Darren New wrote:
> Patrick Elliott wrote:
>> unlike a true lightsaber you would have a solid core, 
> 
> I wasn't aware we knew enough about how lightsabers work to know there 
> isn't a solid core (or at least a wire) under the plasma.
> 
Kidding me? Talking about Star Wars ones here, which, for the most part, 
is basically the same as most of the "versions" I have seen. They all 
pretty much agree that there is no "solid core" in them. What ever the 
energy is, it extend out to a set length, and then just stops, without 
anything "inside" it. Even in terms of what might be feasible, its 
probably more feasible to make something that looked, and worked, more 
like a hacksaw, where the blade is suspended between end of a loop, than 
a sword. Its just the limitations of how the things have to work. 
Anything hot enough to cut through stuff like a lightsaber would, at 
this point, within the reasonable limits of such a technology, render 
its "core" to slag so fast you would never get a blade from it. Only by 
isolating the emitter and collectors, so they are the only thing close 
to the heat, and making those of something that can, at least for a 
while, resist it... A wire doesn't even come bloody close to what would 
be needed, since, in the case of plasma, we are talking about 
superheating some sort of particulate, which means some way to "channel" 
  it to the emission point, then reclaim it the at the other end. Either 
way, you have to have a "hot spot", on one end, and a "cool spot", on 
the other. The cool spot either has to be on the hilt end, in which case 
you can't cut with that (which, now that I think of it, may be 
reasonable), or the tip, which means you can't slice open doors with it, 
using the tip. Either way, we are talking about a) a fairly large 
emitter source, and b) some way to extend it from 0 length, to 3 feet.

Its way more practical to make a saw than a sword, for *multiple* 
reasons, using that sort of plasma.

-- 
void main () {
   If Schrödingers_cat is alive or version > 98 {
     if version = "Vista" {
       call slow_by_half();
       call DRM_everything();
     }
     call functional_code();
   }
   else
     call crash_windows();
}

<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models, 
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>

Post a reply to this message