Wes,

Outstanding comment. I love it.

There are definitely a few assumptions in there. The biggest one, I think, assuming that the Death Star laser provides all the power necessary to destroy the planet. I would think that there’s a good argument somewhere saying that the laser is meant to do something to the planet so that it destroys itself (like boiling the core, or something equally silly). If we can assume it’s some sort of special technology that wreaks havoc to the structure of a planet, then we have no way to even do “back of the envelope” type number-crunching (at least, I have no idea how you could do that).

The other assumption that I’d point out is that you have them using nuclear fission as the power source. Assuming they are using nuclear power (and there is no other mentino of nukes in Star Wars canon that I’ve ever heard of), it is just as likely that they’ve figured out how to create nuclear fusion (after all, they can fly in hyperspace, build planet-size structures, and bend light). I know very little advanced physics or anything else nuclear-related, but I do recall learning that *fission* is only something like 3% efficient while *fusion* is something like 95% efficient. If that’s right, then their nuclear fusion powered weapon would be 30 times more powerful (I’m guessing… there might be some advanced stats in here that I’m not considering) than the nuclear fission powered one you mentioned. Which would change the math considerably.

Of course, they could just invoke the “movie magic/science fiction” power source explanation, rendering all of our analysis moot (maybe they discovered some gigantic creature that spits out planet-destroying rays?). Silly movies.

Personally, I just like to assume artificial gravity was discovered somewhere and somehow. It makes my mind so much freer…

Maybe it’s like microwave popcorn: the microwaves (Death Star mega-laser) heats up the water (planetary goodness) that’s already inside the popcorn (Alderaan) and makes it provide the explosive force.

Gaah. I just compared the deaths of millions (billions?) of Alderaanians to cooking popcorn. I’m going to end up in Star Wars hell.

Levi-

Of course, if you put JiffyPop in the microwave, then blue light comes out.  And if exploding planets are anything like exploding stars (and why wouldn’t they be), then, though you don’t see it in the movies, a red light should emanate from Alderaan.  When red meets blue, the Falcon goes back in time, and Chewy talked to Barack Obama.  I think.

*sniff**sniff* What smells like blue?

Linus-

You run into two problems, there.  First, we can plainly see Alderaan exploding, ka-BOOM, outwards, scattering rubble in every direction. So, creating the gravitational singularity, and thus, a black hole, you’re not likely to get that fun, er, tragic firework. 

Beyond that, on a level of pure planetary destruction, you’re going to run into problems.  Let’s say Alderaan is the size of Earth, and the black uses up most (maybe 75%?) of the planet’s core, with designs on blowing the rest up.  Your black hole is now the of pea (approximately), and it is very hot and emitting all kinds of radiation.  Sure, everyone on the surface is dead, but they’re not blowing up. Of course, the effects of gravity (and thus, black holes and singularities) are dependent upon distance and mass.  While the mass is pretty good, we’re talking about an object the size of a pea, floating through the middle of the planet.  It would take a long, long time before that black hole sucked anything up. 

So, yeah, the Star Trek plan, while likely to kill plenty of people, won’t really destroy the planet.  At least, not in the cinematical sense.

The Death Star is obviously a beam of antimatter.