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The Science of the Lightsaber
Posted by
samzenpus
on Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:08 AM
from the the-force dept.
from the the-force dept.
Smartcowboy writes "Chances are that you have seen a lightsaber at one time or another, whether on the evening news or down at the local cantina. Therefore you know that a lightsaber is an amazing and versatile device that is able to cut through nearly anything in a matter of milliseconds.
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 article, you will have a chance to look inside a lightsaber and discover the source of its incredible characteristics." I was sure the blade was made from the focused hate and disappointment of the last three movies.
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The Year Was 2005 ... (Score:5, Informative)
On top of that, this has been erroneously filed under "Technology." Let's just pause and let that sink in.
Now I'll quote the article:
You are putting that into the technology category? Seriously? I am sorry, normally I roll with the it and just play along when this stuff is under Idle on the frontpage but this is ridiculous. I know I'm just one of many Slashdotters in bitchbitchbitch mode but the next time you come across an article like this put it in your damned April Fools folder and don't revisit it until then!
... filed under Biotech!
Next week: The Science of NBC's "Heroes"
Re:The Year Was 2005 ... (Score:5, Informative)
Here's a more appropriate lightsaber article to link to, which explores not the physical construction of the lightsaber, but rather it's mythical import.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_156/5005-Lazer-Swords-and-Thundersabers [escapistmagazine.com]
Yes, I wrote it.
It's also not a 3-year-old article.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Great article.
Re:The Year Was 2005 ... (Score:5, Funny)
You would of fixed it if you could of! But, I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. Most people here don't know how it's supposed to be written anyways, and the ones who do could care less.
[heh; take that]
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re:The Year Was 2005 ... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I can't be sure, but I'd put money on it you just took the bait, hook line and sinker. The 'correction' was a joke my friend.
WHOOOOSH! Indeed.
Re:The Year Was 2005 ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Would you like an easy +5 Insightful response? Just point out the lightsaber is casting a shadow!
(Stroking goatee ponderously)
Hmmm, I say, the lightsaber *is* casting a shadow.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Hmmm, I say, the lightsaber *is* casting a shadow.
I'm more interested in whether or not it has a reflection. Then I'll know if it's vampire technology or not. Just think the ultimate defence to a lightsaber might be wearing garlic around your neck!
Re: (Score:2)
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1406308 [fark.com]
"Can a lightsaber cut through adamantium?"
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"I know I'm just one of many Slashdotters in bitchbitchbitch mode"
go under user options and select a different mode from the drop down. be sure to click apply and then save.
Actually it could cast a shadow (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, I don't know if you realize it, but super-heated plasma is actually opaque to light.
The photons emited in the nuclear fusion in the sun's centre, are absorbed and re-emitted and take millions of years to reach the surface. The sun is actually very close to a black body, except, of course, it radiates so much energy of its own that you can't shine a beam at it and notice that it's actually absorbed.
A nuclear bomb's fireball, for the first couple of moments is actually opaque too, which actually helps with converting more of that energy into temperature of the fireball, thus into more rapid expansion of that air, and thus into a bigger shockwave. That's how about 50% of the energy goes into the shockwave. If it weren't for that, i.e., if that super-heated air actually let radiation pass right through, the bomb would just scorch the ground and fry anyone close enough and standing in the open, but wouldn't cause the kind of shockwave that levels concrete buildings.
So could a lightsaber cast a shadow? Well, in much as the same way as a fluorescent tube can cast one. If it's in the way of a beam of light that's brighter than the sword's own shine, it would most definitely cast a shadow. (But, ok, in some poorly lit rooms like in the movies that doesn't seem to be nearly the case.)
Now that road is another minefield for other reasons, so I'm not going to claim that lightsabers are "realistic" or "possible." But just saying that technically, yes, a blade of super-heated plasma could technically be opaque.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You see, he can't get laid so he has to masturbate
The fact that you are posting on /. suggests that you probably aren't doing any better ;)
Re:Welcome to the Internet (Score:4, Funny)
Especially when the article in question involves lightsabers. (And wishing that they were real. *daydreams at work*)
I'd rather have a working phaser than a lightsaber. The phaser is a ranged weapon -- works better for us geek weaklings who don't want to get our hands dirty. It also seems more versatile -- you can stun people, injure them, kill them or completely disappear them (let's see them CSI a vaporized corpse!).
In short, the phaser slices, dices and makes julienne fries.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know how doable phasers are as described in canon. They utilize a completely invented subatomic particle (the nadion) for their effects. The vaporization effect in particular seems far-fetched -- in Trek they explain it away because of the magical properties of the nadion -- in reality you'd need an awful lot of energy to vaporize the human body (imagine taking 100-200 pounds of water from 98 degrees to >212 degrees in under a second) and you wouldn't want to be standing nearby when it happened
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, at least it's not as bad as the "Zat" guns from Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.
The writers got themselves stuck into a corner really early on when they introduced the "One shot stuns, two shots kills, three shots VAPORIZES" mechanic on that weapon. The first two make sense for a weapon that shoots something akin to lightning bolts, but the third mechanic is just DUMB.
I remember watching the 10 year anniversary show and the producers and actors talking about how much they hated putting that into
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
On the other hand, you'd probably have a sonic boom as elements expand in disintegration, so...
I've always rationalized it in my mind as a conversion to neutrinos or some other particle that doesn't really interact with normal matter and which would allow the disintegration of objects as people stand right next to them with little to no ill effects.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Nah, no smell and no mess. Here's what ya need to do. Ya gets all the nadions out to the target, where they act as subatomic dance choreographers. They signal to every quark, lepton, boson, and what have ya to turn sideways, on three; and-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-three, now!
O' course, there's always some lag. The particles in the brain always have to think for a second, and the particles in the volcal cords are too busy yappin' to pay attention, so there's always a scream, but the final result is that t
You know... (Score:3)
...I don't know why everyone wonders how a fictional lightsaber could work.
"How does it contain the plasma in a rod? Why doesn't it just go everywhere?"
From what I remember of the movies, I don't remember there being any mention of there not being some kind of mechanical core to a lightsaber -- almost like a control rod that extended at the same time that the rod of light did. You'd never know from watching it.
For all we know, even as works of fiction, they could just be normal swords that glow.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
almost like a control rod that extended at the same time that the rod of light did
If you watch Episode 4, right after Vader kills Obi Wan, he's holding a silver-colored stick. So, perhaps this mechanical core doesn't retract at the same time?
Re:You know... (Score:4, Funny)
If you watch Episode 4, right after Vader kills Obi Wan, he's holding a silver-colored stick. So, perhaps this mechanical core doesn't retract at the same time?
Good eye. Once the Jedi were defeated, the few survivors had to make their lightsabers from spare parts. I think Obi Wan used one of those powered telescoping radio antennas from an old land speeder.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Neither do I. Lasers? Plasma? Mechanical core? Containment? Lenses and gyrsoscopes?
THERE WAS NONE OF THAT. There was a guy and his typewriter and a bunch of words that, while compelling, were not true. There is no technology of the lightsaber. There is no "how it works". It doesn't work. It doesn't exist. The same is true of teleporters, holodecks, warp speed, etc.
If someone wants to have some fun writing or reading this k
Every-Day uses of the lightsaber (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, at least they didn't show any household uses for the lightsaber that I've already covered. :)
Lightsaber Uses for the Everyday Dark Lord [youtube.com]
Honestly (Score:2)
--
Looking for work, know someone who is? Keep on eye open on craigslist.com http://www.bigattichouse.com/oneeyeopen.html [bigattichouse.com]
2005? (Score:2)
I recalled seeing this article at least a few years back, so I clicked the "citation" button on the site to check:
Ah.
This is not news. (Score:2, Informative)
Seriously, how does stuff like this get on the front page?
But does it run Linux? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:But does it run Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
I have one.... (Score:5, Funny)
and apparently there's a lot of trick photography involved in those movies. First of all, the blade is just plastic segments, and you kind of flick it to get the blade to extend. By the way, it doesn't cut worth a damn. It seems that the "light" part of the lightsaber is just a flashlight bulb embedded in the handle and shining through the tube. Pretty disappointing really.
Now the sound effects on the other hand are pretty damn cool. Granted, they're a little tinny compared to the movies, but I figure that's just due to the way they mixed the audio in post-prod.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
That's nothing, I have a millenium falcon in my basement, but as it turns out, the real thing is plastic and only a few feet in diameter. It also only goes about 50 mph, and that's if you throw it at 50 mph.
if you dropped one... (Score:2)
Remember the rash of pulp stories in the earlier years of tethered micro black holes that were accidentally released and orbited around the inside of a planet whilst slowly gaining mass and eating more and more.
Would a lightsaber power itself from the mass it removes/cuts - would the "battery" die out. Unlike a micro blackhole it would not generate a gravitational field.
Really, its a slow day at work - I cannot even believe I am thinking ab
Re: (Score:2)
In the EU the Lightsabers can be fitted with a safety cut out which turns the blade off if the saber isn't being held for a period of time (to let you do the cool throwy thing). Because they're completely individual items, made by each user, how they handle stuff like that is down to the wielder.
Re: (Score:2)
Because they're completely individual items
Don't worry -- eventually China will figure out how to stamp them out of plastic for three cents a unit ;)
Just to point out... (Score:2)
That the parent poster probably meant "Expanded Universe" [wikipedia.org] not "European Union". [wikipedia.org]
But I guess it is a bit too late...
Someone already mentioned China stamping out plastic ones for 3 cents per unit.
In order to profit from the market demand for those EU and USA made lightsabers I guess.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
In other news, Ralph Nader has brought a suit against the Jedi Council for negligence in the design of proper safety features in such a dangerous device.
Repeatedly he has brought to their attention several design flaws which they have consistently refused to take action on. Specifically the introduction of the timed dead man's switch to comply with EU regulations was done hastily and without forethought and has created a false sense of safety and resulted in more accidents with people who felt it was now sa
Re: (Score:2)
Chopping Firewood? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Am I the only one out there that thought a lightsaber would make chopping firewood a snap?
Why isn't this in Idle? (Score:5, Insightful)
For those who hate to click next (Score:2, Informative)
Flashlight beam or variable sword. (Score:2)
Light sabers are boring...
I'd much rather have a variable sword from known space which consists of a ultra-thin wire in a stasis field:
http://www.freewebs.com/knownspace/uv.htm/#U [freewebs.com]
Or a flashlight laser, which can be an awesome flash light, or can be narrowed into a cutting beam:
http://www.freewebs.com/knownspace/f.htm/#F [freewebs.com]
Star Wars retards (Score:2)
Stop buying all the graflex flashguns! there are some of us out there who still use them for their intended purpose. douchenozzles.
This is science? (Score:2, Insightful)
MIT (Score:2)
Alert me when some hacker at MIT builds one. That is all.
lightsabers are scarier than guns and table saws (Score:4, Insightful)
You'd have to be a Jedi to use one of these things because any average Joe is likely to cut off his own foot. A light saber represents the awesome mutilating ability of power tools combined with a form factor that's even more prone to mischief. No weight in the blade, will cause major damage with fleeting contact. They're cool but you'll be losing fingers and limbs.
Average Joe much more capable with lethal arms... (Score:3, Interesting)
...than you give him credit for.
We're able to give fairly unexceptional 16 year olds sticks which weigh about 12 ounces, fit in the palm of your hand, have exactly one button on them, and have the rule "anything extending in a ray from this hole to the horizon when the button is depressed dies". The overwhelming majority of them understand the safety precautions -- there are only four.
1) Never point the stick at anything you do not intend to kill
2) The stick has two states. In one, the ray coming out wh
Mental masturbation (Score:3, Insightful)
All the articles about the "tech" of Star Wars, Star Trek, etc (up to an including the old Star Trek 'Engineering Manual' are nothing but mental masturbation for geeks. They are great when your in your teens, but...
Just enjoy the show/movie
focused hate? (Score:3, Insightful)
Ha! Focused hate. +2 funny.
The real source of power is the same source of power worshipped by George Lucas. The one that sucked away his soul and creativity over the last 30 years. I think they call it "ego."