… An elegant weapon for a more civilized age. So the light saber was introduced about 40 years ago. Being a regular part of the entourage of any Jedi, glowing sword for thousands of years was kept in the galactic Republic. Along with the first appearance in public was in 1977, when he released the first film “Star wars”, the distinctive hum of a lightsaber and an epic battle between Darth Vader and Obi-WAN Kenobi etched in the memory of viewers. Senior scientist Fermi lab is studying the possibilities for making a real lightsaber to life. And, says don Lincoln, he is sure to appear.
To build a lightsaber
Given the influence of the franchise “Star wars” on society, it was inevitable the emergence of a segment of society who wanted to make a lightsaber and even training with him. But what technology could lie in its basis? Here began the first attempts at reverse engineering of this device. Reverse engineering in this context is thinking about how it can be done… and not to build one this sword.
You have to admit, it would be nice to get this sword as a gift for the New year. But Star wars, like it or not, this is science fiction. That could make the scientists and engineers to build a sword like that (on the screen it is, of course, wonderful, but to limit the laser beam is thus almost impossible).
The film shows that the blades of lightsabers are drawn at 1.2 meters in length. They definitely contain a huge amount of energy and can melt large amounts of metal. This weapon is clearly a powerful and compact source of energy. They can cut the flesh without any difficulty, but their arm is not particularly hot to burn the hand that holds them. Two lightsabers do not pass through with each other, and the blades also come in different colors.
Given the name and appearance, there is the first obvious thought: perhaps these lightsabers include some type of laser. But this hypothesis is easily ruled out. Lasers do not have a fixed length, which is easily verified using a simple laser pointer. In addition, if the light somehow does not disperse the laser beam is essentially invisible. None of these describe our sword.
Plasma blade?
A more realistic technology will be plasma. This material is created after knocking out the electrons from the gas atoms in the process called ionization. Plasma — the fourth state of matter, after the well-known solid, liquid and gaseous. Examples of plasma you too in my life and seen a lot. The glow of the fluorescent light is plasma, neon lights.
This plasma seems very cold, as you can touch the pipe and not burn your fingers. But usually the hot plasma with temperatures of several thousand degrees. However, the density of the gas in a fluorescent light tube is so low that even at high temperature the total amount of energy of heat is very low. An additional complication is that the plasma electrons have energy significantly higher than the ionized atoms from which the electrons came. The thermal energy of a Cup of coffee (the temperature of which is much lower) much higher energy contained in fluorescent light.
Some plasma, however, generates substantial heat. In the plasma torch. The principle of operation are the same as in light bulbs, but with a large amount of electrical current. There are many ways to make a torch, but the simplest includes two electrodes and a conductive material, typically a gas such as oxygen, nitrogen, or something of that type. High voltage across the electrodes ionizes the gas, turning it into plasma.
Since plasma is conductive, it can transmit a powerful electric current target material, heating it and melting. Such a device is called a plasma cutter, but in reality it is an electric arc (welding), and the plasma acts as a conductor of electric current. Most plasma cutters work well when cut material is a conductor, since the material then may close the circuit and send an electric current back to the device via the interface cable cutter for the purpose. There are also double cutters, between which the electricity, they can cut non-conductive materials.
Thus, the plasma torches can generate a region of intense heat, but require vast amounts of electric current, and lightsabers, it seems, unable to provide that current. Maybe then lightsabers — just a tube with a superhot plasma? Also no, because plasma acts as a hot gas, which expands and cools down, similar to a normal fire (which too often happens with plasma though due to the fact that glows). Thus, if plasma will be the basis of a lightsaber, it will need something to hold on to.
Fortunately, there is such a mechanism. The plasma, consisting of charged particles (with high speed), you can control magnetic fields. Actually, some of the most pertinent technologies associated with nuclear fusion, is using magnetic field for plasma confinement. The temperature and the total energy enclosed in the synthesized plasma is so high that it would have melted even containing metal vessel.
Perhaps light swords will do. A strong magnetic field coupled with the superhot and dense plasma offer a possible way to create a lightsaber. But we’re not done yet.
If we take two tubes with the plasma, which are held magnetically, they will pass through with each other… no epic duels will not. So we need to figure out how to make the sword solid core. And the material of which it will consist, must be resistant to high temperatures.
Perhaps suitable ceramic that may be exposed to high temperatures without melting, softening or distortion. But solid ceramic core has a problem: when a Jedi uses a sword that hangs from his belt, and the hilt of a length of 20-25 centimetres. The ceramic core should jump out of the arm, as the devil from the box.
Brute force
That’s how I (don Lincoln) represent the construction of a light sword, though my project has problems. In “Star wars: Episode IV — a New hope” Obi-WAN Kenobi cuts off the arm of the alien light easy movement. This point silently points to what should be a hot plasma.
In “Star wars: Episode I — the phantom menace” qui-gon Jinn sticks his lightsaber in the heavy door, first making a deep incision, and then just melting. If you look at this sequence and assume that the steel door, to take into account the time spent for heating and melting metal, it is possible to calculate the energy, which should have a sword. It works out to around 20 megawatts. Given the average household power consumption — about 1.4 kW — one lightsaber, you can power 14 000 ordinary houses until they run out of battery.
Power source this density is clearly beyond the limits of modern technology, but perhaps we can assume that the Jedi know a secret. In the end, they are traveling faster than the speed of light.
But there is a physical problem. This energy implies that the plasma is incredibly hot and just a few inches from the hand of the owner of the sword. And this heat will be radiated in the form infrared radiation. The hand of the Jedi should instantly charred. So some power needs to retain heat. And again, the blades using optical wavelengths, so the force field should hold infrared radiation but to pass visible.
Such studies inevitably lead to the need of unknown technologies. But at least we can just say that a lightsaber consists of some kind of concentrated energy contained in the force field.
Memory tells how Michael Okuda, technical consultant to the franchise “Star trek”, explained a new technology that has made possible the conveyors. He said there were “Heisenberg compensators”, allegedly necessary to remedy the problems caused by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. This is the famous quantum-mechanical principle that you cannot simultaneously know with precision the location and velocity of a particle. Since man consists of many particles (atoms and their constituents), if you ever try to scan someone to find out the location of all its atoms, you will not be able to accurately measure their position and movement. So, when you try to rebuild someone will not be able to collect protons, neutrons and electrons together. On a deep and fundamental physical level, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle says that such transporters are impossible. But who is Heisenberg for the creators of “Star trek”? When the Time journalists asked how such a device works, they replied, “very well, thank you.”
However, it was interesting to see how close modern science to create the iconic sci-Fi technology. In the case of a lightsaber, the best we can with modern technology, this plasma weapons, concluded in the magnetic field. Yes, it will have a ceramic core that uses a very dense source of energy, and the force field that blocks infrared but not visible radiation. PAH, piece of cake.
It remains to ask the engineers how difficult it will be to do all this. But they can, right?