Is it possible to build a lightsaber

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Heck, I even ordered a pair of LED slap bracelets that have yet to arrive. Did Disney invent a real working lightsaber?

Yes they did. It won't melt through metal blast doors, or cut off your hand, but it does feature an illuminated blade that will extend and retract at the push of a button. This animation shows the concept behind the tech. Next, widen the tapes and increase the curve, allowing them to partially wrap around each other and form a complete cylinder. Drive this system with a motor so both reels can be extended and retracted in synch at the push of a button. Now, you've got a lightsaber!

When each ribbon is shot out the end, it curves into a semicircle that forms one half of the blade. Will such a lightsaber be rigid enough for a practice duel? Now, Disney may have created the full-size, evenly lit, disappearing lightsaber blade of our dreams. BELLA uses lasers to accelerate the electrons. A laser could also be used to accelerate heavy ions to form the weapon part of the lightsaber, Muller said.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson actually got into what he referred to as a "geek fight" with English physicist Brian Cox about whether or not a lightsaber fight was actually possible.

Tyson initially claimed that if lightsabers were actually made of light, they would just pass through one another. But Cox countered that at a high enough energy, you have gamma rays, which can interact to create a force. With that in mind, high-energy gamma ray beams would allow you to have your own "Star Wars" lightsaber fight.

So to all who still don't believe a real-life lightsaber match is doable, I find your lack of faith disturbing. Follow Tech Insider on Facebook and Twitter. For you. Michio Kaku. In the Star Wars universe, a protosaber is an archaic lightsaber that requires external power supply; the hilt of the blade is connected via cable to a power pack that is carried on the back or the hip.

As technology improved in their far away galaxy, the protosaber was abandoned for a lightweight, portable design—the lightsaber. Here on Earth, we are bound by laws of thermodynamics, so James and his team of engineers had to create an external power pack for their protosaber.

They attached it to tanks of liquid propane gas and oxygen gas to create the high level of heat required to make the plasma beam. However, they were also able to colour the beam using salts; boric acid to turn the beam green, calcium chloride to turn it amber, strontium chloride to turn it red, and sodium chloride to turn it yellow.

James and his team got close with a protosaber, but could we get even closer?