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Ask GR Anything: How do lightsabers work?

Celebrating the release of The Old Republic, we ask mankind’s oldest question

Words: on December 21, 2011
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54 comments

  • inkyspot - December 22, 2011 4:45 a.m.

    I had figured this out as a kid (Not in the depths of detail you guys did, thanks for that). I was wondering how can they make light just form and stop instead of just continuing. I was trying in my head to make it as real as possible (Who knows what the future could bring? Could cavemen even imagine the Internet or the concept of a plane?) I was thinking that some sort of holding rod would extend from the base of the light saber and that would be heated with whatever energy to the point where it was super hot (This would explain why this glowing light stops IMO) Please understand I thought of this as a child. The extendable rod will then retract when the Jedi releases the weapon. Also the weapon (Light saber) is sort of DNA specific so only that specific Jedi the Saber was constructed for could use it. I suppose if you put anything far enough in the future you can say it may be possible on some level, Since we really don't know. Here's my question. How far in the future is Star Wars and does earth exist in that universe (Since humans do)?

  • Ranidu - December 22, 2011 5 a.m.

    wow u are one brainy kid!! too bad u didnt stay that way :D :D

  • inkyspot - December 22, 2011 6:43 a.m.

    lol, For real. What the hell happened. Lol

  • Hobogonigal - December 22, 2011 7:22 a.m.

    You do know that StarWars is set a Long Time ago, in a galaxy far far away, right? That means it's in the past unless it is told from way off into the future looking back at the time between now and then... I started writing this comment thinking I knew the answer but now I'm just confused and unsure... thanks a lot inkyspot!

  • inkyspot - December 22, 2011 9:12 a.m.

    lol, sorry

  • xXxsilentassassinxXx - December 22, 2011 9:55 a.m.

    Star Wars takes place in the past; not the future. Every Star Wars film starts of with "Along time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Also I believe each lightsaber is attuned to its maker through the Force, but that does not mean others could not activate them. General Grevous used the lightsabers of Jedi he killed, but he was not able to use the Force.

  • jturton - December 22, 2011 10:43 a.m.

    "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." The answer is right there if you just look for it.

  • inkyspot - December 22, 2011 11:31 a.m.

    Long ago and far away. Always confused me as a child. If we are a young species it makes no sense in our current timeline. I thought of if as a future time where humans became space travelers. So that long ago and far away stuff would be associated with a future time that has not happened yet. Confusing I know, I am guessing since Mr. Lucas offered no explanation and probably never will. Also could be a parallel universe where humans discover intergalactic travel early... I can get real nerdy with this, but I'll stop. I am probably giving Mr. Lucas too much credit. I highly doubt he even thought up the world to this level.

  • - December 22, 2011 2:22 p.m.

    I don't think Lucas/Star Wars have ever bothered to explain that. But the implication is that there are humanoids that evolved independently in another galaxy. With 100 billion galaxies, many with millions of habitable worlds, it's entirely possible. Nature tends to come up with similar solutions to the same problems multiple times even on Earth. Which is why you'll sometimes see similar animal traits evolve on opposite sides of the planet. (Note: we only have Earth as an example, so there's no telling what life might look like on another planet. It could look just like us, or stretch our definitions of what life could be.) But given that many chances for life to evolve, I'm totally willing to believe there could be near-humans out there somewhere.

  • inkyspot - December 22, 2011 2:38 p.m.

    My brother explained it as an alternate reality where the earth did not exist, and these are humans or humanoid not earthlings. I totally agree with the aspect of the evolution theory you mentioned. Funny though we are %99 almost the same as a chimp yet we look quite different, so while I may believe that aliens could possibly walk arounf with 2 arms and legs and a single head, I would be surprise if they would look even close to us aside from what I mentioned above. Man I love this stuff. Makes me want to write a story or at leat finish the one I have been working on for a few years.

  • Cwf2008 - December 22, 2011 3:10 p.m.

    You do know that Star Wars takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away right?

  • AGENTJORRRG - December 22, 2011 9:04 p.m.

    Because Sci-Fi and stuff or something.

  • - December 23, 2011 1:06 a.m.

    Haha Yeah, I love it too. Hence why it's my job. :-) To your point though, humans and chimps are definitely similar, but chimps look like they do because they live in trees and eat different things. So they evolved to do that. Humans evolved to live in African plains. So there are going to be some differences. I want to say it has to do with the same genes being expressed in different ways based on the environment, but that's nearly a guess. I don't know enough about evolutionary theory.

  • midnightcitysky - December 22, 2011 12:31 a.m.

    You can contain plasma using a magnetic field, it has been done, look up "plasma windows" if you need further proof. if science were to further this technology we could theoretically shape said field into a loop in order to keep the plsma from escaping and you'd have a working lightsaber. It's how the beam sabers in mobile suit gundam work, which are just gigantic (5 to 7 seven feet long handles) lightsabers. but as stated a lot of power is needed to ionize the plasma and to maintain the field. lucas added the focusing crystal because he was thinking lasers, as far as i know, since lasers are just super=focused light particles you can't contain them, and due to the fact star wars blasters don't fire at lightspeed, I HIGHLY doubt they themselves are lasers too. they are propably shaped plasma projectiles. blasters shoot lightsaber blades.

  • - December 22, 2011 2:24 p.m.

    Well, the article talks about shaping plasma, actually. (In the quote, two paragraphs from the end.) It's definitely possible, but you'd have to have big magnets running along it. Which wouldn't make it much good for slicing and dicing.

  • codystovall - December 22, 2011 12:26 a.m.

    Rule of cool. I might not think much of lightsabers since its use was restricted in the films for cutting small parts and had 3 times of chopping people up gruesomly Darth maul Jango Fett Anakin but if I did get my hands on one.......well by the end of the day I might not have hands anymore.

  • jturton - December 22, 2011 10:44 a.m.

    You're forgetting Luke's hand...

  • Balaska - December 21, 2011 10:52 p.m.

    Plasma is ionised matter, it will always be gas, because it takes a tremendous amount of energy to completely ionise something. Lightsabers are laserswords. A laser is a concentrated beam of photons. Plasma and lasers are very different things indeed. The idea behind a lightsaber is it is a focused beam of laser energy restricted to a certain length by magic or whatever. This is from the films, screw wookiepedia. Read up on plasma and Laser and you will find that as electrons can become photons, plasma and laser are pretty much mutually exclusive.

  • brizzie - December 21, 2011 10:31 p.m.

    The weapon consisted of a blade of pure plasma emitted from the hilt and suspended in a force containment field. The field contained the immense heat of the plasma, protecting the wielder, and allowed the blade to keep its shape.-Wookieepedia, seriously just look it up

  • - December 21, 2011 11:50 p.m.

    So you're saying lightsabers are scientifically plausible because the Force will take care of the tough bits?

  • psycho ninja 4 - December 22, 2011 2:08 a.m.

    Not THE force, but A force.

Showing 21-40 of 54 comments

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