A science problem?

[Rashah]

In SYWTBAW, Fred emits "all his mass as energy". He is said to have the mass of "five or six blue-white giant stars". If all that mass was converted into energy in a minute or so, halfway to the moon, it wouldn't just light up the Moon - it would melt, probably vaporize, the Earth. After all, the sun's been burning its mass for billions of years - if 50 or 60 times that mass (at least) were burned all at once, the blast would be MUCH worse than a supernova.

[Space Cadet]

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I never even thought about that. It's so true. Earth would have been vaporised. The solar system would have been torn apart. Several years later, there would have been considerable disruption to the Centauri system. Probably it would have ceased to exist.

[the_peridexis]

wow. i didnt know we had astronomers in our midst. and ur right. i hope DD is reading this stuff.

-peri

[Nathan]

Rashah: While you are entirely correct that the effects of such a release of energy so close to the Earth would ordinarily be catastrophic (and would remain so to considerable distances), the resolution here is that the Lone Power was attempting to quash Fred's emissions just as It had done with the Sun—otherwise Fred would not have had to "blow his quanta" in order to provide the requisite amount of light. (If I remember correctly, such a violent release of energy was too great for the Lone Power to successfully suppress completely, at least with the preparations It had made. However, the fact that the energy actually emitted was well within safe limits does seem a bit convenient.)

What actually happened to the excess energy is still an open question, but one to be answered within the framework of the YW universe, not simply by using pure (standard) physics. I would surmise that it was either annexed to the Lone Power's personal energy supply or simply dumped somewhere convenient (though distant), if that was easier to accomplish.

P.S.: Welcome to the club of the scientifically-minded YW nitpickers/commenters! There are several other physics and astronomy types, in particular, who visit the forums with varying frequency, though their presence is probably unsurprising, given the prominence of those subjects in the books.