[Toubrouk]

whswhs,

You got the main problem with my maths, we dont have the perfect 5 Tons, 1 Cubic Meter sample of "Earth" to get the equation right. There's also the case of how the physics of material composing the planet would react to a stress.

As far as the Death Star(tm) is concerned, I will return to my theory about how the weapon work; the beam punch a hole throught the crust and bake the center of the planet. The core of the planet turn into plasma and, by expansion, blew the planet up. An egg in a microwave came into my mind.

For all the "Shooting throught Yavin" debate goes, i have to said that it fails into the realm of the plot device. Let's just imagine that a beam able to make a planet blow-up got througth a gaz giant. Even if it lost 99% of it's power on it's way, the impact on the planet will be apocalyptic. I can imagine a hole in the planet's crust ten of kilometers across and vaporized ashes everywhere; a nuclear winter without atmosphere.

In the original "Star-Wars"(tm), there's also another problem. The Imperials were slowly waiting that Yavin got ENTIERELY out of the way before shooting Yavin 4. Why? Let's take as an idea that the beam might deviate due to (Higher Yavin atmosphere, Yavin gravitic pull, weird shooting arc, your pick), What is the final result here? Do the planet will be in smaller pebbles if the beam hit at the middle instead of 2-3 thousands Km more to the left?

It's all about the script, you know...