I have to admit to you that this is something I have thought about a lot. I have a toy replica lightsabre which lights up like Luke Skywalker’s one in the Star Wars movies.It makes noises when you swing it and crash it against another ligthsabre. But, it’s not a real light sabre, it’s just a bit of light and sound in plastic.
Can we make a weapon like a lightsabre? I don’t know,and I doubt it. To begin with, the Star Wars movies never specified what light sabres were made of. I’d guess that they are lasers, about 1.5m long, about 3.5-4cm in diameter (I’m checking my own toy sabre here for specs). We can make lasers, no worries. But lasers are light – in fact, the word ‘laser’ is an acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” Have you ever seen anything be able to contain light so that it only occupies a certain amount of space? That’s the money question – how do we contain this laser to a certain length, size, width? We could try putting something on the end to contain the laser, but then the ‘end’ that contained the laser would still have to be connected to the base of the sword. And the other thing, the only thing strong enough to bend light, or contain it, is a black hole. Somehow, I don’t think we will be able to have mini-black holes on the end of light sabres to stop the laser light from going on to infinity.
So unless we come up with a way to contain a laser, I don’t think we can make a lightsabre. :'(
Upulie is clearly more of a Star Wars fan than me… There are some pretty crazy weapons out there, using sound, lasers etc. Imagine what we could do with all the money and effort they spent developing weapons if it was applied to studying diseases?
Dear haydos,
I have to admit to you that this is something I have thought about a lot. I have a toy replica lightsabre which lights up like Luke Skywalker’s one in the Star Wars movies.It makes noises when you swing it and crash it against another ligthsabre. But, it’s not a real light sabre, it’s just a bit of light and sound in plastic.
Can we make a weapon like a lightsabre? I don’t know,and I doubt it. To begin with, the Star Wars movies never specified what light sabres were made of. I’d guess that they are lasers, about 1.5m long, about 3.5-4cm in diameter (I’m checking my own toy sabre here for specs). We can make lasers, no worries. But lasers are light – in fact, the word ‘laser’ is an acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” Have you ever seen anything be able to contain light so that it only occupies a certain amount of space? That’s the money question – how do we contain this laser to a certain length, size, width? We could try putting something on the end to contain the laser, but then the ‘end’ that contained the laser would still have to be connected to the base of the sword. And the other thing, the only thing strong enough to bend light, or contain it, is a black hole. Somehow, I don’t think we will be able to have mini-black holes on the end of light sabres to stop the laser light from going on to infinity.
So unless we come up with a way to contain a laser, I don’t think we can make a lightsabre. :'(
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Upulie is clearly more of a Star Wars fan than me… There are some pretty crazy weapons out there, using sound, lasers etc. Imagine what we could do with all the money and effort they spent developing weapons if it was applied to studying diseases?
0