Brisbane, Queensland, Australia – A group of physicist at the University of Queensland say that even though Laser weapons are a real thing, the iconic lightsabers as the one you see in Star Wars are just not viable.
Martin Ringbauer, research physicist, said a real lightsaber would not work because the beams of light would simply pass through each other which wouldn’t be very useful in a fight. According to Mr. Ringbauer the biggest problem is that light doesn’t just stop at the end, lasers just don’t stop without hitting something solid or being reflected back on itself with a mirror.
The lightsaber is supposed to be made out of plasma, which is a gas that has had electrons ripped off but it would be very difficult to confine the plasma without an exterior casing according to James Bennett University of Queensland ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems physics researcher.
Bennet said that even though plasma can indeed be trapped you would need to have an incredibly dense power source, a battery that could store a phenomenal amount of energy. Then, you would need to find some way of trapping light and making it interact with other light. That would mean some way of confining plasma in a tube, which at the moment can’t be done without an end on that tube.
Ever since the first Star Wars movie was released people have tried to replicate lightsabers in different ways, using plastic or laser-based equipment as the real ones from the movie seems to be made of.
A team that recreates sci-fi weapons has posted a video on Youtube with their recreation of the lightsaber. They made a methanol flamethrower that was encased into the frame of the lightsaber. They also added sound effects and made them in different colors.
But American companies are developing laser systems for the aircraft, drones, vehicles and even boats for U.S. troops. These may not be as cool as the beams of light seen in the movie; they can actually work and do plenty of damage.
For instance, Lockheed Martin, American global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company, has been testing on about 60 flights over the past two years a laser turret for fighter jets that fly near the speed of sound. With the 360-degree turret mounted on aircraft, the laser can fire in any direction.
Also, Northrop Grumman, American global aerospace and defense Technology Company, revealed a new military vehicle equipped with a laser weapon.
Source: ABC