapons Droids and technology Planets and star systems “Travelling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, boy…” Interstellar Travel Speed of light = 186,000 miles per second = 300,000 km per second Distance to nearest star = 4.3 light years, or 25,000,000,000,000 miles There are about 100,000,000,000 stars in our Milky Way galaxy Einstein’s Relativity Matter causes space to curve or warp Hyperspace “What time does Oxford reach this train?” Hyperspace “What time does Oxford reach this train?” “What time does Alderaan reach the Falcon?” Tatooine Alderaan Tatooine Alderaan Tatooine Alderaan Tatooine Alderaan Tatooine Alderaan Tatooine Alderaan The Runaway Universe Martin Hendry University of Glasgow Dates for your Diary:Wed 31st Oct – PHYSOC lecture Room 257 4pm Wed 21st Nov – Dept. Colloquium Room 222 4pm Antigravity Gravity is an attractive force We feel weight when we are accelerated 1g = 10 metres per second per second Anakin’s podracer accelerates from 0600mph in 2 seconds: a g-force of about 13g Death Stars Power needed to destroy Alderaan in 0.25 seconds = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 MW This equals the total power output of the Sun for ~100,000 years Power of the Death Star Laser pen Light Bulb Electric Heater Wind Farm Lightning Bolt Largest Laser = 1mW = 100W = 1kW = 1MW = 1GW = 1000TW The Death Star has the power of a million million million million million lightning bolts “”Less clumsy or random than a blaster; an elegant weapon, for a more civilised age” Lightsabres and Blasters Laser beams or plasma beams? ““We don’t serve their kind here!” Droids Droids have a vital role in the Star Wars Universe, serving many different, highly specialised, functions, e.g.:Astro-droids (R2-D2) Interpreters (C3-PO) Soldiers (Battle droids) Their presence often breeds resentment and mistrust Communications C3PO and R2-D2 communicate through sound – no internet connections!! Droid army operated from orbiting Control Ship Holograms Navigation Finding your exact position in the galaxy is a huge computational task. Requires 50 billion Mbytes of disk space, or 77 million CD-roms 10000 years on a Pentium IV computer! (Also needs 3-D star maps of the galaxy) “Well, if there’s a bright centre to the Universe you’re on the planet that it’s farthest from…” Tatooine Possible orbits of Tatooine, Tatoo 1 and Tatoo 2 Hoth Endor Yavin Naboo Coruscant