# Star Wars lightsabers: how are they powered?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 19, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443 "2006-05-19T19:15:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/21 "2006-05-21T02:27:02Z")
> [@vaderspal](#):
>
> I haven’t read any of the EU stuff, so I know I’m losing my nerd cred by having to ask this: How did Luke know how to build himself a new lightsaber between _Empire_ and _Jedi_? With the last of the Jedi (Obi-Wan and Yoda) dead, did they leave him some instruction manuals or something?
I have my copy of **Shadows of the Empire** (set between ESB and ROTJ) handy, luckily.
> [@](#):
>
> Luke Skywalker stood barefoot on the steelcrete platform sixty meters above the sand, looking at the taut wire. he wore plain black pants and shirt and a black leather belt. He no longer had a lightsaber, though he’d started constructing another one, using the plans he’d found in an old leather-boudn book at Ben Kenobi’s. It was a traditional exercise for a Jedi, so he’d been told.
So yep, instruction manuals.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/22 "2006-05-21T02:35:07Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#):
>
> So yep, instruction manuals.
An old issue of _Popular Telekinetics_, perhaps?
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/23 "2006-05-21T02:37:45Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> An old issue of _Popular Telekinetics_, perhaps?
I was thinking more along the lines of _National Telepathic_.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/24 "2006-05-21T04:15:21Z")
Nah. It was _Yoda-ssey_.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/25 "2006-05-21T21:26:39Z")
> [@rayh](#):
>
> Or you can [Build Your Own Light Saber](http://www.wilcoxusa.net/saber/default.asp).
Another: [Turn your Mac laptop into a Jedi weapon](http://isnoop.net/blog/2006/05/20/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-a-jedi-weapon)
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/26 "2006-05-21T22:12:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Nah. It was Yoda-ssey.
Wow, and to think that that magazine was once cool. They don’t even seem to have Ulysses the Robot any more.
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### Author:  [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/27 "2006-06-01T09:47:00Z")
> [@vaderspal](#):
>
> I haven’t read any of the EU stuff, so I know I’m losing my nerd cred by having to ask this: How did Luke know how to build himself a new lightsaber between _Empire_ and _Jedi_? With the last of the Jedi (Obi-Wan and Yoda) dead, did they leave him some instruction manuals or something?
Sorry to necropost, but excuse me?
I don’t remember **Yoda dying** anywhere in _Empire_, I’m pretty sure there was an extended scene in \*Return where Luke returns to Dagobah to confront Yoda, and then Obi-Wan’s Ghost about their deception as to his relationship with Vader. 😛
While _Shadows_ does a good job of explaining things, it really wasn’t necessary, as the perfectly logical assumption would have been that Yoda taught him, either during his first visit to Dagobah, or perhaps during a hypothetical return trip prior to _Return_.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/28 "2006-06-01T10:11:40Z")
Have but haven’t read SPLINTER, or the original STAR WARS novel, or a novel after RETURN OF THE JEDI, am not a fanboy, have never even thought of the Q until now.
But my gut response is they were Force-powered. Did you ever see a non-Jedi/Sith using one?
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/29 "2006-06-01T10:15:51Z")
> [@FriarTed](#):
>
> But my gut response is they were Force-powered. Did you ever see a non-Jedi/Sith using one?
Yes, Han Solo uses Luke’s (who is unconscious) to cut open a tauntaun to keep him warm.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/30 "2006-06-01T10:35:22Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#):
>
> Yes, Han Solo uses Luke’s (who is unconscious) to cut open a tauntaun to keep him warm.
Well, uh, the LS had some residual Luke-Force power stored up in it. Yeah! That’s it!
😃
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/31 "2006-06-01T12:53:50Z")
Tiny, little Hamsters, running their iddy-biddy legs off on an exercise wheel.
Like the SDMB.
🆒
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### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/32 "2006-06-01T13:56:57Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> They run on the combined thought power of the screenwriters.
Er, the OP said the power source packs **more** punch than a AA cell…
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### Author:  [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/33 "2006-06-01T13:59:20Z")
> [@FriarTed](#):
>
> But my gut response is they were Force-powered. Did you ever see a non-Jedi/Sith using one?
General Grevious was establiashed as being not Jedi or Sith and having no significant Force sensitivity, yet was able to use multiple light sabers for extended periods of time. So I think it’s clear that their actual power source is technological, not Force-based.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/34 "2006-06-01T14:14:25Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#):
>
> **Short Answer** : They run off of a standardised power cell(s). The reason given for their ability to stay working so long is that after completing their lightsaber, the creator uses the Force to “weld” everything together on an insanely small level, resulting in it having fantastic efficiency; IIRC the only time they effectively lose charge is when the blade is in contact with something.
I’ve heard this explanation before and although I believe it’s canon, it is nonsense (yeah, I know it’s fiction). The blade emits bright light; it can’t do that without expending charge.
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/35 "2006-06-01T19:05:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I’ve heard this explanation before and although I believe it’s canon, it is nonsense (yeah, I know it’s fiction). The blade emits bright light; it can’t do that without expending charge.
Oh, I agree it’s nonsense. I’m just giving the canon explanation, not saying it makes sense in reality.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/36 "2006-06-01T19:26:58Z")
> [@FriarTed](#):
>
> Well, uh, the LS had some residual Luke-Force power stored up in it. Yeah! That’s it!
> 😃
Han didn’t have some Force in him in order to shoot nearly blinded?
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### Author:  [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/37 "2006-06-02T06:22:06Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> Han didn’t have some Force in him in order to shoot nearly blinded?
He must’ve had some force power to be able to casually dodge Greedo’s blaster shot impacting the wall right next to his head and not even flinch.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/38 "2006-06-02T06:32:23Z")
Has there ever been a lightsaber duel depicted where one combatant’s weapon ran out of juice?
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### Author:  [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/39 "2006-06-02T08:34:56Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I’ve heard this explanation before and although I believe it’s canon, it is nonsense (yeah, I know it’s fiction). The blade emits bright light; it can’t do that without expending charge.
Considering that the things can melt through multiple blast doors presumably made from some kind of über-alloy and put out enough power to pretty much instantly cut through anything else, I think it’s safe to say that the power loss to visible light emission is negligible. Visible light is relatively low energy, and by all indications you don’t need to wear radiation shielding around them and they don’t seem to put out any significant heat unless the “blade” is in contact with something, so it’s probably not radiating thermal energy or higher energy forms than maybe ultraviolet. We don’t see funky tans on the “human” Jedi, so it’s probably not even putting out UV.
Sure, the batteries would probably go flat eventually, but it’s putting out very little power so I would expect one to be able to run for practically forever if all it was doing was being on and not cutting anything. The power from one of these power packs might be in the gigawatt range for all we know. You could run a light source off something like that for an indefinite period of time, about, oh, a few million hours or so. In theory, you’re right, but for practical purposes a lightsaber would lose basically no power to light production based on the behavior we’re shown in the movies and other sources.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-lightsabers-how-are-they-powered/357443/40 "2006-06-02T20:32:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Has there ever been a lightsaber duel depicted where one combatant’s weapon ran out of juice?
Once, but I’m not sure where Energizer Bunny commercials fit in the hierarchy of canon.
And physics nitpick, but “gigawatts” are a unit of power, not of energy. How much power a cell can supply tells you nothing about how long it’ll last. A unit of energy might be “gigajoules”, or “gigawatt hours” (that is to say, a 1 GWhr source could continue outputting 1 GW for an hour, or 1 watt for a billion hours, or 1000 watts for a million hours, before running dry).
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