Star Wars: What would lightsabers look like in real life?

At first glance, no. Well, not as they appear in the movies. As their name suggests, the lightsabers are composed of laserso of light ! Impossible then to make them collide in epic battles; in reality, of such sabers would simply destroy anything that passes through their beam, until the light they emit is stopped. But then again, by what?

Stop the light is of course possible, but the principle of the laser, which literally means ” light amplification stimulated by emission of radiation »is based on an amplification of the latter by, among other things, the effects of mirrors. Therefore, stopping a laser beam requires a great stopping power, that is to say matter. So when the Jedi fight with their laser beam that wanders through theairit should propagate until it is stopped by walls solideven, if it is super powerful, it could even pierce these walls.

Confined plasma is the closest thing to it

If we had to compare lightsabers with elements existing in our world and which come close to it, it would be with plasma confined by magnetic field. Plasma is obtained by heating very strongly a gas until ionizing part of its atoms. This ionized gas interacts strongly with its environment, and can emit photons according to these interactions, therefore light!

This is what happens with the storm : electricity ionizes the gases of theatmosphere which emit light suddenly. This light can also change color depending on the atoms that have been ionized, so when the air is dry, theflash will be rather white, while with high ambient humidity, the flashes will appear bluish.

So the colors of the Jedi’s lightsabers could correspond to different atoms. Yes, however, you have to provide them with a lot ofenergy so that they form a plasma, and even more to confine them. As explained in Science or Fiction“ for a plasma jet 10 cm long at a temperature of 10,000°C, it would be necessary to supply approximately 40 kW continuously. Consider the amount of energy it would take to cover about 260 km with a electric car “. In addition, pay attention to the magnetic field which, at the slightest variation, would completely change the shape of the sword.