Question: Would it be possible to make a real life lightsaber?

Susan Skelton answered on 17 Nov 2013:

Hi again dizzy! Hope you enjoyed the chat the other day?

Interesting question – I *wish* we could make a lightsaber! Unfortunately there are a few reasons why I think this probably won’t really be possible. 🙁

The first problem lies in creating a short blade. Light beams never just stop; they go on forever unless something is in the way that reflects or absorbs the light. An infinitely long lightsaber wouldn’t be very easy to use – you’d probably end up slicing your own toes off!

I suppose we could put a mirror at the end of the lightsaber, to cap the beam and reflect the light back again. But then you wouldn’t be able to stab anyone!

To have a strong enough light beam to cause some damage would require a huge amount of power, so the lightsaber wouldn’t be able to run on batteries – you’d have to be plugged in to the mains, so you’d probably spend most of the battle tripping over the cable.

There’s also the problem that it probably just wouldn’t work very well in real life! Since light is easily reflected, your opponent could just shield themselves by wearing a big coat of armour covered in mirrors.

What’s more, clashing lightsaber blades would be impossible – the beams would just pass straight through each other and make for a very boring duel!

So sadly, I think this is one thing that is likely to stay science fiction rather than becoming science fact…but you never know! 😉