1. Glasgow University Astrosoc presents 30th Oct 2001 The Physics of Star Wars

3. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

7. The Physics of

8. The Physics of Star Wars Spaceships Weapons Droids and technology Planets and star systems

10. “Travelling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, boy…”

11. Interstellar Travel 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 Speed of light = 186,000 miles per second = 300,000 km per second

13. Einstein’s Relativity Matter causes space to curve or warp

14. Hyperspace “What time does Oxford reach this train?”

15. Hyperspace “What time does Alderaan reach the Falcon?” “What time does Oxford reach this train?”

17. Tatooine Alderaan

18. Tatooine Alderaan

19. Alderaan Tatooine

20. Alderaan Tatooine

21. Alderaan Tatooine

22. Tatooine Alderaan

24. Dark Energy

25. The Runaway Universe Martin Hendry University of Glasgow

26. Dates for your Diary:- Wed 31st Oct – PHYSOC lecture Room 257 4pm Wed 21st Nov – Dept. Colloquium Room 222 4pm

27. Antigravity Gravity is an attractive force We feel weight when we are accelerated 1g = 10 metres per second per second

28. Anakin’s podracer accelerates from 0-600mph in 2 seconds: a g-force of about 13g

35. 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

36. Power of the Death Star Laser pen = 1mW Light Bulb = 100W Electric Heater = 1kW Wind Farm = 1MW Lightning Bolt = 1GW Largest Laser = 1000TW The Death Star has the power of a million million million million million lightning bolts

38. “”Less clumsy or random than a blaster; an elegant weapon, for a more civilised age”

43. Lightsabres and Blasters Laser beams or plasma beams?