Some questions about the Death Star and superlaser

[Lucky]

1) Why was there a grate in the detention block hallway that covered a garbage shoot, and lead to a trash compactor? The smell alone should have been a major problem. This is the biggest mystery about the Death Star's design and possibly all of Star Wars.

2) We see the superlaser firing on Alderaan. The beam seems to be a series of pulses. Why don't we see a series of explosions? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom

3) Shouldn't an explosion on the scale of a planet exploding seem to be happening slowly simply because it is so big?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4HL_-VT2Y

[2046]

A little extra air pressure into the inhabited rooms compared to the receiver room fixes the smell issue.

[Lucky]

A little extra air pressure into the inhabited rooms compared to the receiver room fixes the smell issue.

That still doesn't explain the grate.

What about when the compactor starts compacting things? There would need to be a pressure change which would seem rather complicated and possible unpleasant for the people working there.
_____------_____

No thoughts on the other questions?

[Mike DiCenso]

Oh, that's not so hard. The same kind of magical magnetic fields used to contain the atmospheres of the otherwise open to space docking bays should be able to contain the air pressure inside the compactor, even when it's smashing things down. In fact, the trash compactor doesn't even have to completely flatten things, just make them compact enough for whatever waste processing needs of it.
-Mike

[Lucky]

Oh, that's not so hard. The same kind of magical magnetic fields used to contain the atmospheres of the otherwise open to space docking bays should be able to contain the air pressure inside the compactor, even when it's smashing things down. In fact, the trash compactor doesn't even have to completely flatten things, just make them compact enough for whatever waste processing needs of it.
-Mike

There is nothing magical about the "magnetic fields" used to contain atmosphere on ships. We have that technology in the real world. We just call it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_window

A powered system to seal off something that is not suppose to be seen or opened seems like a major waste. It serves no purpose.

_____-----_____

No thoughts as to questions 2 and 3?

[Mike DiCenso]

The trash compactor was magnetically sealed, Lucky. That much was made known when Han tried to shoot his way out. Also, we do know that magnetic shielding is what they use to contain the air in a landing bay:

DEATH STAR INTERCOM: Clear Bay twenty-three-seven. We are opening the magnetic field.

So, no matter what from a real-world science point of view, this is how they do it in the SW-verse.

As for the other points, I really don't have much to say on those. You can pretty much come up with whatever explanation you like. The grate is not a simple grate, but a lift up lid that can only be opened with a code or something from one of the consoles for disposal of trash from the prisoner cell blocks or whatever. The Alderaan explosion has so many things that are odd about it and the secondary EU Death Star novel confirms that weird chain-reaction hyperspace nonsense is at work there, so anything goes.
-Mike

[Lucky]

The trash compactor was magnetically sealed, Lucky. That much was made known when Han tried to shoot his way out. Also, we do know that magnetic shielding is what they use to contain the air in a landing bay:

DEATH STAR INTERCOM: Clear Bay twenty-three-seven. We are opening the magnetic field.

So, no matter what from a real-world science point of view, this is how they do it in the SW-verse.

Magnetically sealing a door simply requires electromagnets that hold the door shut. There need not be any super science involved.

What someone calls something does not change what it is, or in this case what it behaves exactly like. It doesn't hurt that plasma windows are plasma held in place by magnetic fields. In all honesty, those see through force fields used as to hold the atmosphere in are some of the most realistic things in sci-fi, but I doubt the idea of plasma windows existed when many were written.

As for the other points, I really don't have much to say on those. You can pretty much come up with whatever explanation you like. The grate is not a simple grate, but a lift up lid that can only be opened with a code or something from one of the consoles for disposal of trash from the prisoner cell blocks or whatever.

Then I'd guess it comes down to poor quality control. You already have a seemingly pointless exhaust port that if covered with a grate would have saved the entire station.

The Alderaan explosion has so many things that are odd about it and the secondary EU Death Star novel confirms that weird chain-reaction hyperspace nonsense is at work there, so anything goes.
-Mike

While true, I have never seen anyone bring up the two points I am asking about concerning the Super-laser. I am seriously asking if my theories have merit.

[Mr. Oragahn]

A little extra air pressure into the inhabited rooms compared to the receiver room fixes the smell issue.

It would make sense for the compactor to flush out air to some degree anyway.

[Mr. Oragahn]

1) Why was there a grate in the detention block hallway that covered a garbage shoot, and lead to a trash compactor? The smell alone should have been a major problem. This is the biggest mystery about the Death Star's design and possibly all of Star Wars.

For the cleaning lady.
I guess they just press a button somewhere on the wall which opens the grate, and she pushes the litter down the hole. Or droid-maids.

2) We see the superlaser firing on Alderaan. The beam seems to be a series of pulses. Why don't we see a series of explosions? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom

I'd rather see Alderaan drink the refreshing green super laser. Gulp Gulp Gulp Gulp. :D

I think that at this distance from the planet, you wouldn't necessarily see much of a difference between a continuous beam and pulses separated by fractions of a second.

3) Shouldn't an explosion on the scale of a planet exploding seem to be happening slowly simply because it is so big?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4HL_-VT2Y

It all depends on the energy you put into it after all.
Hence the super numbers made by Saxton, who disregarded anything that annoyed him.

[Mike DiCenso]

Magnetically sealing a door simply requires electromagnets that hold the door shut. There need not be any super science involved.

Not simply the door, but the whole compactor structure as evidenced by how Han's blaster shot ricocheted around the walls without leaving a single smudge mark and only stopped when it finally hit garbage and water. That suggests they are trying to keep something sealed in the whole thing, not simply keep a door closed. Also, you still haven't addressed the docking bays on the Death Star being magnetically sealed to keep atmosphere inside them, and they don't even have the slightest sign of doors, like the E-D in Star Trek does!
-Mike

[Lucky]

Magnetically sealing a door simply requires electromagnets that hold the door shut. There need not be any super science involved.

Not simply the door, but the whole compactor structure as evidenced by how Han's blaster shot ricocheted around the walls without leaving a single smudge mark and only stopped when it finally hit garbage and water. That suggests they are trying to keep something sealed in the whole thing, not simply keep a door closed.

kind of like the snow on Hoth, and the grass on Naboo, but anyway, why wouldn't metal become magnetized? The walls, doors, and ceiling are all metal and touching in the trash compactor.

Also, you still haven't addressed the docking bays on the Death Star being magnetically sealed to keep atmosphere inside them, and they don't even have the slightest sign of doors, like the E-D in Star Trek does!
-Mike

I don't understand what there is to address?

It isn't a magnetic field keeping the air in the hangers in Star Wars even if they call it a magnetic field. Logically the thing keeping the air in the hangers in Star Wars involves a magnetic field, and they act like plasma windows.

[Mr. Oragahn]

The magnetic field would contain charged particles forming a skin. A skin that would need to be capable of resisting the pressure of air and, of course, the greater pressure at floor level than ceiling level, because artificial gravity would certainly force air downward, although there wouldn't be any noticeable difference imho in a small hangar that's 50 meters high for example. Things would be much different if the skin-wall stretched up several kilometers, like in a hangar that would be meant to host entire star destroyers and allow personnel to move around without a suit.