I actually intend this question to be factual, even though current technology may not allow it.
First, it needs to be able to cut through lots of things (except other light sabers, of course).
Second, it needs to be about 36 to 40 inches in length.
Third, it needs to be wielded in the hand.
In other words, it should behave just as they do in the films.
Now, how can we make this happen? Is it even theoretically possible, if not actually possible? Are we talking lasers, plasma, gravitons, Spaghetti-O’s, or what? I desperately need your help folks; the Dark Jedi are massing in my front yard and I know the Force runs strong on this board.
Of course, it’s always risky predicting future technologies; there have been a number of historical pronouncements that no further discoveries could be made in a certain area, many of which were shown to be (sometimes dramatically) false.
Nevertheless, there are a number of challenges I see that make me suspect that no such device can exist under the physics of our universe. I’ll get started; others can add or remove from my list.
1 - The whole selective cutting thing. We’re apparently talking about some sort of shaped force field here, which simultaneously: a) holds itself together, b) repels other fields of the same type, but c) doesn’t repel (in fact, cuts) normal matter. I can’t think of anything that has these sorts of properties – the closest being something like a highly magnetic knife. This is a pretty weak criticism, I think.
2 - What causes the energy beam to cut off suddenly at a specified length? It doesn’t taper, particularly, it just cuts off. Without a physical object at the end, I don’t see this happening. We can’t build so much as a flashlight with a fixed-length beam, can we?
3 - Power. These things cut through metal, rock, people, etc. That takes an awful lot of energy, and they don’t appear to need recharging. That sounds nuclear or antimatter based, and we’re a long, long way from handheld versions of either. This is probably the best case for being solvable by a future technology.
I’ll have to admit that I actually don’t like the hate Star Wars series and have never actually seen a full episode-----checks over my shoulder for ninja-nerd-assassin…whew… However, I HAVE always thought the light sabers were kinda cool, and wiki’d it up. According to whoever wrote that article, the answer to #2 is:
Not a factual answer, ofcourse. But I guess if you really want to build a lightsaber, one way to give it limited length would be to somehow pull off that ‘bend the light back to itself’ mini-blackhole effect, instead of somehow having it cut off.
I figgure the best way to do it is some kind of high energy contained plasma. super magnetic fields might be able to contain the plasma in the shape you require. The only problem is, How effective would it be when used on metals? As far as duling with these things, if the magnetic fields are powerful enough and polarized the same, they would tend to repel each other wouldn’t they? Of course if the polarity is disparate then they would tend to attract each other and would then lead to the embarrasment of having your Lightsaber stuck to that of your opponent.
You really have to define what a light sabre is (aside from a cool special effect) before yo can figure out how to build one. So far you’ve only described what the movie prop appears to do. Light doesn’t behave that way and neither does plasma with present technology. So far you’ve only described what the movie prop appears to do.
Anti-protons have a negative charge, and would therefore be repelled by a “negatively charged, high-energy flux aperture”, whatever that is supposed to be.
powered by a black hole jammed in the hilt (never mind that simply turning it on would suck the entire galaxy into the hilt, too);
contained by a super magnet of utterly biblical proportions (yet ironically small enough to fit into the hilt beside the aforementioned black hole);
a sword-like device whose blade possibly consists of a plasma field, but only with positively-charged anti-protons in attendance (cuz, you know, the anti-proton is always half-filled);
ummm…I like nachos.
As to Padeye’s statement, I don’t think I can more aptly describe what a lightsaber is/does than to point to its (non-)existence/behavior within the films. It is (or isn’t, as the case may be) a beam of light, contained within a metal tube, that has cheery colors and can vivisect even the tough-skinned Robosaurs of Quohor VI.
On a side note, you can see that I have trouble differentiating between reality and the appearance of reality, which presumably accounts for my not being a physicist. And thus I thank all of you who have more scientific knowledge than I.
They covered this in Empire magazine round about the release of Episode 1. The main problem is getting the beam to stop, which is just not going to happen. Plus, you would need a power supply the size of a car engine, and a supply cable to the 'saber about the thickness of a pringles can. The guy writng to article finished " If Darth Vader was running at you, you should just shoot him". Indeed.
What if the field was not generated by the hilt, but around a rigid wire which protruded from the hilt? It could extend automatically and be held rigid by the aforementioned magnetic fields. This would solve the problem of the light saber extending only so far.
> The guy writng to article finished " If Darth Vader was running at you, you
> should just shoot him". Indeed.
In fact, the way that light sabers are presented in the Star Wars films, they are less useful than ordinary guns. There’s simply no reason why someone would use a light saber instead of a gun. They require (supposedly) a lot of training to use and don’t do any more damage than a gun. Or, for that matter, why wouldn’t they just use some sort of laser gun? Laser guns are technological beyond us at the moment, but there’s at least some scientific theory behind them. Light sabers, on the other hand, are utter nonsense for present-day science. In general, you can’t make any scientific sense of the Star Wars films. Don’t even try. I love the films, but they are nonsense as science.
Well, can your laser gun repel laser fire like a lightsabre? And, of course, really powerful Jedi can repel laser fire with their hands (see Vader in ESB).
All the more reason to use ordinary guns. Light sabers aren’t shown as repelling bullets. You could mow down a dozen people with a machine gun in the time it takes for the fighters to turn on their light sabers, get into position, and begin fighting. Light sabers are George Lucas saying to himself, “I’d like to include something like fencing duels or martial arts battles in my science fiction films, so I’ll make up some scientific nonsense to explain why my characters use these ridiculous weapons.”
The reason the Jedi use lightsabers over blasters is because of the skill required-they feel that it’s more “civilized” to face one’s opponent, and actually fightl, rather than just shoot him or her.
True, but no one uses bullets so we have no idea if it would work. In fact, I see no reason why bullets wouldn’t simply be destroyed once they hit the blade. And in any case, Jedi are pretty good at manipulating matter, so they simply be able to wave the bullets away from them or stop them in mid-air. Like the Matrix.
True, but you could do the same thing with laser guns. I think it speaks to the utter lack of tactical intelligence on the part of Imperial military command.
The main reason Jedis use lightsabers instead of blasters is tradition, and ceremonial use. There are, of course, a few advantages. Like being able to deflect lots of blaster fire. Also, I imagine it’s a bit utilitarian like a swiss army knife. But this only works in the context of the Star Wars universe; obviously no human is going to be able to perfectly deflect bullets with a light saber.
Development of such a tool may be useful for other applications besides weaponry. Though, for the life of me, I can’t think of what any of them may be.
