Melting an ice dice takes 3.34 x 105 joules in step with kilogram. So a unmarried ice dice with a mass of fifty grams would take 16,700 joules. You’ll be able to already see that melting stuff takes a number of power. If you wish to soften a steel door, you need to do two issues—building up the temperature to the melting level after which in truth liquefy it. The overall quantity of power will depend on the mass and form of the steel.
Estimating the Energy
Now we need to make some guesses. The large query is what starship doorways are product of. I imply, if I used to be making a large spaceship to hold struggle droids round, I believe my steel of selection could be aluminum, which has a pleasant steadiness between weight and energy.
Happily, we all know all about aluminum. It has a density of two,700 kilograms in step with cubic meter and a melting temperature of 660 levels Celsius. The particular warmth capability is 900 joules in step with kilogram in step with level Celsius, and it has a latent warmth of fusion at 3.96 x 105 joules in step with kilogram. (I do know that is a large number of numbers, however do not fret, we are simply going to drop them into a pc.)
What’s the mass of the steel that is melted? That is a tricky one. On Qui-Gon’s first reduce, it seems like he cuts a trail about 2 meters lengthy. I am not positive in regards to the width of this trail, however I’m going to cross with 1 centimeter. In the end, the door is perhaps 5 centimeters thick, and he is slicing all over in a single go. With the ones estimations, I am getting a complete mass of two.7 kilograms of melted steel.
Now I will be able to calculate the power required to soften this quantity of aluminum. It is simply the power had to building up the temperature of the steel to the melting level after which soften it. (Need to take a look at the calculation with a distinct steel? Simply plug your numbers into my Python code.) With my numbers, I am getting a required power of two.6 million joules. Melting steel is not trivial.
Now, for the ability, I simply wish to resolve how lengthy it takes to soften this steel. The usage of Tracker Video Research, I am getting a reduce time of eleven.5 seconds. This provides an influence output of two.28 x 105 watts. Sure, that is the precise, bodily energy of the Power. It is identical to 305 horsepower, so it is like a high-powered automobile proper there to your hand.
A Lightsaber Battery
Perhaps lightsabers would not have batteries. Perhaps they simply draw power from an additional measurement or one thing. Nobody is aware of as a result of lightsabers don’t seem to be actual (and that’s the reason wonderful). But when they did have a battery, what wouldn’t it appear to be? What sort of battery would paintings?
We already estimated the ability output of the lightsaber. With this, we will calculate the overall power saved within the instrument. We simply wish to know the way lengthy it’s going to run on a unmarried price. I have by no means observed a lightsaber fizzle out in Big name Wars, and I have by no means observed them plugged in to the wall, so I suppose they final a very long time.
