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POssible way to make a "light saber"

Ah well, the lightsaber is just one of those mythical devices you can attempt to make ;)

Obviously it would never work like the thing in the movies, but somehow getting a beam of light of finite length is a challenge in its own - even if it doesnt even cut trough butter.

Making the laser so powerful it ionizes air at the waist of the beam is a idea that does have merit - at least in the sense that it would put an 'end' to the beam without the need to trap some 'unobtanium'.

It would still produce a cone with a rather bright spark on its end instead of a cylinder that just stops, but i think it could be built. The chief problem would be getting a visible laser that is powerful enough to ionize air. I've seen pulsed Nd:YAG lasers do this, and now i wonder if it would look anything like a lightsaber viewed from the side with an IR camera ;)
 





Why difficult ? ..... all that what you need is a force field generator that can generate a 2-layers tubular force field, with the tube that can conduct potential energy collected from the top of the force field (that close the tube) but not interfer with matter, and the top of the field that convert light energy in potential energy and drive it back again through the tube to the holder, so it can be reused in the cycle (recycling is the key for energy saving) ..... then just regulate the force field for the lenght of the "blade" that you want, put your 3 or 4 TW laser diode aligned with the force field (with a copper heatsink if you can, so it have a better duty cycle), place your total conversion antiprotons battery in the holder and switch it up ..... more easy than so .....

Only, remember to insulate well all the wires ..... if those batteries go in short circuits, they overheat and the case can break, and if this happens, the antiprotons that leak out can cause skin burns, intoxication, pollution and/or a small 2 kilotons nuclear explosion .....

J/K :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
 
Well AFAIK, there is a section of wikipedia dedicated to 'explaining' everything from Star wars universe, however not with facts, but everything made up.

So, it says that 'lightaber' weapons are designed to work on principle of energy of 'crystals'...

They have those 'daitium' battery packs in their hilts, which are somehow energizing the crystal, which emits the plasma stream, and that plasma is controlled by powerfull magnetic field that is projected around the plasma to contain it.

As was already said entire circuit is based on feedback loop , so the plasma goes around through the blade and comes back to the crystal, and repeats it's journey all over again, so battery pack is never actually used, except the ignition, and when a blade comes in contact with matter or another blade.

Plasma melts all the matter, and magnetic field deflect another blade.
From such point of view, we 'could' possibly create something like that, the only problem is the energy needed to power it.

If yo' ask me, answer is in zero point energy, which is still not known widely however I have a feeling entire technology will be based on it soon enough.
 
I'm finally convinced, I just ordered my light saber and planet destroying death star photon beam weapon plans off ebay, sure hope those blueprints are worth all the money I spent.

Once I get my death star complete, I shall test it on a small planet first.
 
there is a new program out on discovery science called 'sci-fi physics: physics of the impossible' they talk about building a 'real' lightsaber in one of the episodes...:yh:

They used nano batteries for power supply, then a teloscopic ceramic batton that comes out of the hilt, which is then surrounded by hot plasma and contained with magnetic fields...looked pretty interesting...:D
 
That does sound interesting, to me there are two types of science fiction.

#1 - pure fantasy, nothing plausible about much. (Star wars, star trek, etc...)

#2 - Plausible Sci Fi - believable events that do not defy laws of physics.

An excellent example the recent re-do of Battlestar Galactica. The marines carried guns, the battles were fought with RPG, Nukes, Missiles and bullets, the enemy used cloning, phones had cords, computers got viruses, even the "jump Drive" concept was to "spool up" a massive amount of inertia and release it all at once to obtain a very short burst of UNSUSTAINABLE faster than light travel.
 
photonaholic said:
That does sound interesting, to me there are two types of science fiction.

#1 - pure fantasy, nothing plausible about much. (Star wars, star trek, etc...)

#2 - Plausible Sci Fi - believable events that do not defy laws of physics.

An excellent example the recent re-do of Battlestar Galactica. The marines carried guns, the battles were fought with RPG, Nukes, Missiles and bullets, the enemy used cloning, phones had cords, computers got viruses, even the "jump Drive" concept was to "spool up" a massive amount of inertia and release it all at once to obtain a very short burst of UNSUSTAINABLE faster than light travel.
Click to expand...

I agree with your "vision" on the Sci-Fi. A good example is the episode of Battlestar Galactica on the lack of water :)
 
photonaholic said:
I'm finally convinced, I just ordered my light saber and planet destroying death star photon beam weapon plans off ebay, sure hope those blueprints are worth all the money I spent.

Once I get my death star complete, I shall test it on a small planet first.
Click to expand...

:crackup::crackup::crackup:
 
jamilm9 said:
Imagine you have a very powerful laser that was hand held. Could the attached image work.
Click to expand...

Not a chance. With our current power source densities it is impossible.
IF YOU could somehow come up with a way of compressing plasma to form something as hot as the sun, the radiation in the form of Gamma and X-rays would be enough to kill you in seconds. The heat from the super-compressed plasma would cook you before the radiation killed you.

The closest thing that has been created to a "lightsaber" is called an arc torch. It uses HF High voltage at extremely high currents to ionize argon. It has an amazing blinding light and emits extremely hard UVA. I have used one and if you don't cover up you'll get welders burn real quick!
 
I'm pretty sure you can attatch 2 thin metal poles attatched to a mirror above the laser to keep the power pretty high so the beam is brighter and nothing will heat up as long as the laser has a good heat sink. But that would mean drilling 2 metal poles into a laser.....fine with me.:evil: Maybe we should do it on Dusty's laser. has a nice green beam. :evil:
 
jamilm9 said:
Imagine you have a very powerful laser that was hand held. Could the attached image work.
Click to expand...
I once thought about that too, but the fact that we'd get a super-hot beam stop convinced me it was not the way to go. Then I saw a video about creating plasma with a laser and came up with a different design (see attachment). What about that? (yeah, I know it would need a LOT of batteries)
 

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Granted I haven't read this whole thread, I have thought of a possible idea. A strong laser as a handle, then a fluorescent buld somehow attached to the laser. Fill the bulb with smoke, by burning a black substance at the bottom using a sepperate laser. Then turn it on, and maybe have a mirror mechanism that reflects the laser back and forth up the bulb a few times to maybe spread out the 'light', or maybe some diffraction gratings. I have the ideas, just not the money, maybe somebody else could try it. Or have an unfocused beam do it, like IN a modules, but without a lens. I give Jayrob full permission to try these ideas.
 
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You're talking about a neon sign attached to a handle. This thread is mostly talking about a light saber that can stab you :p lol
 
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