Making fun of Star Wars

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 1:48 am

Right..... using a mirror would defend against cosmic rays or x-rays how?

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 3:03 am

they're just called lasers in SW. Does it mean that they are the same lasers as we know them?
After all that is a galaxy far far away, with the laws of physics connected to the force...

why would we assume they are in any way similar to lasers in teh ST universe or behave similarly to our lasers?
for all we know 1 laser on SW could be ten times as powerful as a phaser 

[Dircome]

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 3:44 am

Last edited by Dircome on February 22nd, 2009, 3:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

My theory on why star trek uses phasers instead of lasers is because you can not see a laser unless it hits something else. and in the vacuum of space there is nothing to reflect off of. this makes star trek more realistic, of course there would be no sound transmitted in space so that throws both series out in terms of realism.

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 4:10 am

phasers are still built around the same principle of a laser. So the conclusion would apply to them as well.

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 4:48 am

Exactly Serpicus 

We have no idea what the physics are, or for that matter the conversion calculation for how poweful ST or SW tech is... so we have no idea whether ST or SW would be more powerful.

Plus, in ST and SW, sound waves travel through a vacuum, explosions in space make fireballs... so those universes are already quite different 

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 2:30 pm

Plus, in ST and SW, sound waves travel through a vacuum, explosions in space make fireballs... so those universes are already quite different 

Do you mean when ships are destroyed? They have an atmosphere inside that has to go somewhere when destroyed, that's where the explosions come from.

[Meng]

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 4:07 pm

Last edited by Meng on February 22nd, 2009, 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Its actually really hard to resist the urge to post more pro trek stuff but i'll try resisting it.
I must admit that the people who predicted this to be endless were right.

just two things (just out of interest)

phasers are still built around the same principle of a laser. So the conclusion would apply to them as well.

I have not much knowledge of physics and such but aren't phasers supposed to be beams of (fictual) nadion particles?
Is this really the same principle as a laser? And how would we know, considering that nadion particles are fictual?

Oh, and i agree that the lasers in SW don't have to be actual lasers.
As far as i know the most common theories are 1: that the visible bolt is an gaseous exhaust product and there is an invisible laser beam shot at the same time (I find this explanation unlikely)
and 2: that the lasers in SW are actually a kind of plasma cannon.

Right..... using a mirror would defend against cosmic rays or x-rays how?

Umm, wouldn't the mirror reflect and scatter the photons of the laser? and wouldnt that defend the target from at least part of the lasers heat and thereby from its destructive power...?
surely that wouldnt work with a normal bathroom mirror but as far as I know mirrors do at least weaken the intensity of lasers. I mean ok the x-ray and cosmic ray thing might be true, but usually, at least in scifi, its the heat caused by the concentrated photon beam that does the damage.

just to make it clear: these questions are not rhetorical ones and theyre not "im gonna proof how cool star trek is"-questions, they are meant serious.

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 4:31 pm

Right..... using a mirror would defend against cosmic rays or x-rays how?

The SW lasers are in the visual spectrum, and visual spectrum light can be deflected by a mirror.  Duh.

And now for a little something off-topic: My Dad is a nuclear phyisisict, and we regularly debate common things like how to harness quantum oscillation thermodynamically, what nadion particles really do, and how to create a practical transporter, etc, etc. Today I asked him who would win in a battle, the Death Star or the Borg, and he immeadiatly said: "the Borg would, as they would adapt to the weaponry, and deflect it back at it, as the Imperials cannot remodulate their weapons, and they have no shields."  Go figure.

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 5:41 pm

Unfortunately the Imperials do have shields... both against concussion type weapons and "laser" weapons.

Also, a militarized "laser" would definitely not use just visual spectrum: UV and X-ray would be far more likely... and hence are pretty much unreflectable. Even to deflect a laser of sufficient strength in the visible would require a very finely milled mirror. As it stand currently, no mirror has ever been manufactured which can perfectly deflect any laser without heating up (causing defects to spread and eventually destroy the mirror in more powerful lasers). Military strength weapons in fact pretty much instantly destroy mirrors.

Remember, just because SW "lasers" are seen, doesn't mean they are in the visible spectrum. A real visible spectrum laser would not be able to be seen off-axis. Likewise the recoil would be tiny (1 / c : momentum to energy) unlike that seen in the movies. Plus, they can't even BE lasers because they are traveling much too slow (you can't dodge the speed of light).

If anything, if SW was using real lasers, and ST was using nadions... SW would win because ST could never avoid any hit ever, while SW could destroy every torpedo launched.

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 8:49 pm

just two things (just out of interest)

I have not much knowledge of physics and such but aren't phasers supposed to be beams of (fictual) nadion particles?
Is this really the same principle as a laser? And how would we know, considering that nadion particles are fictual?

Oh, and i agree that the lasers in SW don't have to be actual lasers.
As far as i know the most common theories are 1: that the visible bolt is an gaseous exhaust product and there is an invisible laser beam shot at the same time (I find this explanation unlikely)
and 2: that the lasers in SW are actually a kind of plasma cannon.

the principle im referring to was the principle between SW and ST. In effect whether nadion or catamaran, the way phasers are designed in ST are pretty much along the same principle as the lasers of SW.
plus, if ure quoting nadion particles, what about disruptors... are then all "particile beam" weapons different from laser style photon beam weapons in SW...
after all where do the photon torpedoes get their glow from in space,... the same place the SW lasers get theirs from..
Special effects from Industrial Light and Magic - fyi  this Lucas company did the Special effects for both SW and ST (DS9, TNG and Voyager included )

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 11:00 pm

If anything, if SW was using real lasers, and ST was using nadions... SW would win because ST could never avoid any hit ever, while SW could destroy every torpedo launched.

Wait, they fail to hit a "relative" large fighter, but they hit a faster, smaller torpedo?

Thats quite unlikely. 

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Do Star Wars ship target or just fire blind? Personally, I think they just fire and hope they hit the right thing with the 'Lasers'.

[Dominus_Noctis]

posted on February 22nd, 2009, 11:56 pm

Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on February 23rd, 2009, 4:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

I said "if" they were true lasers ARES IV.
The reason they couldn't hit the fighters was because the turrets/beams couldn't move fast enough (remember in the "first" movie?)

The Star Wars ships seem to aim just fine given how the battle of Endor was going etc
(Remember the superlaser... or even the turbolasers taking out the shield generators of Leia's blockade runner)

@ Tyler: Also, explosions in space don't work the same way as they would here on earth, even despite a ship venting atmosphere. Essentially fireballs just couldn't work as they would be extinguished rather quickly when no more oxygen is to be had and the actually fires would probably just be spurts of flame (so little localized fireballs... rather than just one massive one). Consider also that the gas would be expanding into a vacuum and dissipating rapidly, so the likelihood of there being O2 in the region to burn is lessened etc.

[Dircome]

posted on February 23rd, 2009, 3:45 am

Last edited by Dircome on February 23rd, 2009, 3:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

now all we need is to throw battlestar galactica into this fight. also it would be interesting to have some other units as map objects. but i think the regular stuff comes first

posted on February 23rd, 2009, 3:47 am

Serpicus, where is my reply!