STAR WARS DAY: MAY, THE FOURTH The physics behind lightsabers and plasma shields

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Fans celebrate Star Wars Day on May 4 every year. The cult-following of the intergalactic Sci-Fi masterpiece franchise makes fans wonder about the technology that could possibly be the backbone of the mystical sword lightsaber and energy shields shown in the movies. Check out the article to learn about the physics behind the Star Wars fictional tech.

A Lightsaber was first introduced as an enlightened blue sword in the 1977 Sci-Fi movie “Star Wars”. The very first scene about a lightsaber featured Obi-Wan Kenobi, a supporting character, handing over the lightsaber to the main character Luke Skywalker. The Lightsaber was referred to as an “elegant weapon of civilized age”. Since that scene, the lightsaber changed its color from blue to red to green to purple over the 42-year-long saga of 9 Star Wars films.

Fictionally, lightsabers are strong enough to cut through almost anything and leave painful burn marks on the skin. If you have watched Star Wars movies, lightsabers may appear to you as laser-type swords or tube light-like weapons in the first look. However, even fictionally, cutting-edge high-tech is used to build such a powerful weapon. Ever since the first Star Wars movie was released, lightsabers have become a pop-culture item. Lightsaber-based merchandise, chopsticks, games, and various other products are sold in the market to date.

Blade

Fiction
The blade of a lightsaber contains plasma, the fourth state of matter. The presence of hot plasma enables the lightsaber blade to cut and burn anything it comes across. The lightsaber blade can be turned on/off upon the handler’s wish. There can be single or double blades for a lightsaber. A vibrating noise associated with the plasma blade persists throughout the franchise.

Real
“Normal” matter gets converted into plasma at extremely high temperatures in the order of 5000 Celsius. Maintaining such elevated temperatures, putting the exotic state of matter in a container, and using it “easily” in a natural environment is not possible. Similar to mechanical welding, there is a lot of difficulty involved with plasma handling. Only skilled professionals with protective gear can use such a device if invented.

Hilt

Fiction
A lightsaber is held through the hilt. The white or silver-colored hilt is used to turn the blade on and off. In simple words, a hilt is the controller of a lightsaber. The hilt has internal components like a power source and Kyber crystal for lightsaber operation. Hilts come in varying shapes throughout the franchise.

Real
A real-life hilt could feature a microcontroller to turn on and off the blade. Additionally, the hilt can contain an ignition system to turn on the lightsaber. The ignition system should be able to generate and compress desired amounts of hydrogen, oxygen, and other gasses at high pressure to form plasma.

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Kyber crystal

Fiction
The Kyber crystal is placed inside the hilt of the lightsaber. The use of Kyber crystal is to impart color to the lightsaber. The Kyber crystal appears like a finely cut gem and glows inside the hilt of the lightsaber. The legendary Kyber crystal is said to be influenced by strong forces from various galaxies.

Real
Most lightsaber merchandise is made using LED and laser technology. In the real world, Kyber crystal could resemble a semiconductor-type material placed inside such a lightsaber. In addition, there are several real-life lightsabers constructed using plasma. These prototypes do not use such crystals but are powered by fuel made from a mixture of various gaseous materials.

Plasma Shields

Fiction

Most Star Wars movie weapons are based on radiation (and plasma). Besides Star Wars, an energy shield is a popular Sci-Fi concept shown in various Hollywood films. Everything is deflected or destroyed after hitting the energy shield. Plasma shields, including many other types of energy shields, are showcased throughout Star Wars movies to protect characters, starships, and planets! An energy shield is defined as a barrier for all types of weapons and radiation to protect the bearer. Any type of radiation, weapon, beam, or whatsoever fails to penetrate the energy shield. But the popularity of such fictional shields is slightly lower compared to lightsabers. The reason lies in the basic laws of physics.

Real
In reality, it is impossible to create an energy shield that prevents radiation or any other object from entering. Anything that prevents light or any object from entering must be solid and opaque. Even when you consider Earth’s atmosphere, incoming light undergoes several refractions, deflections, and absorption that result in shifting the wavelength of light (color). However, the atmosphere cannot prevent light from entering.
As mentioned before, energy shields made using plasma will require several thousand degrees to sustain. Highly reactive ions in the plasma state will not stop any radiation but will react with other particles in the air instead. This kind of environment would be hazardous for humans to be present in.

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Conclusion

The reality of sci-fi movies is either completely hypothetical or extremely complicated to build. In the case of lightsabers, several attempts have been made to replicate the technology. A few attempts have been successful, including a Guinness World Record for a Russian YouTuber named Alex Burkan.
For plasma shields, the real-world development, owing to the complexity, is very limited. To get a real-time experience, you can still get laser technology-based gadgets for lightsabers and shields online. As the attempt to replicate Sci-Fi tech continues, Star Wars fans can always say “May The Force Be With You!"

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