# How Stuff Works: Lightsabre!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 9, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131 "2005-05-09T23:22:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/1 "2005-05-09T23:22:05Z")
[Now you can build your own!](http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber.htm/printable)
> [@](#):
>
> Have you ever wondered how these remarkable weapons work? Where does the energy come from, and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power?
>
> In this edition of HowStuffWorks, you will have a chance to look inside a lightsaber and discover the source of its incredible characteristics. Let’s get started!
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/2 "2005-05-09T23:51:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The risk of personal injury is much higher with a double-bladed lightsaber, and their practical applications around the home are limited.
I gotta have one of those.
The possibilities for Personal Grooming alone…
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/3 "2005-05-09T23:55:00Z")
Well I’ll be damned.
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### Author:  [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/4 "2005-05-09T23:58:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Diatium power cells are available from a variety of military and some civilian sources
Home Depot never seems to have these in stock.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/5 "2005-05-10T00:00:54Z")
> [@Rhubarb](#):
>
> Home Depot never seems to have these in stock.
Try Futuristic Weapons R Us. ™
They give a discount if you buy by the case.
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### Author:  [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/6 "2005-05-10T00:48:08Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I gotta have one of those.
> The possibilities for Personal Grooming alone…
I suppose now is the perfect time to start investing in new “Sewing People’s Faces Back On” technologies.
Always exciting to get in on the ground floor with something like this…
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### Author:  [@Euthanasiast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euthanasiast)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/7 "2005-05-10T00:58:49Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Try Futuristic Weapons R Us. ™
> They give a discount if you buy by the case.
Do not deal with these people! Their light sabers are assembled in third world worlds by non certified Jedi (those who were banished from the Jedi order). The Kyber Crystals are fakes and none of them are as rigorously tested as the genuine Jedi models. Buyer beware!
I had a friend that bought one of these a while back. Six weeks later…
BAM! Herpes.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/8 "2005-05-10T01:19:42Z")
Oh come on. I read about the Ewok doll manufactured with the “help me, I am being used as slave labor” hologram inside it. It’s an urban legend.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/9 "2005-05-10T01:33:18Z")
> [@neofishboy](#):
>
> I suppose now is the perfect time to start investing in new “Sewing People’s Faces Back On” technologies.
There is nothing honorable about picking your nose with a single ended lightsabre!
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### Author:  [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/10 "2005-05-10T01:56:08Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> There is nothing honorable about picking your nose with a single ended lightsabre!
Wow…My paternal grandfather’s final words to me…VERBATIM!
Weird.
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### Author:  [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/11 "2005-05-10T02:13:53Z")
Oh, yeah! A light saber would go perfectly as a side arm when I’m wielding my 1920’s style death ray. It’ll be nice to have something that’s a little easier to use at a range of less than 500 yards.
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### Author:  [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/12 "2005-05-10T02:29:10Z")
I especially love the woman fending off the mugger with the tire iron.
I don’t think that gonna help ya, bub.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/13 "2005-05-10T02:38:44Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#):
>
> Oh, yeah! A light saber would go perfectly as a side arm when I’m wielding my 1920’s style death ray. It’ll be nice to have something that’s a little easier to use at a range of less than 500 yards.
Only what you see on the shelf buddy.
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### Author:  [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/14 "2005-05-10T03:34:27Z")
Or better yet, how about a 1920s style death ray that IS a giant lightsaber? Set it up a mile outside of a city and just turn it back and forth, leveling the town. I mean, how COOL is that? I’ll tell you: too cool.
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### Author:  [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/15 "2005-05-10T04:18:33Z")
Anyone wanna buy some lightsabers?
Real cheap. As good as the original thing!
Don’t pay full price for those, mine are guaranteed to work.
Coruscant lightsabers, Tatooine lightsabers, all made in Taiwan. Same parts, different branding. Buy from me!
Anyone wanna buy some lightsabers?
Lightsabers on sale!
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### Author:  [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/16 "2005-05-10T06:17:38Z")
> [@Euthanasiast](#):
>
> I had a friend that bought one of these a while back. Six weeks later…
>
> BAM! Herpes.
Paulie, is that you?
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### Author:  [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/17 "2005-05-10T07:22:26Z")
But that’s what 1920’s style death rays do anyway? It would alsso be nice to have some Mandalorian Blasters, and star ships, preferably a fleet of cruisers and destroyers, with a few fighters to back them up. And an enormous army of fanaticly loyal troops, who would be willing to do to any lengths to…
:: walks away ranting to himself ::
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### Author:  [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/18 "2005-05-10T11:26:51Z")
An elegant weapon from a more civilised age, as the man said, shortly before hacking some drunk’s arm off in a bar.
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### Author:  [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/19 "2005-05-10T14:54:28Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#):
>
> An elegant weapon from a more civilised age, as the man said, shortly before hacking some drunk’s arm off in a bar.
How is it this never occured to me before?
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-stuff-works-lightsabre/303131/20 "2005-05-10T15:36:04Z")
You know, my cup of coffee is getting a little cold. I really wish I had a lighsabre to reheat it with. It would save me the 30 seconds it would take to get a new cup. Our modern time cruched world can’t exist without lightsabres.
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