S2_4 Stumbling Stormtroopers

Abstract

Lasers rifes are a common choice of weaponry in the Star Wars franchise. In the opening scene
of 'A new hope', a stormtrooper is hit by a lasers and is forced backwards. This, as well as
several other scenes imply that lasers have signicant momentum in Star Wars. This provided
the inspiration to work out the momentum and energy contained in a single laser blast, then
subsequently analyse the properties of the armour in Star Wars. The energy of a laser blast was
calculated to be 1.2*10¹¹J and the properties of armour were assessed as a function of specic
heat capacity and mass in figure (2). From this, it was concluded that either the materials in Star Wars are vastly dierent from Earth materials or that Star Wars laser rifes are not actually lasers.