So I went and saw Rogue One recently. Wonderful movie...

Spoiler Alert!

The Death Star blows up a couple planets in the movie. (Not much of a spoiler but still.) They don't poof like Alderaan in episode 4. In Rogue One the laser hits the planet causing a massive explosion (Looks very similar to an atomic blast.) followed by an eruption of dirt flowing like a tsunami over the soon to be obliterated planet. Now I think that this is not a very accurate depiction of a planet destroying laser This article seems to confirm my suspicion. And I was curious how an actual planet destroying laser would destroy a planet.

My question is: Assuming we have a laser that has enough energy to destroy a planet (Greater than or equal to 2.24 × 10^32 Joules.) what effects would it have on the planet? What exactly would happen to the planet? Would the laser just super heat the planet and liquefy the surface or would the planet actually explode and turn into an small asteroid field?

Here are some things that might narrow down the situation just in case this question is too broad.

• The planet we are shooting is Earth.
• The laser is just an extremely, extremely powerful laser there is nothing special or unique about it. (No Kyber crystal fuel.) It doesn't matter how it works it just does.
• The definition of destroyed is very vague. So I'm just gonna say the planet is "destroyed" when the planet is completely uninhabitable for the foreseeable future.