Subject:
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Re: Ewok Holocaust
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.starwars
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Date:
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Fri, 26 Jan 2001 16:45:10 GMT
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Viewed:
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508 times
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In lugnet.starwars, Will Lutz writes:
> The Earth gets hits by tons and tons of dust all the time yet it doesn't
> seem to bother her none :) Yep, that's right we are gaining weight all the
> time... of coarse the last correction of the gravitation constant knocked
> some 6,000,000,000,000 metric tons off the scale so we can add a lot of dust
> without causing any problems. In fact, all the metallic dust would most
> likely help the planet / moon much more than hurt it.
But the question is whether or not the explosion would hurt the Ewoks. No doubt
all of that cosmic dust over centuries is beneficial to the Earth...it adds to
soil fertility and the nutrient balance of the oceans. From a geologic/
biological/climatic perspective, the sudden influx of billions of cubic tons of
metallic debris *might* have a good impact on the Sanctuary Moon. *Might* Fine
ash particles from volcanic eruptions are light enough to stay in the upper
atmosphere for years, causing noticeable plantetary cooling by reflecting solar
radiation back into space. After the 1992 eruption of Mount Pinutubo
(spelling?) in the Philipines, world temperatures were on the average 1-2
degrees cooler for well over a year. What would be the effect upon the Moon's
forests when they were suddenly blanketed in masive quantities of debris that is
possibly irradiated or toxic to plant-life in super-saturated quantities? What
would happen to Ewok villages as huge chunks of debris slam into the forests? A
bullet, when fired into sand, makes an impact crater that is extremely large in
proportion to the size of the bullet. Sure, maybe the long-term results of
these metals being added to the moon's total climatic/nutrient budget would be
beneficial, but maybe not (who knows what the Death Star was made of?), and even
so, what would be the short-term effects upon a sensitive forest ecosystem?
It's more likely that the effects would be deadly, rather than benign. This
influx of debris doesn't even take into account the terrible radiation that both
animal and plants would be exposed to.
Surely, that huge reactor core, as well as the power infrastructure of the
station, would have unleashed not only terrible heat, but lethal energy
bursts across the electromagnetic spectrum. Heck, even solar flares from 90
million miles away can significantly increase the amount of infrared radiation
absorbed by the Earth, and I'd wager that such a close relationship between the
Moon and battle station (a relationship that couldn't be maintained without some
kind of force employed by the reactor field to counteract the mutual pull of
gravity. Just imagine the terrible coastal devastation because of tidal action
on the moon...) would mean that an initial blast that undoubteldy flashed many
millions of degrees fahrenheit or celsius (doesn't really matter - point is, it
was initially far hotter than the surface of a star), with an outburst of
radiation that would do who knows what to the exposed side of the Moon. Turn it
into a wasteland, no doubt. And then what about the atmosphere of the Moon? No
doubt it would combust, maybe even vaporize in the initial heat blast (kind of
like a star instantly appearing next to a planet), and then the composition of
the atmosphere (if an atmosphere even existed after the blast) would have been
forever changed into a lethal poisonous mix of gases (the biology of Ewoks, by
all anectodatl evidence, is remarkably similar in mammalian respects to humans)
that would be impossible to support Earth-like life (and there was a *lot* of
Earth-like life. And back to the close-proximity of the two bodies; they were
practically kissing (far, far, far closer than the quarter-million miles that
separates Earth and the Moon.) That scene in Jedi where Han and Leia look up to
the pretty fireball in the sky is a dead-on inconsistency. That space-station
would have been as big as Baltimore in the sky. Anything not simply vaporized
by the blast would be so damaged by the radiation, that they would, well, er...
I don't know? What *would* happen to you if about a million nuclear bombs
suddenly went off a few hundred miles overhead?
Let's go back to the text, so to speak...chapter and verse. When that explosion
occured, nobody was blinded by the glare or had their eardrums burst as the
incredibly loud sound of billions and billions of cubic tons of atmosphere was
compressed by the heat. Han and Leia looked up at the pretty fireworks, ewoks
squealed in delight, and Rebel troops slapped hands. Soon thereafter, X-Wings
flew overhead and dropped fireworks. There wasn't even a terrible meteor
shower. We got *nothing* from Lucas. Sure, it probably wouldn't be of too much
*immediate* consequence to Earth if some planet midway between us and Mars
suddenly exploded, but come-on, even a moon a tenth the size of our current one
would pretty much end civilization as we know it if it blew up 250,000 miles
from us.
I will admit this: the presence of the Death Star so close to the Moon could
have made for really great drama. The Rebellion, being conscientious (the
difference between good and evil is *always* clear-cut in a Lucas flick) cannot
attemp to destroy the Death Star because of the lethal consequences to life on
the Moon. What do they do? I don't know...good question...but i know what they
*wouldn't* do: just blow the blasted thing up anyhow.
james
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Ewok Holocaust
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| (...) I don't think it would... first the orbit of such a space station would be several 1,000's of miles from the moon/planet. You would do this so that the gravitational effects of the planet/moon would not hurt your station and you could keep it (...) (24 years ago, 27-Jan-01, to lugnet.starwars)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Ewok Holocaust
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| The Earth gets hits by tons and tons of dust all the time yet it doesn't seem to bother her none :) Yep, that's right we are gaining weight all the time... of coarse the last correction of the gravitation constant knocked some 6,000,000,000,000 (...) (24 years ago, 26-Jan-01, to lugnet.starwars)
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