Finally, something truly nerdy. I’m sure you all have thought of this before, and you probably already know the answer, but do you know why lightsabers aren’t realistic (or at least the way Star Wars portrays them). Of course, it is just Sci-Fi, but the whole point of being a nerd is to overanalyze Sci-Fi things. So just hear me out.
From starwars.com
First thing’s first, the basic premise of a lightsaber is actually realistic. In theory, lightsabers can be made. The actual blade would be made of plasma, and you would need something creating a magnetic field, so probably a retractable rod in the middle with a cap at the end. You would need to make sure that the plasma is not hot enough to melt or sublime the materials in the lightsaber, so perhaps Tungsten could be used. There are other ways of insulation, but to actually cut stuff like how the lightsabers in the movie cut stuff, the lightsaber would be well over 1000 Degrees Celsius. Tungsten has the highest melting point for any material we know of, so on the lower scale of a lightsaber, it could work. The making of the blade could actually work (as far as my knowledge goes), but there are a lot of other reasons why lightsabers are NOT practical, sadly. 🙁
Lightsabers produce a LOT of HEAT. At least 1000 Degrees Celsius would be produced. This heat would kill any life form within a certain radius, so Luke Skywalker and Kenobi would’ve been burnt up in the above picture. Plus, all organisms would explode. Heat can expand matter, specifically when a liquid goes to a gas. The water inside your body would literally make you explode, and hot water vapor (steam) would go everywhere. This is the main issue of lightsabers, so you would have to use a special suit, and be really careful with that thing.
The other main reason lightsabers aren’t practical are the amount of energy needed to power a lightsaber. A lightsaber can output about 1.69 Gigajoules of power, or is at least capable of doing so. This was taken from context.capp.ca
First of all, we don’t have batteries with energy densities capable of doing that, but if we did, that would be one really expensive charge. In the Star Wars universe, I’m pretty sure the crystals that power lightsabers are self-rechargeable (somehow) and they must give a lot of power. Also, which I just found out, lightsabers don’t output energy until they interact with a solid object. This still doesn’t actually solve the heat problem, as dust is a thing, and then you’d burn up regardless.
From starwars.wikia.com
At the end of the day, it’s just Sci-Fi and entertainment. It’s always nice when Sci-Fi creators go through and think about how the science of what’s in the content makes sense, but it’s not necessary. Lightsabers are cool. End of discussion. There are definitely more ways lightsabers are unrealistic, but I don’t want to bore you guys too long. Thanks, and as always, stay nerdy.