Lightsabre theory

I found myself pondering on the properties of light and electromagnetics when this idea came to me...

The main problem about the idea is not that you couldnt make a beam of light magnified enough to do some damage, but that you couldnt keep the beam from going on forever.

So here's my theory, using a portable high powered laser to shoot a beam threw the core of an electromagnet, which would need to be strong enough to bend the beam around the magnet, giving the laser beam a "sword" like appearance.

All critism is welcome

Originally posted by Xilvius
I found myself pondering on the properties of light and electromagnetics when this idea came to me...

The main problem about the idea is not that you couldnt make a beam of light magnified enough to do some damage, but that you couldnt keep the beam from going on forever.

So here's my theory, using a portable high powered laser to shoot a beam threw the core of an electromagnet, which would need to be strong enough to bend the beam around the magnet, giving the laser beam a "sword" like appearance.

All critism is welcome

good theory. but from what i've heard in the past. the jedi control the laser sword's lenght with the force. but that doesn't explain how han solo managed to use one in ESB. perhaps luke or ben was controlling the blade extension with the force. other explanations are that the beam of light bends at the end and comes back into the crystal. The lightsabers are made of special crystals found by the jedi, they make their own sabers and they choose the color and lenght. also ralize that the lightsabers are not only lasers..they don't get hot like a laser would.

Ah, not all of them control the length with the force. A few of them, such as Obi-wan or Anakin had controls on theirs which altered the length and/or width

lol but yeah, a good theory A power source would be a problem though. You'd probably have low battery life, if any at all in this day and age. And since we can't use the force, and it doesn't exist, using a lightsaber would no doubt be pretty stupid, considering it has no weight to the blade. We'd end up chopping our heads off or something

use an EM frequency that quickly and easily degrades. It would have to diffuse at a very STEEP rate, but if you had a laser that diffused after travelling about a yard, quickly diffuse so that it remains "sharp" at the point.

No need to return the light to its source, and the xrays emitted from such EM power would likely make it a deadly option.

Or, since light is an EM wave, you could have something that would disrupt the strictly aligned photon pattern, and focus it at a point about 3 feet from the hilt. If you are going to use a magnetic field of some sort, it would likely be more wieldy if you could disrupt the photon alignment in the laser light itself to terminate the ray.

[edit on 14-4-2008 by bigfatfurrytexan]

Oh boy, Star Wars!

OK, how about a series of crystals all pointing to various junctures along the length of the sabre where the beams will cross, creating the necessary power only at the crossovers?
This would also account for the colours variations dependent on the crystal used!

How about George Lucas desperate for a gizmo for his film?

LOL some crazy threads on here today....but I am having a crappy day so I shall indulge in this convo about a ficticious weapon that has as much real world use as a sword would in todays combat field (sword versus paveway missle anyone?)

anyway Clicky

Everyday uses for a lightsaber.


Clicky
Clicky
Clicky
Clicky
Clicky
Clicky

forgive me if someone else has posted this already.

last year was star wars 30th anniversary.

i believe it was either discovery channel or national geographic channel that had a special on star wars tech.

among the tech they spoke of, was a light saber. essentially the engineers said that a laser light would go on infinitely since it is a laser. they instead said a plasma sword would be a better choice, however, the intensity of the plasma to cut through metal like in star wars would be so intense that the user would incinerate.

just my two cents.

but it would be freaking cool to have a light saber though. i would want mine to be purple just like mace windu's (samuel jackson's light saber)

There was a show on The History Channel not long ago that was called "Star Wars Tech" I think. They also did one for Star Trek I believe.

They talked about the technology of the films and if anything would be possible to create in the real world and the lightsaber was mentioned. A women said you could create a lightsaber using an electromagnetic field with plasma ejected within it. BUT if you want it to have the temperature seen in Star Wars the power supply to create that would be about the size of a four story building.

There was an episode of Future Weapons on the Discovery Channel where they showed a very large plasma weapon the military is designing. The host said it looked like something out of Star Wars and the military guy pretty much said that's what it was. A very large lightsaber.

There's a company called Future Horizons that makes lightsaber replicas using neon tubes with plasma gas to create the effect. I think the same thing is used with the official Master Replicas Force FX Lightsabers you can buy. Neither one is cheap though. The Future Horizons one costs around $390.00 and you can change the blades. The Force FX ones cost around $129.00 to $250.00 and I don't think the blades can be changed.

Look them up if you've never seen them. They're great collectibles if you got the extra cash to buy one.

EDIT: Didn't see the post above mine. I was busy doing other things when I was making my post

[edit on 15-4-2008 by nightmare_david]