The Science of the Lightsaber 197
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.
Welcome to the Internet (Score:1, Insightful)
What comes around once gets re-posted elsewhere a thousandfold. Eventually, it may just float around the tubes for a while and resurface on one of the posted websites.
Slashdot isn't immune to this.
Especially when the article in question involves lightsabers. (And wishing that they were real. *daydreams at work*)
Why isn't this in Idle? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
This is science? (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
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
Re:if you dropped one... (Score:2, Insightful)
If the thing vaporizes everything, I wonder why the AIR around it survives, and you don't end up with a constant wind inwards towards the blade.
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.
Re:The Year Was 2005 ... (Score:1, Insightful)
You mod mine Troll but everyone's similar response is funny? FUCK YOU Slashdick. Bunch of fucking no-life having faggot mod fucks.
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."