Is there a reason for lightsabers to reflect laser pulses ?

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Atlantis001

Tangible God
They're lasers yes, but much more powerful lasers than earth has ever known, these are pure, undoubtedly raw energy beams that burn through most solid matter to a degree.

Throw a penny at a penny and they'll just bounce off each other, same goes with SW lasers.

Atlantis001

Illustrious
If they were lasers, it would stand to reason they give off heat, and they would extend infinitely. Neither of these two conditions are satisfied.

Atlantis001

xxxpoppunker182
u can't bring physics into starwars ok i mean no matter how advanced in technology we get i doubt they'll find a way to make it so a real lightsabver could exist since everything has mass on earth and the beam of a lightsaber while ignited doesnt emit energey until it comes in contact with something i doubt we'll get that far advanced and if we do guess what they'll change physics.

Atlantis001
Well if you can see the blade it does emit energy in the form of photons, a lightsaber is exactly like a normal laser, the only difference is that it exist only in a region of space(what can be solved by physics), and that it reflect laser pulses(what still needs to be solved), maybe this problem will be solved when physics advances.

Tru_Slice
Ohh...Crap!

Star Wars is going all science now?









...'bout time!

Darth_Glentract
Go read the book "The Science of Star Wars". It will explain all about that.

Tru_Slice
Yeah, but this guy actually knows what he is talking about.

(unlike the unfourtunate lightsaber kid with the blowtorch a while back)

Darth_Veav
Originally posted by Tru_Slice
Yeah, but this guy actually knows what he is talking about.

(unlike the unfourtunate lightsaber kid with the blowtorch a while back)

Oh you mean the Lightsaber dude who made a thumb-length blowtorch and claimed it as a Lightsaber?

henniestevens
I remember that guy, I'm stilling lighting my joints with his little saber.

Deus Ex
lmao

And yeah, Illustrious is right. Blaster bolts aren't lasers. if anything, I recall them being energized and condensed gases or something.

Sesse
Plasma perhaps?

Deus Ex
Plasma is heat-based and has a tendency to spread out, making it impractical in theory for a weapon.

Sesse
It can be contained within a magnetic field. As a bonus, the saber would get some gyroscopic properties, thus making the blade to have some mass.

A plasma field contained in a magnetic field could be constructed to create a lightsaber. The plasma could be contained in the handle, when the switch is flipped the electromagnetic field is energized and the plasma is ejected within it. Although creating the high temperature of the plasma would require a large energy supply, the lightsaber would perform just as in the movies and is not a technical impossibility.

So the only question is the electricity.

Deus Ex
So this magnetic field keeps the plasma from generating heat enough to melt the handle or warm the hand of the jedi who uses it? Also, the effect that is shown when Qui-Gon uses a lightsaber to open the door implies that it isn't melting the door but that it is exciting the molecules and they are in turn melting themselves.

Second, where does this plasma go when the jedi switches it off? Inside of a second all of this heat and energy vanishes along with a magnetic field that apparently works off of a power source about the size of a flashlight or smaller.

Sesse
Umm, The plasma could be contained inside a small container located inside the handle. There it would be held within a magnetic field.

I really dont know...

But they kinda play with plasma these days in labs...

http://www.exn.ca/news/images/p/plasmagun.jpg

http://www.exn.ca/news/images/P/Plasmahf.jpg

Deus Ex
Top one looks like an eyeball in ifrared and the bottom looks like a 1950s space ship or something a girl gives another girl at a Bachellorette party.

So you think that this plasma stays in the hilt?

Sesse
Hmmm, Not voluntarily at least...

overlord
In the case of Star Wars it would surely not be stored in the hilt.
That's certainly not the idea in SW.

Tru_Slice
What if their hilts aren't just made from steel?

What about some compond that is strong and resists the heat?

Deus Ex
It'd have to be stronger than the space age blast doors Qui Gon destroyed.

Sesse
Cortosis? XD

Deus Ex
lol

Yep. Must be. But then why don't sith just have Cortosis chain mail or something?

overlord
Originally posted by Tru_Slice
What if their hilts aren't just made from steel?

What about some compond that is strong and resists the heat?

C'mon man! You are throwing the whole concept of the crystal and that shit to the lions! It isn't some bulb that is contained and forced out by magnetism, that's just wrong!!

Ushgarak
Scientific reason- no, it's all style.

The working models people have come up with for what sabres actually are over time are many and varied. Almost no-one thinks they are lasers. Or, for that matter, light.

Atlantis001

Deus Ex
They're not lasers, correct. However, the red bolts we see are actually more like tracers or something to signify where the blast is going. If you look closely and pause the PowerDVD a million times you can see that the asteroids in ESB start to melt and disintegrate before the bolt reaches them, implying that the energy or whatnot discharged reaches its target just before the red tracer does.

Atlantis001
A good solution, but why does someone would want to know where the laser is going ? Maybe for aiming better, but the enemies would know where you are shooting at increasing their chances of surviving. Anyway its still a good solution.

Another solution involves particle-wave duality. It is know that if matter can behave like waves(like a laser for example), it is possible to make a laser from matter, scientists in the real world already created electron lasers, hydrogen lasers, and helium lasers. Those lasers obviouly will not travel at the speed of light.

Deus Ex
That's true, too. I think I've heard someone suggest that before.

Darth_Glentract
The laser aren't there on purpose. It is a bi-product of the Blaster Gas reaction.

Sesse
Actually, I think the blasters just shoot metal bullets with so heavy speed, that they begin to glow red on their way out of the barrel. Most of the time the internal supppressor makes the shot sound squeaky and bright, but on the first Deathstar Leia shoot with a blaster that was lacking a suppressor. It made a nice "bang!" sound. Proof enough? =P

Tangible God
Maybe the whole "melting asteroids thing" is a fluke in the movie?

Tru_Slice
Originally posted by Atlantis001
A good solution, but why does someone would want to know where the laser is going ? Maybe for aiming better, but the enemies would know where you are shooting at increasing their chances of surviving. Anyway its still a good solution.

Another solution involves particle-wave duality. It is know that if matter can behave like waves(like a laser for example), it is possible to make a laser from matter, scientists in the real world already created electron lasers, hydrogen lasers, and helium lasers. Those lasers obviouly will not travel at the speed of light.

Don't forget, plasma is also matter.

Tangible God
Originally posted by Sesse
Actually, I think the blasters just shoot metal bullets with so heavy speed, that they begin to glow red on their way out of the barrel. Most of the time the internal supppressor makes the shot sound squeaky and bright, but on the first Deathstar Leia shoot with a blaster that was lacking a suppressor. It made a nice "bang!" sound. Proof enough? =P Bullets on Earth travel very fast, faster than the bolts in SW. But none of our bullets light up in glowing red streaks.

And if they do, then what's with the colour variations?

Veneficus
I thought blaster bolts were condensed beams of light traveling at high speeds.

Tangible God
They're condensed gases travelling at speeds slower than lead bullets.

Captain REX
Superheated gas is where the blaster bolts come from. That's why Bespin makes a lot of money: Tibanna gas.

Tangible God
I always like Bespin, so like us.

overlord
Originally posted by Tangible God
They're condensed gases travelling at speeds slower than lead bullets.

They still haven't discovered the technology of shooting with bullets.
After all it is 'a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away'!! eek!

SS_181st_Snow
..Then we're idiots. We don't have lightsabers or lasers!

overlord
No, actually I think blaster bolts move with tremendous speed but that it just doesn't show in the movies. Why would they be so slow if not for the audiance?
I know that's bad reasoning but still, why else would they be so slow? Only for more power? They should be able to have advanced technology shooting faster than the speed of light or something.

Tangible God
Originally posted by overlord
No, actually I think blaster bolts move with tremendous speed but that it just doesn't show in the movies. Why would they be so slow if not for the audiance?
I know that's bad reasoning but still, why else would they be so slow? Only for more power? They should be able to have advanced technology shooting faster than the speed of light or something. What would be the point? You have weapons shooting faster than the speed of light, then you'll never be able to see what the f*cks going on. You'll just hear a "zap," and see a guy fall to the ground.

Wow, how necessary.

Atlantis001
Originally posted by overlord
No, actually I think blaster bolts move with tremendous speed but that it just doesn't show in the movies. Why would they be so slow if not for the audiance?
I know that's bad reasoning but still, why else would they be so slow? Only for more power? They should be able to have advanced technology shooting faster than the speed of light or something.

Well if they shoot faster than the speed of light it will travel to the past in time.

Originally posted by Tru Slice
Don't forget, plasma is also matter.

Yup... plasma is a good solution too.

overlord
Originally posted by Atlantis001
Well if they shoot faster than the speed of light it will travel to the past in time.

Actually, it wouldn't travel to the past of time..

Mr Tangerine God: What would be the point? You have weapons shooting faster than the speed of light, then you'll never be able to see what the f*cks going on. You'll just hear a "zap," and see a guy fall to the ground.

Well, in real life you hear "bang" and someone falls down, it would be pointless to have weapon fire that could actually be evaded.

Atlantis001
If you take special relativity into consideration, it will.

overlord
Don't make me laugh.. Going back in time is impossible because there is no such thing as time, there is only motion and change.

Time is a measurement term.

Atlantis001
I think I did not expressed myself well, but I meant that anything that travels faster than light must by special relativity travel back in time. If travelling back in time is not possible then its also not possible to be faster than light.

Tangible God
I really hate that Theory of Relevation.

Yossren_Grove
If none have said this...How about a little something called

"The Force"

Ianus
Cuz it's not accurate?

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