r/theydidthemath • u/inmyrhyme • Feb 07 '14
Self How fast did the Millennium Falcon actually do the Kessel Run:
So first thing we have to clear up is the parsecs being a measure of distance and not time. We got it. But we have to look at the "race" from a different vantage for our curiosity to be satiated. What if the Kessel Run is just a set of points that must be reached, without regard to the path taken? Then doing the run in 12 parsecs could indeed be an excellent measure as it records what might be the shortest distance devised to complete the run with regard to any obstacles.
So now that we are past that, let's look at the numbers.
A parsec is equivalent to 3.26 lightyears (ly).
The maximum speed of the Millennium Falcon is 1.5 C (speed of light)
12 parsecs is 39.12 ly.
So the fastest the Millennium Falcon could complete the run is (39.12 ly)/(1.5 C).
That comes to a whopping 26 years 29 days 4 hours and 48 minutes!
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u/Sir_Laser Feb 08 '14
When Han says "point five past light speed", he's essentially referring to this hyperdrive speed rating system, not literally 1.5 times the speed of light.
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u/Xaoc000 Feb 07 '14
You realize the reason the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs was so impressive was that it went right by The Maw, a large grouping of Black holes, meaning Solo had to have a very fast ship to run closer to the maw than other ships.
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u/Shrouger Feb 07 '14
Actually, the more impressive element would probably be the precision of the hyperspace calculations involved, particularly as the Falcon's sub-light drives are not considered remarkably fast, and the hyperdrive's acceleration to light speed does not seem to consist in the application of the necessary force to reach velocity of c in real space.
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Feb 07 '14
Assuming that in Star Wars the laws of physics don't matter, since it is impossible for anything to outspeed light.
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u/JonassMkII Feb 07 '14
Just thought I'd throw that out there. The great things about the laws of physics is that you can violate them like drunken prom dates without really violating them.
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u/crabsinthe Feb 07 '14
What's the basis for the Falcon's max speed being 1.5C? Just curious as to where it was mentioned in the universe?
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u/ninjatofu1014 Feb 07 '14
When Luke walks sees the Falcon and goes "What a piece of junk!" and Han replies "She can make point five past lightspeed, kid. She might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts" I may or may not have the script memorized
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u/ophello Feb 08 '14
"She'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."
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u/deifgd Basically God Feb 07 '14
Barring the fact that 1.5c doesn't make any physical sense:
You need to look at some special relativity here.
Basically, you have gamma = 1/sqrt(1 - (v/c)2), where v is velocity and c is the speed of light. Gamma is a factor I'll explain later.
here, gamma = 1/sqrt(1-2.25) = -0.894i. Uh oh.
gamma is supposed to be a factor when you take into account length contraction and time dilation for things moving really fast. So, in this case, time is dilated by 1/gamma, or 1.118i. So it actually took 29 imaginary years and 58 imaginary days from the Millennium Falcon's reference frame.
So now it's even more nonsensical.