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Comment by jared314 | Hacker News Reader

I think basing it on light is a mistake. I much prefer the solid core construction idea, with either a thin layer of plasma and/or a highly excited core material.

I re-watched Star Wars Episode 1 recently, and, as soon as the first lightsaber showed up on screen, I felt like a kid again. The movie is still terrible, and should be excluded from the series[1]. But, there is just something about watching space samurai, with light-up swords, that made me spend the next three hours imagining how to build something like it.

[1] http://static.nomachetejuggling.com/machete_order.html

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> I re-watched Star Wars Episode 1 recently

Were you watching it out of phase in hope the interference with your first watching would cancel it from your memory?

Common mistake - if it leaves your memory, the next time you see the cover you'll go back to the "Awesome, a new Star Wars movie!" mentality.

Or you stand there in disgust, wondering how the hell Oskar Schindler and Mark Renton found each other and why they haven't cut their hair in a long time ... and put it back on the shelf.

If only it had gone that way. Star Wars fans seem to be willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

False, that's constructive interference. GP wants destructive interference. My suggestion is to load up the audio in Audacity, apply the "Invert" effect, and listen to that on loop for a few nights' sleep.

Early in Episode 1, one of the Jedi stabs his light saber point-first into a big metal door. It sinks in effortlessly and in short order begins melting the door. It doesn't compress or blow up. So that's one thing this description gets wrong.

Also, why do lightsabers that touch not pass through one another?

Oh, and this theory is an amazing thought experiment!

This description says that there are physical glass filaments that they light travels through. So they hit against each other and can't pass through one another.

But the description says "beams from energy weapons hardly affect them and just pass through." But in the movies we see blaster shots being reflected by lightsabers.

IIRC in universe a lightsaber is essentially an infinte blaster shot trapped in a magnetic loop. The crystal tunes the magnetic loop, so blocking blaster shots is simple because the blaster on the "outside" bounces off the same field keeping the plasma "inside" and for the same reason you can have proper sword fights.

I forget if you can shoot a Jedi with a regular bullet but I'd imagine s/he could just dodge it regularly since blaster bolts travel significantly faster.

No, they're much slower. At 24 frames per second, you can watch a bolt from a blaster pistol fly across a room; even a tracer round from a low-velocity handgun would just be a streak. It's more in the range of a good fastball than a bullet.

Considering it has been shown that a lightsaber easily and nearly instantly cuts through most metals, apparently due to extreme heat, that regular bullets would likely not cause an issue.

The speed of the projectile is not an issue either, Jedi use a precognition-like ability to dodge or block blaster fire. That's why a group is required, to eliminate the possibility of them dodging and blocking.

Well, it depends on how thoroughly it dissipates the projectile. Turning a high-velocity slug into a high-velocity blob of superhot molten metal would certainly reduce its penetration, but you still wouldn't want it to hit you in the face.

Still, when lightsabers clash you never see them bending as the article claims they would.

You do see that in Spaceballs, though. Would be hilarious if Mel Brooks turned out to be more technically accurate than the original.

Because that would make for a terrible sword fight scene.

It is interesting to think how you would do battle though, it would basically be the first person / fastest to swing, likely killing both parties anyway.

If there's something lightsabers don't cut through - I think cortosis was mentioned in the KOTOR games - then it would make sense to have a small lightsabre on the tip of a staff of cortosis. (Or perhaps, more practically, a staff coated with cortosis, I don't know how heavy that stuff's meant to be.)

In any case! ^^; A light-spear. You'd be able to parry with the shaft and stab/slice the other person from beyond their reach.

It's not canon, but I remember reading one the expanded universe books that describes a Sith that had somehow created a lightsaber with an extended blade for some perceived advantages. I believe it added 12 to 24 inches to the overall length.

I can just imagine the spam the jedi got in their email inbox after that revelation.

I've just been wondering if a light saber is similar to an electrolaser [1], where you use a laser to ionize air and then send out an electric current through the plasma channel.

I could be wrong but wouldn't the power of the laser determine the length of the plasma channel?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser

Have you watched The Phantom Edit? It's a fairly decent Star Wars movie, set in the Old Republic.

I like Machete order, but if you're allowed to drop films from the series to improve it can't we go the whole hog and drop all of Episodes 1, 2 and 3?

Frankly I'm only leaving Jedi in there because it needs an ending...

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