Real lightsaber... kinda

[HAVOK]

Point me in the right direction if this has been done, however I feel that a Old lightsaber could be created from a version of the Jacobs ladder. In therory your could make this in the style of the older lightsabers that had the power packs and the cords to the sabers. Why has no one tried this, holy crap I would never do it, Im not friendly with electricity.

The two ladder conductors when they are connected to the energized transformer a potential voltage exists between them. The dielectric separating the electrodes is air. When the potential is strong enough that it overcomes the dielectric strength of the medium there is an arc that jumps between the two electrodes. This arc ionizes the air which is plasma. The plasma rises because it is air that has been superheated and warm air rises. This propagation up the ladder conductors continues until it reaches the top and a break in the connection occurs because the gap becomes large enough that the potential cannot overcome the dielectric strength. At this point a new arc is formed at the bottom and the process repeats itself.


I think with a sufficient power source, the proper capacitor thicker "ladder" blades, this could be something that would be achievable.

Im most likely crazy for even thinking this but hey you never know.

[HAVOK]

it would be more of a electricitysaber, than a lightsaber

[DJMoonbass]

yeah this was kinda discussed in starwars tech on the discover channel i think. but unless you wanted a lightsaber that you couldn't take with you this could work. you would need a factory about the size of 4 football fields to construct a plasma blade with as close as possible characteristics as a lightsaber blade. this is from what i remember of that thing i saw on TV.

[Clockwork]

The two ladder conductors when they are connected to the energized transformer a potential voltage exists between them. The dielectric separating the electrodes is air. When the potential is strong enough that it overcomes the dielectric strength of the medium there is an arc that jumps between the two electrodes. This arc ionizes the air which is plasma. The plasma rises because it is air that has been superheated and warm air rises. This propagation up the ladder conductors continues until it reaches the top and a break in the connection occurs because the gap becomes large enough that the potential cannot overcome the dielectric strength. At this point a new arc is formed at the bottom and the process repeats itself.

If you understand this, you will see a major problem in applying it to a sword of any sort. The only reason the arc goes up the two conductors is because the plasma rises, which means that the only time the arc would go up the sword is if you held it upright. If you held it in another position, when swinging, or just holding it horizontally, the arc wouldn't move. This is because the plasma wouldn't be rising 'up' the blade. If the arc doesn't move it would quickly burn through the conducting rods.

An interesting idea to be sure, but the technology simply isn't applicable to swords

[HAVOK]

no def. true if you didnt hold the blade up right the arc wouldnt rise, it would just distroy the ladders. but think about tazers, they use the almost the same principal of jacobs ladder. just shorter

[cannibal869]

slightly OT, but what about a vibrosword?
I vaguely remember something about this in an RPG I played years and years ago, but if I remember correctly, it would be a blade that vibrated at ultrasonic frequencies (i.e. something like 4-16 MHz) so that it would be able to cut through most objects like butter... well, that was the theory anyway.
It might work for all of 10 seconds before it overheats and / or breaks the blade.

Not a lightsaber, but maybe something that more closely functions as one?
The electrosaber / jacob's ladder thing sounds interesting too.

[The Grey Elf]

yeah this was kinda discussed in starwars tech on the discover channel i think. but unless you wanted a lightsaber that you couldn't take with you this could work. you would need a factory about the size of 4 football fields to construct a plasma blade with as close as possible characteristics as a lightsaber blade. this is from what i remember of that thing i saw on TV.

The lady talking about it also made the best observation ever. Something to the effect of, "And if you did pull it off you may as well just mail it to your enemy, set to activate when they opened it because it would just burn everything around it to a crisp!"

[HAVOK]

however it would be amazing to see it work if only for a second or 2!!!

[Jase Kala Maris]

I just couldn't stop myself from posting here.

My rant is that all these "tech of sci fi" TV shows are complete bull puck! Especially the one with the Japanese astrophysicist host! (Who I used to have soooo much respect for before he started doing this show) He completely steals every idea put forth in every science fiction novel I've ever read as his own and then takes it to an extreme and makes them look stupid. I'm sorry if anyone’s a fan of that show but read some old school science fiction and you'll see what I mean.

Ok back to on topic.

A plasma sword IMO would still be a light saber. It would still be a saber made up of energy and light just not a laser. Honestly I believe a Lightsaber needs to be a laser sword.

Now for the whole "mail it to your enemy and burn everything idea" Yes! Fine if you had a 2 inch thick 3 foot plasma sword it would prob burn you to a crisp! Sooooo hey here's a bright idea why not make is like a 1mm 5000 degree stream confined with a magnetic field yada yada yada I'm not a scientist but it irritates the hell outta me that people have to take things to the extreme to disprove them and make it look stupid. (I admit that a 5000 degree 1mm stream of plasma sounds like it would burn you a 3 feet distance but the heat dispersion would be emense your coils in your toaster get to 500 degrees and at 12 inches you barely feel this but I'm sure you've touch one by accident when getting your toast and burned the hell outta yourself!- I'm not talking about the heat from the oven itself you feel radiating out.) so think 10x hotter 500x10=5000. Most metals melt at 5000 right? (or under)

Real laser sword...
When I was in high school we did an experiment "Young's Double Slit" with light source and a slotted barterer to project the light on piece of paper. When set up correctly you can set it up to get the light waves to cancel each other out and you get "stripes on the piece of paper.


http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/lightandcolor/images/particlewavefigure6.jpg
Anyway if you could use a "focusing crystal" to focus multiple lasers beams at each other at a point in space and terminate the blade at what ever length you'd like. (I have no idea if this has ever been done) You would still need a magnetic field to repel other blades and blaster bolts etc. and you'd get a cool clashing effect we are all so use to. As far as the light I know strong magnetic fields can bend light a little so maybe you can use the field to disperse the edges of the light and get a bright sword also.

I have no idea about power sources but nano batteries are looking AWESOME. 50 years and this will be done deal IMO. as long as you don't let listen to them science nay sayers.

Good luck!

And before you get on me for being to simplisitic... I am simple never went to college so go easy on me.

If I win the 250 million lotto I promise I'll get this done! 8-)

[HAVOK]

see this what I was hoping to inspire, a good sound discussion!!!

[KuroChou]

Arc reactors are the way to go for power. ; )

Edit: for anyone who wants a proof of concept that the science fiction, is still actually science
http://www.stormingmedia.us/30/3009/A300933.html
Documentation of Pentagon research in Uranium ARC Fission Reactor for Space Power and Propulsion.
Originally declassified in 1992, meaning they were working on it at least 15 years before that.