Light sabers

Okay my question then on the lightsabers...yea light goes on forever...but couldnt you make it such so where its just concentrated for only a set amount of distance. That concentrated light would be the saber, and it would still be shooting light off into forever, only the unfocused light wouldnt be strong enough to have any effects on anything.

Originally posted by Echtelion
I think they'll invent that someday... but the thig is that in the Star Wars fantasy universe, there are no guns that shoot bullets just as in pur world... only goofy blasters shooting light beams. I really don't think a real-life Jedi of sorts could handle a guy emptying his AK-47 charger directly at him, just by blocking the bullets with the saber!

Actually, blasters do not fire light beams. The official fiction is that they fire (I can't remember exactly) something like little highly charged gas canisters - I suspect they're meant to be plasma. At any rate, the official story is that they fire gas canisters of some sort.

In Star Wars, they fire highly spun gas particles and then energize them into plasma basically... Turbanna gas I believe. It's actually what Lando's Cloud City on Bespin was there for...they mined the gas for such weapons and sold it.

My SW geekiness is showing, isn't it?

With lightsabers, the biggest deal is making it "stop". Other than the "neatness" factor....the same weapon objectives could be met with an energized blade instead of a generated one. For example, ever see an ASP baton? It's used by security personnel mostly. It's an extending/collapsable rod. Now, take this concept, and then develop a way to energize it, or surround it in plasma, and you've pretty much got a lightsaber, extension, retraction, and all, and of course, without the pesky problem of making a light beam "stop".

Actually what you just said makes sense.... Why are we looking for complicated ways to make these sabers...But then we are left with the problem how do we generate a plasma around the baton core ?

You'd just need to generate enough heat to change the gas particles in the air around it (the baton) to a plasma state (maybe?)... Kind of like an overblown curling iron...I guess?

I'm just a basic idea man, not a physicist, hehe....

Originally posted by Gazrok
You'd just need to generate enough heat to change the gas particles in the air around it (the baton) to a plasma state (maybe?)... Kind of like an overblown curling iron...I guess?

I'm just a basic idea man, not a physicist, hehe....

Thats not a bad Idea and a concept I often thought of when it comes to so called Plasma stealth. Carrying your own supply of a gas to be used would be very unpractical in a Plane or for the matter saber application. But as long as you are using it in air their is a near endless source of fuel for plasma for fuel if you casn heat the air up enough. Im not sure the exact temp this happens but Im guessing somewhere around 4000+ degrees as I think thats when shuttles start to produce plasma during reentry.

Though I can be very wrong on the temp

Using the natural air could present problems on heat control and your ablity to focus the heat. Having your saber melt your arm off while your trying to hold it would be bad.

I heard the U.S. government has a light saber........them and there black budget projects things, i heard this in the history channel conspricy show though, so dont believe me.

what was the program called ? Who can say what they have....they claim that we are nearly 50 years behind what we can really do with technology...

Gazrok!!! Could you pls stop screwing with your profile!!! I know it's April 1st, but your messing with my head!!

Gazrok's idea:
First, you'd have your hilt (housing the power source, and ionizing device). Then a trigger activated, telescoping rod (similar to ASP defense batons) that would spring out. The rod could be made to then turn the air around it to the plasma state.... You'd have a bit of a "trail" effect when swinging it around, but in essence, it would look like, and behave similar to, a light saber...as well as have the solidity factor. I don't think we're that far away from being able to do this. However, the practicality is still a factor, but hey....I'd want one....


This idea has potential. Say on the end fo the telescoping rod there was a reflecting disk that could bounce the laser back to the hilt and using mirrors have it overlap itself aroung the rod. Only problem is tat the tipwould not be able to be used to cut. I dont know much about lasers but if you could get a beam of light to do it could make for a pretty cool prop.

[edit on 1-4-2005 by grk76]

Gazrok got banned cuz he didn't respond to me =( Nobody wants to play.

Originally posted by TheBandit795
www.futurehorizons.net...

But it's in a glass tube... Quite funny looking though...

And it's just $990!!! A bargain!!!

[Edited on 17-11-2003 by TheBandit795]

Man u would have to be a geek of the highest order to buy one of those things.Then u would be promoted to King geek if u actualy used the bloody thing.

IMO:

the 'tang' (otherwise known as the handle to anyone who hasn't handled a read sword) would house the electronics, power source and of course the beam generator.

the hilt would be a telescoping rod that in the off position would close the beam generator and protect it.

when on (zzzzzzvvhhooommmm), the center metal rod becomes the control point for the ionization. emanating out from the center of the metal rod would be produced the ion field to cut things with. stuff like street lamps, fire hydrants, stupid pesky droids.

when you're done hacking away with the powers of the force, turn it off, the thing telescopes back in and tuck it into your tunic. head over to Taco Bell and treat yourself after the hard days work as a Jedi and that's the end of it!

That's the design, now go make one!

Hmmm....ok...the idea of the plasma still interests me. Could someone pleae explain in a little more detail how we would get the plasma to produce around the rod....cos if we can do that, then it would be a good laugh to try and make one of these things. Then sell it on Ebay

I believe that the lightsabre is a completely plausible weapon. It in essence in the evolution of the sword, a weapon that even today is being refined in its construction. There are those who say that a lightsabre is an irrelevent weapon. I do not subscribe to that thinking on the basis that a weapon with a retractable blade with the cutting power it obviously has would be invaluble to the person able to wield it. Will there be those who get harmed in that? Well, yes. But should that stop us? No. No way.

I think that the problems surrounding the construction of this weapon is a problem of the paradigm, scientifically, that we have been initiated into. We all have had this understanding of the way light behaves, but we havent been given the whole story. That leaves us with no understanding of it what-so-ever.

Light can not only slow down, it can STOP. Not only can it stop, but it is effected by various fields, gravitational, magnetic, radio frequencies and so on. I found out by just searching it out. In essence, the ideas that light is "untouchable" is destroyed - now all we can really agree on is that it has some extremely strange characteristics.

I think that the power source is a moot point. Until the secret can be unlocked on how to construct the actual blade and stabilize it, along with an initiating device to activate it, power can be created by using technologies available now; then the hurdle is to make it smaller. I mean, what if we used regular power to make a device capable to make the weapon, then find that it is only using a portion of that power. That would open up the possibility of using a permanant battery, ala John Hutchinson style, something that can produce quantities of power that even if destroyed would not kill the user with radiation or explosion, would it not?

Also, you dont want a beam of anything thats really hot - you want it to be cool. Otherwise you run the risk of burning stuff near by, producing an unwanted effect on anything around you. It also make the weapons hadle immpossible to wield. So how do you make a beam of energy that is able to "burn" without burning?

How bout some sort of molecular destablizer, or electron splitter?

there are many ideas out there we could use. I think the most difficult part to this project would be to "unlearn what we have learned" or assumed, and use the knowledge that our scientists have afforded us.

I wish we could start some sort of theoretical research group with a heavy emphasis on contruction and testing, to see what the "mad scientists" could come up with.

(oh, yeah, I am a Star Wars fan....could ya tell?)

closest thing to a lightsaber right now that I know of would be an Arch welder! Those things could be used like a lightsaber dagger, if your careful..hehe

Why a lightsaber and not a blaster? Well just like in old times, they had swords, thus they make armor to prevent the swords from the flesh.
Thus they come out with guns, beating armor.
They advance armor so highly that Guns no longer are useful in sertin areas of battle, thus you have lightsabers to get you threw.
All weapons have advanced Armor, and vise versa..
The lightsaber Idea is the peak of weaponry, What I would like to know of, is an armor that could protect you from lightsabers...
Most Force feilds only protect you from projectiles, not up front and personal...
So I could see some day in the furtre where Force feild tech comes out, more warriors would be going with handheld weapons to get threw the force feilds at close range

I don't see how this could be stable. The risk is too great that you will hurt yourself using some hot plasma weapon. Even if you could erect a beam from the handle without melting yourself (need magnetic fields to contain/shape the plasma beyond the handle), it all goes to # the moment you get into sword play with another saber and melt yours and the other guy's rod core in the process. There's something missing at work here for this to function elegantly ala Star Wars.

[edit on 7-6-2007 by massexodus]

since the anniversary of starwars just passed they had a few specials on the science of star wars on the history channel. And the scientists working with plasma research say its plausible. You would use plasma,and a magnetic field to keep it in place. We obviously cant make a field that would take the shape of a sword now,but in the future everything is possible. They also said the opposing magnetic fields from 2 sabres coming in contact with eachother would repel. The way 2 magnets do. So you COULD (maybe) have a working light sabre one day.


They also had video of guy who created a plasma window. It was only an inch or so across,but he used mag fields to keep it in place. A kind of forcefield.

Any plasma physicists in the house? lol

So a trapped plasma will only repel when coming into contact with another trapped plasma? A N/S arrangement would never arise to pose a problem? Wouldn't the sabers need to somehow be constructed that way for this to work to avoid collisions, not something that occurs naturally?

Another practicality obstacle - a saber fight would never be worthwhile if you could adjust them to give off a 6-12" inch repel radius.

The unknown in all this still gives me the feeling you can melt yourself goofing off with a friend, the plasma repelling in your face or something lol. Not to forget that the handle of your blade would be a strong magnet from any kind of safety first construction. It seems so dangerous for the weilder and opponent to even bother to engage in something like this with the potentially fatal variables in store.

[edit on 7-6-2007 by massexodus]

I watched a TV show recently called "Star Wars Tech" which talked about all the technology in star wars and how close we are to actually acheiving it.

They said the light sabers couldn't be actual light because they wouldn't clang into each other, they would just pass right through each other. They also said it couldn't be lasers, because you can't stop a laser like that at the end, and they wouldn't provide enough heat to slice through walls. They said the most likely way to do it would be with plasma, because it would look identical to the light saber, could stop at the end, would clang with another lightsaber, and could also slice through walls. They said they could create a lightsaber at the moment, but the device powering the plasma saber would be as big as a large factory, they don't have the technology at the moment to make it into a small handheld device. They have however used plasma for other things like the sheilds that you see in star wars. These plasma shields could also be used for large windows in spaceships. They said you cannot have huge windows on a spaceship because they would break to easily, the only way to do it would be to have a huge plasma window.