By now the entire country is on the edge of their seat for the eagerly anticipated Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens. I, like most people, am extremely excited to watch the film. There has been a lot of discussion and anticipation about the contents of the film and the storyline itself, but one thing that people will always relate to ‘Star Wars’ is undoubtedly, the light sabers.
With the introduction of tonnes of new characters and gadgets in the upcoming film, speculation about one particular lightsaber has been on everybody’s mind and that’s the lightsaber of Kylo Ren, the supposed ‘villain’ of the new era star wars movies.
Are Lightsabers Possible?
The new films got us thinking, is there any way a real life lightsaber could be created? We at ReAgent don’t exactly have the abilities to try to recreate a light saber… not that many places do, so we decided to take to the internet and discover if possible, how would a real life lightsaber be produced. The results were pretty surprising!
Back in 2013 an experiment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Maryland claimed that by locking two photons together at a short distance could form a state resembling a two-atom molecule. The study was considered groundbreaking because nobody had ever constructed anything by combining individual photons. This lead to questions from the public that if we can perfect the process and build a molecule out of light, then what is stopping us from building a sword from the same process? By making the two photons travel together at the same distance could theoretically create a solid object resembling a lightsaber. It’s one thing making the photons travel together one way, but allowing them to act like they do in the movie and return back to their original position once a jedi holsters their lightsaber is another matter altogether.
According to physicists it’s still going to be an extremely long time until the development of lightsabers is even considered a possibility, but still it’s nice to have dreams!
The fact that lightsabers in the star wars films can burn through metal and other objects very quickly, suggests that they contain a powerful and compact energy supply – however, two lightsabers cannot pass through each other, nor do they burn the hand of those holding the mystical sword – which suggests a protective cover handle that is far too advanced for our understanding of physics to comprehend.
Let’s Hear from the Experts
One man who has a great explanation on lightsabers and their possibility in our universe is non other than Neil DeGrasse Tyson who explains a conversation he had with English physicist, Dr Brain Cox. Watch DeGrasse’s explanation below.
“However, I keep thinking, if you have laser guns, just shoot the person. Why walk up to them and have a sword fight?”
Neil deGrasse Tyson
The whole idea of lightsabers in real life really is a long way away, but, who knows. With the development of physics always expanding and new methods being discovered every day we can’t simply turn our back away from the idea than one day, the ability to own a real life lightsaber might be a possibility… but, then again I might be getting a little too excited there.
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